The Age of Exploration: Chapter 7, Exercise 1 — Possible Solution ====================================================================== FOUR FIGURES Founded 20 March 1602 with 6.4 million guilders; nearly a million Europeans on 4,785 ships (1602 to 1796); 50,000 employees and 150 merchant ships and 40 warships by 1669; dividends averaging 18 percent of capital for nearly two centuries. LEAST CERTAIN The 18 percent (an average over nearly two centuries, with no derivation) and "nearly a million Europeans"; both are stated flatly by one article.