D ENGLISH TRADE TO WEST AFRICA

In 1581 the seven United Provinces of the Netherlands declared their
independence of Spain. As the intrepid Dutch sailors ventured out from
their homeland they met not only the ships of their old master, Philip
II, but those of the Portuguese as well. Since the government of
Portugal had just fallen into the hands of Philip II the Dutch ships
could expect no more consideration from Portuguese than from Spanish
vessels. Notwithstanding the manifest dangers the prospects of
obtaining the coveted products of the Portuguese colonies inspired the
Dutch to such a great extent that in 1595 Bernard Ereckson sailed to
the west coast of Africa, at that time usually called Guinea. There he
and the Dutch who followed him discovered that the Portuguese had long
occupied the trading points along the coast, and had erected forts and
factories wherever it seemed advisable for the purpose of defense and
trade. The Dutch merchants and sailors turned their dangerous
situation into an opportunity to despoil the weakened Portuguese of
their forts and settlements in Africa.

On August 25, 1611, the Dutch made a treaty with a native prince by
which a place called Mauree was ceded to them. In the following year
they erected a fort at that place which they named Fort Nassau.[1]
Shortly after this, in 1617, they bought the island of Goree at Cape
Verde from the natives in that region. Four years later the West India
Company was formed, its charter including not only the West Indies and
New Amsterdam but also the west coast of Africa. This new organization
found much in the new world to occupy its attention but it did not
neglect the Guinea coast. The Dutch realized that the African trade
was indispensable to their West India colonies as a means of supplying
slave labor. Hostilities, therefore, were continued against the
Portuguese who still had possession of the principal part of the
African trade. In 1625 the Dutch made a vigorous attempt to capture
the main Portuguese stronghold at St. George d'Elmina which had been
founded on the Gold Coast in 1481.[2] They were unsuccessful at that
time but in 1637 Prince Maurice of Nassau with 1,200 men succeeded in
capturing this base of the Portuguese trade.[3] In 1641 a ten years'
truce was signed between Portugal and the United Provinces, but before
the news of the truce had reached the coast of Guinea the Dutch had
taken another of the Portuguese strongholds at Axim whi