Editing Dutch West India Company (section)

==Second West India Company==
{{slavery}}[[File:Gerrit Lamberts (1776-1850), Afb 010055000280.jpg|thumb|[[Gerrit Lamberts]] (1776–1850), the demolition of the West India House in 1817]]

When the GWC could not repay its debts in 1674, the company was dissolved. But due to continued high demand for trade between West Africa and the Dutch colonies in the Americas (mainly [[Atlantic slave trade|slave trade]]), a second West India Company known as the New West India Company was chartered that same year.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Law |first1=Robin |title=The Slave Trade in Seventeenth Century Allada: A Revision |journal=African Economic History |date=1994 |volume=22 |issue=22 |pages=76–77 |doi=10.2307/3601668 |jstor=3601668 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3601668 |access-date=27 August 2022}}</ref> This new company controlled the same trade area as the first but privateering was no longer an asset. All ships, fortresses, etc. were taken over by the new company. Nobody was fired, but the number of directors was reduced from 19 to 10, and the number of governors from 74 to 50. By 1679, the new GWC had slightly more than {{nowrap|6 million}} guilders which was largely supplied by the Amsterdam Chamber. In 1687, due to the [[Asiento]] possessed by [[:nl:Balthasar Coymans (1652-1686)|Balthasar Coymans]], the company paid the highest dividend.<ref>Van Dillen (1970) Van Rijkdom en Regenten, p. 380</ref>

From 1694 until 1700, the GWC waged a long conflict against the Eguafo Kingdom along the Gold Coast, present-day Ghana. The [[Komenda Wars]] drew in significant numbers of neighbouring African kingdoms and led to the replacement of the gold trade with enslaved Africans. [[Calabar]] was the largest slave trading place in Africa. [[Sint Eustatius]] (Dutch Caribbean) became the most profitable asset of the GWC and a transit point for enslaved Africans in the [[transatlantic slave trade]]. After 1734 the GWC was primarily engaged in facilitating the slave trade,<ref>Boon, D. (2015) Nederlandse relaties met Ashanti Het perspectief van de Tweede West-Indische Compagnie, 1750-1772, p. 29-30</ref> and only responsible for the supply of slaves until 1738.<ref>[https://www.zeegeschiedenis.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2013_2_klein.pdf Smokkelhandel en slavenhandel in Suriname gedurende de ondergang van de Nederlandse macht op zee, 1780-1795 Karwan Fatah-Black, p. 42]</ref><ref>[https://www.vpro.nl/speel~POMS_VPRO_362547~kooplieden-kapers-en-kolonisten-11-de-ondergang-het-spoor-terug~.html Het Spoor Terug: Kooplieden, kapers en kolonisten 11: De ondergang. 12 april 1998]</ref> The company then began to outsource the slave trade and left it to [[private enterprise]], especially in [[Middelburg, Zeeland]].<ref>[https://www.zeeuwsarchief.nl/themapagina/slavenreis-van-de-eenigheid/de-reis-geschiedenis/ De West-Indische Compagnie by Zeeuws Archief]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ENSTPs5kvycC&dq=West+Indische+Compagnie+1775+slaven&pg=RA9-PA1 Notulen van de edel mogende heeren Staten van Zeelandt]</ref>

In 1750 [[Thomas Hope (banker, born 1704)|Thomas Hope]] was elected in the board of the company, but preferred the [[Heren XVII]] after two years; he was succeeded by [[Nicolaas Geelvinck]] in 1764. <!--In 1759 [[Jan Pieter Theodoor Huydecoper]] was appointed [[List of colonial governors of the Dutch Gold Coast|Director-General of the Gold Coast]].--> In 1773, when drinking coffee and cocoa was popular almost everywhere, the family [[Van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck]] sold its property in the [[Surinam (Dutch colony)|colony of Surinam]]. The GWC participated in a bigger share together with the [[Society of Suriname]]. Many planters in Surinam and the Caribbean came into financial trouble because of the mortgages ([[Crisis of 1772]]); the demand for slaves dropped.<ref>[https://www.slavevoyages.org/assessment/estimates Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade - Estimates]</ref><ref>[https://www.ftm.nl/artikelen/kabinet-koning-excuses-slavernijverleden?share=yTiQ%2BXjZNZTZEDc%2Fb6lhVjio%2BAYkyuXUsA%2FvmLCKtZYo7nfM%2FDkLehOB&s=03 Bankiers als aanjagers van slavernij in de 18de eeuw door Roel Janssen]</ref> In 1775, the last slave ship entered the port of [[Willemstad]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rT11AAAAQBAJ&dq=West+Indische+Compagnie+1775+slaven&pg=PT49 De Nederlandse slavenhandel 1500-1850 by P.C. Emmer]</ref> From 1780 on the company made losses and paid no [[dividend]].

After the [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War]], it became apparent that the GWC was no longer capable of defending its own colonies, as [[Sint Eustatius]], [[Berbice]], [[Essequibo (colony)|Essequibo]], [[Demerara]], and some forts on the Dutch Gold Coast were rapidly taken by the British. In 1791 it was decided not to renew the patent to the GWC and to dissolve the company. All stocks were sold and territories previously held by the GWC came under the rule of the [[States General of the Netherlands]]. A directorate Ad-Interim took over the administration. A Council of Colonies was established as administrator over the affairs of the GWC until 1795.<ref>[https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/archief/1.05.02 1.05.02 Inventaris van het archief van de Directie ad Interim, &#91;1791-1792&#93;; Raad der Koloniën, &#91;1792-1795&#93;, (1773) 1791-1795 (1796)]
</ref> Around 1800 there was an attempt to create a third West India Company, but without success.