The Danish West Indies Company , or the Danish West Indies and Guinea Company ( Dat. Vestindisk kompagni, Det Vestindisk-Guineiske kompagni ) is a company that has been operating and trading with Danish colonies in the West Indies . It existed from 1625 to 1754.
The company was actually founded in 1625, when the Dutchman Jan de Willem received a license from the Danish king in Copenhagen to trade with the West Indies, Brazil, Virginia and Guinea [1] . On March 11, 1671, the company received a royal letter of privilege and became known as the Danish West Indies Company (from August 30, 1680 - the West Indies and Guinean Company).
The scope of the company included the Danish West Indies - the islands of St. Thomas , St. John and St. Croix in the Caribbean . The islands were subsequently colonized by the Danes, St. Thomas in 1672, St. John in 1718, St. Croix in 1733. The company was organized as a joint stock company , its headquarters was in Copenhagen .
In the XVII - early XVIII centuries, the company flourished, conducting triangular trade , supplying slaves from Africa and receiving molasses and rum in the West Indies. The company dealt with all the affairs of the Danish West Indian colonies until 1754 , when the government bought back all the shares of the company and formally abolished it, and the islands were transferred to the Income Chamber.
Notes
- ↑ Hugh Thomas, The Slave Trade , 1997, Phoenix edition, London 2006, side 172 og 188.