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Senegambia (Dutch West India Company)

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For the late 20th-century confederation between Senegal and Gambia, see Senegambia Confederation.
Senegambia
Bovenkust
1617–1678
Flag of Senegambia
Flag
of Senegambia
Coat of arms
Scheme of the fortifications on Gorée in 1772 by Jacobus van der Schley
Scheme of the fortifications on Gorée in 1772
by Jacobus van der Schley
StatusDutch colony
CapitalGorée
Common languagesDutch
Religion
Dutch Reformed
Chief factor 
• 1627
Pompeius de la Sale
• 1675-1677
Pieter Hoppesack
History 
• Established
1617
• Disestablished
1678
 Succeeded by
French West India Company
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Senegambia, also known in Dutch as Bovenkust ("Upper Coast"), was the collective noun for the fortifications and trading posts owned by the Dutch West India Company (DWIC) in the region now known as Senegal. The main purpose of these trading posts was to obtain slaves in order to ship them to the Americas.

History

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Being almost devoid of drinking water, Gorée was not settled before the arrival of Europeans, although the presence of domesticated sheep noted by Portuguese explorers indicates the island was frequented by local peoples of the nearby mainland.[1] Portuguese traders established themselves on the island in 1444.[2] By the end of the 16th century, Portuguese and Dutch traders were established at Joal and Saly on the mainland as well.[3]

Due to the destruction of much of the archive of the First Dutch West India Company, it is unknown when and how the Dutch replaced the Portuguese on Goree.[2] According to Olfert Dapper, the island was gifted to the Dutch West India Company by the local chief Biram in 1617. This statement is problematic, not the least because the Dutch West India Company was only established in 1621.[4] From 1621 to 1637, the WIC exercised a monopoly over Dutch trade in West Africa, pushing the earlier merchants out or underground.[5]

Possession of Goree was the key to accessing the trade of the entire coast south of the Cap Vert, including that of the Gambia river, as it served as a warehousing and transshipment point. In addition, it was a convenient stopover on the shortest route from Europe to the Caribbean.[6] The island was attacked by the Portuguese in early 1629, but they were not able to hold it and their access to the lucrative coastal trade was cut off.[7] From the 1620s to the 1670s, the Dutch West India Company dominated all the trade in the area, including shipping slaves out of the Portuguese post at Cacheu to Curacao.[8] By the 1630s they had created several fortified trading posts on the mainland.[9]

Repeated wars weakened the Dutch West India Company, however, and the Third Anglo-Dutch War precipitated the bankruptcy of the company in 1674. In 1677 a French fleet led by Jean d'Estrées defeated the Dutch and captured Goree and their coastal trading posts. The new administration attempted to create a monopoly, in contrast to the relatively free hand of the Dutch, and trade in the region dropped significantly.[10]

Having lost almost all the trade in gum arabic, bezoar stone, ambergris and ostrich feathers, the DWIC wanted to regain its position. The Frenchman Jean du Casse, head of the Compagnie de Sénégal, reached an agreement with the local leaders, who decided to destroy the Dutch trading posts and the DWIC lost its position for good.[citation needed]

Administration

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The trading posts in the Cape Vert region were managed by the Chamber of Amsterdam, a subdivision of the DWIC.[11] The administration at Goerée was headed by a chief factor (Dutch: commies en opperhoofd), and included two to three sub-factors, and three to four assistants.[12] An incomplete list of chief factors was compiled by Guy Thilmans [fr].[13]

Name Appointed Took office Left office Notes
Pompeius de la Sale 22 July 1627 ? ? Later General on the Gold Coast
Hans Mols ? 1632 1636 Later director of Dutch Loango-Angola
Johannes l'Hermite 7 February 1659 ? ?
Pieter Vlasvat 19 May 1661 ? ?
Pedro Justo Baack ? 1661 1662
Adrianus Romanus 18 August 1662 ? ?
Johannes Cellarius ? 1664 1667
Abraham van Asperen 15 July 1667 ? 1669
Pieter Stolwijck ? 1669 1671
Pieter van Asperen 9 October 1671 ? 1673 Died in office
Joachim Eylkens ? 1674 21 March 1674 Died in office
Pieter Hoppesack ? 21 March 1674 1674
Nicolaas Bruyningh Wildelant ? 1674 1675
Pieter Hoppesack ? 1675 November 1677 Surrendered to Jean d'Estrées, Count of Estrées

Senegambia possessions of the DWIC

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  • Gorée: 1617 to 1663 and 1664 to 1677.
    • on Goreé were two fortifications: Fort Nassau (near Fort St. Francois) to the north part of the island and Fort Orange (near Fort St. Michel) on the south end of the island.

Trading posts:

Notes

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  1. ^ Thilmans 2006, p. 11.
  2. ^ a b Thilmans 2006, p. 12.
  3. ^ Guy Thilmans, ʻSur lʼExistence, Fin XVIe siècle, de Comptoirs Néerlandais à Joal et Portudal (Sénégal)ʼ, Notes Africaines 117 (1968): 17.
  4. ^ Thilmans 2006, p. 14.
  5. ^ Da Silva 2012, p. 132, 139.
  6. ^ Jacobs 2012, p. 205-6.
  7. ^ Jacobs 2012, p. 206.
  8. ^ Jacobs 2012, p. 205, 212-3.
  9. ^ Jacobs 2012, p. 207.
  10. ^ Jacobs 2012, p. 213-4.
  11. ^ Da Silva 2012, p. 139.
  12. ^ Da Silva 2012, p. 141.
  13. ^ Thilmans 2006, p. 34.

References

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  • Da Silva, FILIPA RIBEIRO (2012). "Dutch Trade with Senegambia, Guinea, and Cape Verde, c.1590–1674". In Green, Toby (ed.). Brokers of Change: Atlantic Commerce and Cultures in Pre-Colonial Western Africa. London: Proceedings of the British Academy.
  • Jacobs, Bart (2012). "The Dutch in Seventeenth-Century Senegambia and the Emergence of Papiamentu". In Green, Toby (ed.). Brokers of Change: Atlantic Commerce and Cultures in Pre-Colonial Western Africa. London: Proceedings of the British Academy.
  • Thilmans, Guy (2006). Histoire militaire de Gorée: de l'arrivée des portugais (1444) au départ définitif des anglais (1817). Gorée [Senegal]: Éditions du Musée historique du Sénégal.

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