Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University

debate over free trade to Brazil had generated the first great wave of commercial calculations. 37
Other sources of revenue included taxes paid by Portuguese settlers, which amounted to 300,000
guilders; 911,200 guilders on the sale of livestock; and 300,000 guilders for Brazilian dyewoods,
an important input for the Republic's cloth-dying industry. Total revenue was thus projected at
3,260,700 guilders. 38 Against total expenses of 1,974,000 guilders, this yielded a handsome
estimated annual profit of 1,286,700 guilders.
Guinea was the company's second most important source of revenue. As we saw in
Chapter Five, the company's conquests were still fresh and the nature of the trade somewhat in
flux. Specx estimated that the company’s forts could be defended by 150 soldiers and support
personnel at a cost of only 36,000 guilders. Even after seizing Elmina and Axim, and unlike in
Brazil, the majority of expenses were still directly linked to trade: in exchange for gold, ivory,
and slaves, the company would need four ships yearly carrying a combined cargo costing
720,000 guilders. 39
Specx estimated that Guinea could provide annual income of 1,294,000 guilders, the vast
majority from 3,600 marks of gold, worth 1,044,000 guilders—a modest increase from the 3,200
marks traded in 1644 and the reason, Specx indicated in a marginal note, that the company
should increase the number of ships devoted to the trade. 40 The rest of the income came from
slaves and ivory. By this time the company had reduced its expectations for Guinea to serve as a
major source of slaves for Brazil, in favor of the trade at São Paulo do Loanda, but Specx still
expected to trade 1,400 slaves, of whom 1,200 might survive, for revenue of 150,000 guilders.
Specx estimated the trade in ivory would bring in another 100,000 guilders yearly. These
37 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, fols. 304-310 and 340-350. Specx had copies or extracts of the calculations from both
documents. NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fols. 123-127, and 144-159.
38 NA 1.10.78, inv.nr. 8, fol. 117.
39 Ibid., fol. 117v.
40 Ibid., fol. 118.
235