| The WIC (West-Indische
Compagnie) Dutch West India Company, was a Dutch trading company, shaped after the example
of the VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) Dutch East India Company. On June 3, 1621,
it was granted a charter for the 'right on shipping and trade' and a 24 years monopoly of
trade and navigation, conquest and commerce in the West by the States General of the
United Province of Netherlands. The WIC was authorized to make alliances with the natives
of 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
(the area between the Tropic of Cancer and Cape of Good Hope) and the Americas (included
the Pacific Ocean). The company had five offices, called kamers: Amsterdam, Zeeland
(Middelburg), Maze (Rotterdam), Noorderkwartier (Hoorn) and Stad en Land (Groningen). The
board consisted of 19 members, known as the Heeren XIX. The Heren XIX consisted of 8
representatives from Amsterdam, 4 from Zeeland and 2 from Maze, 2 from Noorderkwartier and
2 from Stad en Lande, the States General had 1 representative. The Heeren XIX were
to meet alternately at Amsterdam for six years and at Middelburg for two. In the first years the company had a very aggressive conduct, the
WIC was used, in western emisfere, by the States Genaral as a military force in their war
against Spain and Portugal, as well as the VOC in the eastern emisfere. In 1624 the WIC
attacked and conquered Portuguese Brazil capital Salvador Bahia, this town remain under
Dutch control for a year (1624-1625) when a Portuguese-Spanish fleet retook it. During
1620s. several colonies were founded in North America (New Amsterdam actual New York, Fort
Orange actual Albany). In 1630 the WIC did a more durable conquest in Brazil: Dutch troops
occupied Recife and Olinda in the capitanacy
of Pernambuco. In the next years, during the govern of Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen,
the Dutch control over Brazil
extended to the coast between Sao Luis do Maranhao to the North until Sergipe del Rey to
the South, pratically half of Brazil and the more prosperous part of it was under WIC
control.
The apex of the WIC power was reached during 1640-1645,
the company at that time controlled New Netherland (part of
actual New York and Delaware states), New Holland (part of
Brazil), Curacao, Aruba, Tobago and several others islands in
the Caribbean, Guyana and Suriname, Fernando de Noronha,
several forts along the African coast in Mauritania (Arguin), Senegal (Goree), Ghana (Elmina, Axim, Mouree etc....), Sao Tome and Annobon islands,
Angola (Luanda and Benguela). In 1643, for a few months a Dutch expedition occupied
Valdivia and Chiloe in Chile also. (Map of the WIC Empire in the Atlantic.)
Then the things went wrong: Johan Maurits van
Nassau-Siegen was recalled home and the Portuguese "moradores" rebelled against
the WIC rule, after a long warfare a Portuguese armada retook Recife and the whole Dutch
Brazil in 1654. In 1664, the English occuped New Amsterdam and renamed it New York. The
WIC quickly declined, until the Company was liquidated in 1674.
A new WIC was launched shortly after in 1675. Until 1743
this WIC maintained part of the original monopolies: the trading of African slaves and
products such as gold. After that the WIC was engaged solely in the administration of the
remaining African and American overseas territories and fortresses until the Company was
definitively closed in 1791.
Bibliography:
- Boxer, Ch. R. "The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654" Oxford, 1957
- Boxer, CH.R., "The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600-1800" London, 1965
- Boxer, Ch. R. "Salvador de Sa and the struggle for Brazil and Angola,
1602-1686" London, 1952
|
|
