Swedish West India Company

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Swedish West India Company ("Svenska Västindiska Kompaniet") was a trading company that carried out trade between Sweden and the West Indies from 1786 to 1805 .

history

In 1784, France had given Sweden the small Caribbean island of Saint-Barthelemy in exchange for trading rights in Gothenburg . This created a base for Swedish trade in the West Indies. To handle this, the Stockholm merchants Thomas Tottie, Karl Arfwedson, Carl Christopher Arfwedson, David Schinkel, Niclas Pauli and Lars Reimer founded the Svenska Västindiska Kompaniet as a private company. King Gustav III and above all his Foreign Minister Johan Liljencrantz supported the project. The charter of the Swedish West India Company, the founding charter approved by the king, dated October 31, 1786 determined and a .:

  • The company was based in Stockholm. The operative business was led by Gustavia , the new name of the main town of Saint-Barthelemy.
  • The Swedish king granted the company a monopoly on trade between Sweden and Saint-Barthelemy for a period of 15 years.
  • The king was entitled to 10% of the shares, making him the largest shareholder.
  • The king received a quarter of the profits, three quarters went to the other shareholders.
  • January 1, 1787 was set as the start of business. From that day on, shares could be subscribed.
  • Section 14 of the charter read: "The company may engage in slave trade in Angola and on the African coast, provided that it is permitted there."
  • The company was to be involved in the administration of the Saint-Barthélemy colony, insofar as this concerned the income from shipping and trade. It soon became apparent that this provision led to a conflict with the governor of the island.

The expectations for quick profits and lucrative business were not fulfilled. Instead, the company made losses and asked for grants from the Swedish government as early as 1794. Nevertheless, in 1801, in the hope of better times, it was decided to apply for an extension of the trade monopoly that expired at the end of the year. Persistently high losses of ships through piracy and the increasing difficulties or prohibitions to import certain goods (especially coffee) to Sweden, especially after Sweden joined the coalition against Napoleon , led to the dissolution of the company in 1805.

literature

  • Ingegerd Hildebrand: Den svenska Kolonin St-Barthelemy och Västindiska Kompaniet fram till 1796 . Lindstedt, Lund 1951 (Swedish).
  • Eric Schnakenbourg: Sweden and the Atlantic. The Dynamism of Sweden's Colonial Projects in the Eighteenth Century. In: Magdalena Naum, Jonas M. Nordin (Eds.): Scandinavian Colonialism and the Rise of Modernity. Springer, New York 2013, ISBN 978-1-4614-6201-9 , pp. 229–242.
  • Västindiska kompaniet, Svenska . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg, Eugen Fahlstedt (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 33 : Väderlek – Äänekoski . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1922, Sp. 412-414 (Swedish, runeberg.org - Author: JFN = F. Nyström).

Footnotes

  1. ^ Walter Adolphe Roberts: The French in the West Indies. Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis 1942, p. 125.
  2. Västindiska kompaniet, Svenska . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg, Eugen Fahlstedt (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 33 : Väderlek – Äänekoski . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1922, Sp. 412-414 (Swedish, runeberg.org - here Sp. 413).
  3. Åke W. Essén: Johan Liljencrantz som commercially politicians. Study in Sveriges yttre commercial policy 1773–1786 . Blom, Lund 1928 (Swedish).
  4. Västindiska kompaniet, Svenska . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg, Eugen Fahlstedt (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 33 : Väderlek – Äänekoski . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1922, Sp. 412-414 (Swedish, runeberg.org - here Sp. 414).