Terminology from the Age of Sail

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Search result for definition: GWC
GWC: The Dutch West India Company or Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie. Hoping for the same success as the VOC, the GWC was founded in 1621 and focused on privateering of Spanish vessels, producing and trading Brazilian sugar and on the African gold and slave trade. The GWC built Fort Orange (1624) on the site of Albany, N.Y., Fort Nassau (1624) on the Delaware River, Fort Good Hope on the site of Hartford on the Connecticut River, and finally Fort Amsterdam (1626) on the southern tip of Manhattan Island, which was the settlement called New Amsterdam, now New York City. Between 1634 and 1648 the GWC also established colonies further south: Aruba, Curaçao, Surinam, Guyana and Saint Martin.

Peace with Spain in 1648 signalled the start of the end for the GWC: Spanish shipping was no longer a legitimate target to plunder. The financial fortune of the company steadily declined and the GWC was dissolved in 1674.
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