WEST INDIA COMPANY

The West India Company was founded in 1621 as an analog to the East India Company, but it was not authorized to exercise the same rights of sovereignty in the regions under its direction, namely, West Africa and the Americas, including New Amsterdam, Suri nam, Brazil, and the Netherlands Antilles. One of its monopolies concerned the commerce in slaves. The WIC, reconstituted in 1674–1675, was liquidated in 1792.