West India trade (West-Indievaart)

[Anatol]

After the Dutch East India Company (VOC) achieved some success, the Dutch West India Company (WIC) was founded in 1621 during the Eighty Years' War. The WIC received a government monopoly on trade and shipping to West Africa and the Americas.
The Dutch West India Company (Westindische Compagnie, WIC) was a trading company modeled on the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC). Its archives are primary sources for studying European expansion in West Africa and the Americas. The documents cover a range of topics, including trade and the slave trade, warfare, the emergence of modern diplomacy, plantations, and everyday life. The WIC archives also provide a wealth of information on the history of the regions where the company established colonies and trading posts. Often, no other written sources exist for this period. With the founding of the West India Company, the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands sought to disrupt Spanish and Portuguese trade in Africa and South America. Privateering became one of the West India Company's main activities. For this purpose, Dutch merchant ships were armed with cannons and soldiers. The capture of the Silver Fleet by Piet Hein in 1628 still stirs the imagination.
The West India Company was not founded specifically for the slave trade, but for many years this activity constituted its most important source of income. Slaves were purchased primarily in West Africa and transported by ship to the Americas. The sea voyage lasted an average of 81 days. A slave ship typically carried between four and five hundred slaves. To reduce slave mortality during the voyage, the captain received a bounty for each live slave delivered to the Americas. According to historians, the Dutch brought approximately half a million slaves from Africa to the American colonies. The Dutch share of the transatlantic slave trade was about five percent.
WIC SHIPS
The ships of the Dutch West India Company (WIC) played a key role not only in trade but also in waging economic warfare against Spain and Portugal in the Atlantic. Unlike its eastern counterpart (the VOC), the WIC fleet was largely focused on privateering and military expeditions.
Main Ship Types: The Company used a variety of vessels adapted to specific tasks, from transporting bulky cargo to swift attacks on enemy fleets.
The stamp depicts a SNAUVSCHIP, or SNAUV, a 17th- and 18th-century sailing vessel designed for inland or coastal shipping. It was a two-masted vessel with an additional small mast located directly behind the mizzenmast—the snauvemast.
Similar ships, strengthened and refitted, that participated in the WIC expeditions were called BRIGs.
A BRIG is a relatively small, fast, two-masted vessel that existed as early as the 16th century. In the 17th century, it was used by the Dutch West India Company as an armed merchant vessel and slave trader. As a warship, this type remained in service until the 19th century, armed with 12–18 guns.
In reality, a brig was a standard sailing vessel converted for the slave trade. For example, the decks in the hull were refitted to accommodate enslaved people. Additionally, bulkheads were used to prevent enslaved people from accessing the aft deck in the event of a revolt and, consequently, the capture of the entire ship. This is clearly visible in the model.
FLIYUT: The most common type of merchant vessel of the time.
YACHT: A small, fast, and maneuverable vessel. It was used for reconnaissance, communication between colonies, and as a light warship. PINNACE: A lightly armed vessel that could be propelled by both sail and oars.
Ships of the line and frigates: Heavily armed vessels, purpose-built or chartered for naval battles and the capture of the "Silver Fleet."
At the peak of its power (c. 1650), the WIC possessed a fleet of 200–250 ships.
In the second half of the 18th century, the Middelburg Trading Company (MTC) focused on the "triangular trade" between Middelburg, the West African coast, and the Caribbean. This form of human trafficking, in which Africans were sold in the Caribbean, is also known as the "triangular trade" or the transatlantic slave trade.
In 2021, thanks to friends, the Zeeland Archive acquired two ship models to support the archive's work and tell the many stories it contains. The models were made by Jack Schmid of Oudeland.
One of these ships was the brig «Enigade», similar to other brigs used by the MCC at the time. This ship model is located at the entrance to the exhibition basement. See photo of the model.
The slave ship «D'Enigade», sailing from October 1, 1761, to February 15, 1763, as part of a "triangular voyage" to purchase 326 slaves in Africa and sell 293 in Dutch Guiana (33 did not survive the voyage), was threatened with running aground off the English coast due to a storm on the return voyage. The ship was forced to seek refuge in the port of Plymouth.
Nederland 2025; 1,0.
Sources: 1.https://www.zeeuwsarchief.nl/vrienden-v ... smodellen/.
2. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/West-Indische_Compagnie.