Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

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Dutch West India Company
(Westindische Compagnie)
archives
Inscribed 2011
What are they
The archives of the Dutch West India Company cover
its activities in West Africa and the Americas including
commerce and the slave trade, colonization, warfare,
diplomacy, plantation cultures and daily life. The archives
contain unique information for the history of Brazil,
Curaçao, Ghana, Guyana, the Netherlands, Suriname
and the USA.
Why were they inscribed
The company introduced the triangular trade in slaves,
linking Europe, Africa and the Americas with far-reaching
consequences that still resound today. In many instances
there is no other written information available for
that period.
Where are they
Archives in the Netherlands, Brazil, Curaçao, Ghana,
Guyana, Suriname, UK and USA
The Westindische Compagnie or Dutch West India
Company (DWIC) was a Dutch trading company,
modelled on the VOC (Vernigde Oostindische
Compagnie) or Dutch East India Company (see page 214).
In 1621 it was granted a charter for the ‘right on shipping
and trade’ and a monopoly of trade and navigation,
conquest and commerce in the Western hemisphere
by the States-General of the United Province of the
Netherlands. The company was created to eliminate
trade competition in the West Indies, particularly against
the Spanish and Portuguese, and to gain a share in the
African slave trade. Therefore the DWIC was authorized
to make alliances with the local rulers in West Africa,
America and the Pacific islands east of New Guinea;
to build fortresses, maintain troops, garrisons and fleets.
The area where the company operated was West Africa
and the Americas (including the Pacific Ocean).
In the 1620s and 1630s, many trading posts or colonies
were established along the American Atlantic coast. New
Netherlands, which included New Amsterdam, covered
220 Dutch West India Company (Westindische Compagnie) archives
parts of present-day New York, Connecticut, Delaware
and New Jersey. Other settlements were established on
Curaçao, several other Caribbean islands, Suriname and
Guyana. In 1630, the colony of New Holland (Recife) was
formed, taking over Portuguese possessions in Brazil.
In Africa, posts were established on the Gold Coast
(now Ghana) and briefly in Angola.
Facing bankruptcy in 1674, the DWIC was reorganized
as a slave-trading enterprise with profitable side activities
in trading products such as gold. It introduced the
triangular trade, which linked manufacturing communities
in Europe, slave procuring communities of Africa and
plantation communities of the Americas in an increasingly
profitable circuit of trade and production. The company,
which also administered its African and American overseas
territories and fortresses, was abolished in 1791.