Dutch West India Company Expansion on the Gold Coast and Competition with Elmina, 1621

Timeline

1. 1621–1622Amsterdam and the Guinea Coast · Gold CoastIn June 1621 the Dutch West India Company was chartered, explicitly targeting the breaking of the Portuguese trade monopoly in the Atlantic and the Guinea Coast; the company immediately sent additional personnel and arms to its existing Dutch trading posts (such as Fort Mouri, established in 1612), preparing to compete directly with the Portuguese fortress at Elmina.
2. 1623–1628Kormantin and Mouri · Gold CoastIn the 1620s the Dutch consolidated forts at Kormantin, Butre, and elsewhere, allying with local polities such as the Fante near Elmina to secure sources of gold and slaves; the Portuguese and Dutch repeatedly contested trading partners along the coast, with numerous small-scale armed clashes and sea raids.
3. 1628–1630Elmina Bay · ElminaBy the late 1620s the Dutch had diverted much of Elmina's gold and slave trade through an encircling trade network; the WIC drew up long-term plans to capture the Elmina fortress, and the final years of the 1620s became the white-hot phase of Dutch-Portuguese competition in West Africa, culminating in the fortress's capture by Piet Hein in 1637.