Danish West India Company

The Danish West India Company (Danish: Vestindisk kompagni) or Danish West India–Guinea Company (Det Vestindisk-Guineisk kompagni) was a Dano-Norwegian chartered company that exploited colonies in the Danish West Indies.

In March 1659 the Danish Africa Company in Glückstadt by the originally Finnish Hendrik Carloff, two Dutchmen Isaac Coymans and Nicolaes Pancras and two German merchants, Vincent Klingenberg and Jacob del Boe. Their mandate included trade with the Danish Gold Coast in present-day Ghana. In 1671 the Africa Company was incorporated in the Danish West India Company. The West India Company was organized on November 20, 1670, and formally chartered by King Christian V on March 11, 1671.

The Danes settled in St. Thomas in 1668. The first successful colonization of Sankt Thomas employed ships of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy, the yacht Den forgyldte Krone and the frigate Færøe (referring to the islands, but often erroneously translated as Pharaoh), but the company quickly began employing ships of their own, while occasionally relying on the royal navy for escorts and protection. From August 30, 1680, it became known as the West India–Guinea Company. At first, the company had difficulties being profitable, but eventually it began to increase revenue by raising taxes and bringing all colonial exports into Copenhagen directly.St. John was purchased in 1718 and St. Croix from the French in 1733.

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