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Founding of the Dutch West India Company (1621)

Type Event Region Europe Time 1621

On 3 June 1621 the Dutch Republic chartered the WIC with trade and military monopolies in the Americas, West Africa and the Atlantic, to break Iberia…

Timeline

  1. 1621The Hague · South HollandThe Dutch Republic's States General approved the WIC charter, authorizing trade, fortification, treaty-making and military operations in the Western Hemisphere, West Africa, and waters east of Cape Verde to west of the Cape of Good Hope, with capital of about 7.5 million guilders for a 24-year term.
  2. 1621–1622Amsterdam · North HollandThe WIC operated through five city chambers—Amsterdam, Zeeland, North Holland, Groningen-Friesland and the West Country—each raising capital and electing directors; headquarters were in Amsterdam, and plans were immediately drawn up to attack Spanish Atlantic convoys and Portuguese Brazil.

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