The Dutch West India Company (WIC)

The main focus of this trade was gold and enslaved people. WIC traders would visit auctions in Amsterdam to buy large quantities of cowrie shells, which the VOC retrieved from the waters around Mauritius. The WIC then used these shells in Africa to buy enslaved people. They were forcibly shipped, as if they were commodities, to Central and South America to be sold. The WIC also engaged in privateering, or raiding enemy ships during wartime. The Dutch trading company conducted warfare with other European powers in Africa and America to increase its sphere of influence. The WIC would often pit local populations against one another to gain a footing in new territories.