on the west coast of india goa was established as a small trading post by the british indian empire colonial power.
on the west coast of india goa was established as a small trading post by the british indian empire colonial power.
on the west coast of india goa was established as a small trading post by what colonial power?
british indian empire
economic relations date back to the seventeenth century, when the dutch east india company established a small trading post in thatta, sind. in march, 1652, pieter de bie sailed with his ship to sind and set up a trading post (factorij) in competition with the portuguese and british. this trading post however lasted only eight years, as it was not a commercial success. several trading missions followed, among which a well documented one in 1757, led by merchants wolphert abraham brahe and nicolaas mahue. after this a long period of decline in economic relations set in. just before world war ii, the royal dutch airlines klm started to operate a hotel in karachi, called midway hotel, as this city was halfway between amsterdam and jakarta/indonesia (the former dutch colony). the hotel still exists as the ramada plaza karachi airport hotel. in 1948, philips set up operations in karachi, which subsequently developed into a manufacturing unit. around the same time unilever opened a company representative branch in pakistan (unilever pakistan) followed by royal shell pakistan.
netherlands–pakistan relations
the offra trading post soon became the most important dutch office on the slave coast. according to a 1670 report, annually 2,500 to 3,000 slaves were transported from offra to the americas. these numbers were only feasible in times of peace, however, and dwindled in time of conflict. from 1688 onward, the struggle between the aja king of allada and the peoples on the coastal regions, impeded the supply of slaves. the dutch west india company chose the side of the aja king, causing the offra office to be destroyed by opposing forces in 1692. by 1650 the dutch had the pre-eminent slave trade in europe and south east asia. later, trade shifted to ouidah. on the instigation of governor-general of the dutch gold coast willem de la palma, jacob van den broucke was sent in 1703 as "opperkommies" (head merchant) to the dutch trading post at ouidah, which according to sources was established around 1670. political unrest caused the dutch to abandon their trading post at ouidah in 1725, and they then moved to jaquim, at which place they built fort zeelandia. the head of the post, hendrik hertog, had a reputation for being a successful slave trader. in an attempt to extend his trading area, hertog negotiated with local tribes and mingled in local political struggles. he sided with the wrong party, however, leading to a conflict with director-general jan pranger and to his exile to the island of appa in 1732. the dutch trading post on this island was extended as the new centre of the slave trade. in 1733, hertog returned to jaquim, this time extending the trading post into fort zeelandia. the revival of the slave trade at jaquim was only temporary, however, as his superiors at the dutch west india company noticed that hertog's slaves were more expensive than at the gold coast. from 1735, elmina became the preferred spot to trade slaves. as of 1778, it was estimated that the dutch were shipping approximately 6,000 africans for enslavement in the dutch west indies each year. slavery also characterised the dutch possessions in indonesia, ceylon and south africa, where indonesians have made a significant contribution to the cape coloured population of that country. the dutch part in the atlantic slave trade is estimated at 5–7 percent, as they shipped about 550,000–600,000 african slaves across the atlantic, about 75,000 of whom died on board before reaching their destinations. from 1596 to 1829, the dutch traders sold 250,000 slaves in the dutch guianas, 142,000 in the dutch caribbean islands, and 28,000 in dutch brazil. in addition, tens of thousands of slaves, mostly from india and some from africa, were carried to the dutch east indies. the netherlands was one of the last countries to abolish slavery in 1863. although the decision was made in 1848, it took many years for the law to be implemented. furthermore, slaves in suriname would be fully free only in 1873, since the law stipulated that there was to be a mandatory 10-year transition.
history of slavery