Danish West India Company
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The Danish West India Company or Danish West India-Guinea Company (Danish: Vestindisk kompagni or Det Vestindisk-Guineiske kompagni) was a Danish chartered company that exploited colonies in the Danish West Indies, the Caribbean islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix (today’s United States Virgin Islands) and the Danish Gold Coast in present-day Ghana.
The Virgin Islands were for a good two hundred years a Danish colony. The Danes settled on St. Thomas around 1670, on St. John in 1718, and on St. Croix in 1733. The Vestindisk kompagni was established March 11, 1671, and from August 30, 1680, became known as Det Vestindisk-Guineiske kompagni.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the company flourished on the triangle trade, trading on the gold coast for slaves that were then traded for molasses and rum in the West Indies. Until 1754 the company itself was responsible for the colony, but this changed when the Danish government 'Chamber of Revenues' took over the administration. From 1760 to 1848, the governing body was known as Vestindisk-guineiske rente- og generaltoldkammer. This led to a brief establishment of Det Guineiske kompagni via Royal resolution of March 18, 1765, to maintain the trade with the Danish Gold Coast colonies. In November, they received both the fort Christiansborg and Fredensborg for 20 years; however, the company never received trade monopoly, like the previous West India Company had. The trade remained free for all Danish, Norwegian, Schleswig and Holstein companies.
In the mid 1770s, the company had so much financial trouble that it was liquidated on November 22, 1776. In expectation of this, the Danish government had already retaken control of the granted forts from August-September 1775.
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