Editing Dutch West India Company (section)

===Restart===

[[File:Johannes-vingboons-11-kasteel-elmina-en-fort-nassau-ghana.jpg|thumb|Painting by [[Johannes Vingboons]] of both [[Elmina Castle]] and [[Fort Nassau, Ghana]] (ca 1665)]]
Due to the [[Peace of Westphalia]], the attacks on Spanish shipping were forbidden to the GWC. The Portuguese succeeded in the [[recapture of Angola]]. Many merchants from Amsterdam and [[Zeeland]] decided to work with marine and merchants from the [[Holy Roman Empire]], [[Denmark–Norway]], England and other European countries. In 1649, a competing [[Swedish Africa Company]] was founded; the GWC obtained a monopoly on gold and enslaved Africans with the kingdom of [[Accra]] (present-day [[Ghana]]). [[Elmina Castle]] was the main port. In 1654 the Dutch were thrown out of [[Dutch Brazil|Brazil]] after the [[recapture of Recife]]. In 1656, the company signed the [[Treaty of Butre]] ([[Dutch Gold Coast]]). In 1659 the [[Danish West India Company]], an undercover Dutch enterprise, was founded.<ref>Svensli, F. (2018). “Evil Disposed Netherlanders”: The Dutch West India Company’s Opposition to Danish Activity on the Gold Coast, 1657–1662. Itinerario, 42(3), 326-350. doi:10.1017/S0165115318000578</ref> (In 1660 the [[Royal African Company]] was founded, led by the [[James II of England|Duke of York]].)

In 1662, the GWC obtained several ''[[Asiento de Negros|asiento]]'' subcontracts with the [[Monarchy of Spain|Spanish Crown]], under which the Dutch were allowed to deliver 24,000 enslaved Africans.<ref>{{in lang|nl}} Brakel, S. van (1918) Bescheiden over den slavenhandel der Westindische Compagnie, p. 50, 67. In: Economisch-Historisch Jaarboek&nbsp;IV.</ref> The GWC made [[Curaçao]] a centre of the [[Atlantic slave trade]], bringing slaves from West Africa to the island, before selling them elsewhere in the Caribbean and [[Spanish Main]].<ref name="The History of Curaçao">{{cite web |url=https://www.curacao-travelguide.com/about/history/ |title=The History of Curaçao|access-date= 15 July 2019}}</ref> The influence of the GWC in Africa was threatened during the [[Second Anglo-Dutch War|Second]] and [[Third Anglo-Dutch War|Third Anglo–Dutch War]]s, but English efforts to displace the Dutch from the region ultimately proved unsuccessful.<ref>{{in lang| nl}} [http://focquenbroch.apud.net/wilre.htm Binder, F. e.a.] {{webarchive| url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060517220722/http://focquenbroch.apud.net/wilre.htm |date=2006-05-17 }} (1979) ''Dirck Dircksz. Wilre en Willem Godschalk van Focquenbroch(?) Geschilderd door Pieter de Wit te Elmina in 1669.'' Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 27, p.7–29.</ref>

The first West India Company suffered a long agony, and its end in 1674 was painless.<ref>{{in lang|nl}} Klein, P.W. (1965) De Trippen in de 17e eeuw, p. 182.</ref> The reason that the GWC could drag on for 27 years seems to have been its valuable West African possessions, due to its slaves. {{citation needed|date=September 2024}}