Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University

trading locations on the Gold Coast, making plans to counter English trade at Cormantyn, build a
new lodge at Accra, and oust the Portuguese from their remaining forts at Axim and Shama. 151
But the company's new foothold on the Gold Coast soon proved unsatisfactory as a
source of slaves. Exports to Brazil from 1637-1640 averaged only 1,500 slaves per year, only a
third the number the Portuguese had brought to Pernambuco before the Dutch conquest. In the
months before the Peace Treaty with Portugal took effect, Maurits therefore recommended that
the Heren XIX authorize him to organize a mission to expel the Portuguese from São Paulo do
Loanda, which controlled access to greater numbers of slaves and was geographically closer to
Pernambuco. In June 1641 a fleet led by Cornelis “Peg Leg” Jol seized not only São Paulo do
Loanda, but also the island of São Tomé and the Portuguese fort at Axim. 152 Plans were drawn
up by Pieter Mortamer, the first Dutch Director General in Loanda, for the construction of
“transit barracks” and for making Dutch ships more suitable for the trade. The strategy worked:
in 1642 the company brought 2,312 slaves to Brazil, followed by 3,948 in 1643 and 5,565 in
1644. 153 By 1645 the WIC had bought and sold more than 30,000 slaves. 154
The profits from the slave trade quickly attracted the attention of private merchants. As
early as October 1639, directors in the Zeeland chamber recorded that, “it is being contemplated
to partially open up the slave trade.” 155 In 1643 two directors in the Amsterdam chamber—
Johannes de Laet and Abraham Willmerdonck—made a formal proposal to lift the company's
monopoly and permit private merchants to trade to Africa. 156 This proposal was rejected by the
Hoofdparticipanten in the Zeeland chamber, who argued that, “the Company is better suited to
151
Ibid. See also Van Albert van Dantzig, Forts and Castles of Ghana (Accra: Sedco Limited, 1980).
152
Klaas Ratelband, De expeditie van Jol naar Angola en São Thomé, 30 Mei 1641-31 Oct. 1641 (’s-Gravenhage:
Martinus Nijhoff, 1943).
153
De Mello, O Brasil Holandês, 1630-1654, 487.
154
Den Heijer, Goud, Ivoor en Slaven, 21.
155
Quoted in Unger, “Essay on the History of the Dutch Slave Trade,” 53.
156
NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 35, fol. 33-34. Entry for February 24, 1643.
216