Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

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Archives of the Danish
overseas trading companies
Inscribed 1997
What are they
The archives of the Danish overseas trading companies
that operated in India, West Africa and the West Indies
over a period of 150 years.
Why were they inscribed
The archives record in meticulous detail the
administration of these small and ultimately
unsuccessful trading companies and the process
of colonization that accompanied their activities.
Where are they
Danish National Archives, Copenhagen, Denmark
The archives cover the Danish East India Company
(1670–1730), the Danish Asiatic Company (1730–1827),
the Danish West India and Guinea Company (1671–1755),
the Danish Guinea Company (1765–78) and the Danish
West India Trading Company (1778–1816). The archives
are composed of around 4000 protocols and bundles and
includes royal charters, copybooks, letters, instructions,
accounts, files on employees, ship’s logs and maps.
They are housed in the Danish National Archives
(the Rigsarkivet) next to Christiansborg Palace in the
centre of Copenhagen.
The Danish East India Company was formed in 1616
with a grant of the monopoly of trade between Denmark
and Asia. It established a base at Tranquebar (now
Tharangambadi) in Tamil Nadu, India, but it did not
thrive. It was re-established in 1670 only to be liquidated
in 1729 and succeeded by the Danish Asiatic Company,
which was granted a 40-year monopoly in trade east
of the Cape of Good Hope. As well as Tranquebar, it
established itself at Serampore, in West Bengal, and on
the Nicobar Islands. In 1777 the Danish state took over
the administration of these colonies, while the company
continued to trade in India and the Far East until its final
demise in 1843–45, at which point the remaining colonies
were also sold to the British.
The Danish West India and Guinea Company, formed
in 1671, was developed to take part in the slave trade. The
company established bases along the Gold Coast (now
248 Archives of the Danish overseas trading companies
part of Ghana, but at the time referred to as Guinea),
with the greatest presence being at Fort Christiansborg
(now known as Osu Castle and the official seat of the
President of Ghana). In the West Indies, the islands of
St Thomas, St Croix and St Jan (St John) were colonized
and sugar plantations were developed, dependent upon
slave labour. Denmark was the first country to ban slave
trading through a Royal Decree issued on 16 March 1792;
this came into force ten years later on 1 January 1803.
Slavery itself was not abolished in the Danish West Indies
until 1848. Denmark sold its Gold Coast colonies to the
British in 1850 and its West Indian colonies in 1917 to the
USA (they are now known as the US Virgin Islands). The