Editing Dutch West India Company (section)

===Decline===

[[File:Cidade mauricia.jpg|thumb|[[Recife]] or Mauritsstad&nbsp;– capital of [[Nieuw Holland]]]]
[[File:Pakhuiswic.JPG|thumb|right|Warehouse of the GWC at [[:nl:Rapenburg (Amsterdam)|Rapenburg]] ]]

In North America, the settlers [[Albert Burgh]], Samuel Blommaert, [[Samuel Godijn]], [[Johannes de Laet]] had little success with populating the colony of New Netherland, and to defend themselves against local Amerindians. Only [[Kiliaen van Rensselaer (merchant)|Kiliaen Van Rensselaer]] managed to maintain his settlement in the north along the Hudson. Blommaert secretly tried to secure his interests with the founding of the colony of [[New Sweden]] on behalf of Sweden on the [[Delaware River|Delaware]] in the south. The main focus of the GWC now went to Brazil.

The West India Company managed to [[Dutch–Portuguese War|conquer parts of Brazil from Portugal]] in 1630. That same year, the colony of [[Dutch Brazil|New Holland]] was founded, with a capital in [[Mauritsstad]] (present-day [[Recife]]). In the meantime, the war demanded so many of its forces that the company had to operate under a permanent threat of bankruptcy.<ref>{{in lang|nl}} Heijer, H. den (1994) De geschiedenis van de GWC, p. 97.</ref> In fact, the GWC went bankrupt in 1636 and all attempts at rehabilitation were doomed to failure.<ref>{{in lang|nl}} [[Johannes Gerard van Dillen|Dillen, J.G. van]], (1970) Van Rijkdom tot Regenten, p. 169.</ref> In 1636, the Dutch West India Company took possession of [[St. Eustatius]], [[Sint Maarten]], and [[Saba (island)|Saba]] which all fell under Dutch control. A commander was stationed on St. Eustatius to govern all three islands by 1678.

Because of the ongoing war in Brazil, the situation for the GWC in 1645, at the end of the charter, was very bad. An attempt to compensate the losses of the GWC with the profits of the VOC failed because the directors of the VOC did not want to.<ref>{{in lang|nl}} Dillen, J.G. van, (1970) Van Rijkdom tot Regenten, p. 127.</ref> In 1645, the main participants in the GWC were members of the [[:nl:Trip (geslacht)|Trip family]].<ref>Klein, P.W. (1965) De Trippen in de 17e eeuw, p. 181</ref> Merging the two companies was not feasible. Amsterdam was not willing to help out, because it had too much interest in peace and healthy trade relations with Portugal. This indifferent attitude of Amsterdam was the main cause of the slow, half-hearted policy, which would eventually lead to losing the colony.<ref>{{aut|[[Charles Ralph Boxer|Boxer, C.R.]]}} (1957) The Dutch in Brazil 1624 - 1654. Oxford, Clarendon Press. ISBN</ref> In 1647, the company made a restart using 1.5&nbsp;million guilders, capital of the VOC. The States General took responsibility for the warfare in Brazil.