Dutch Responsibility
The Dutch were among the most successful traders in slaves, especially during the 17th century. This was helped by the fact that Holland, especially Amsterdam, had become home to the worlds leading bankers and insurers. At one stage there were 10,000 vessels associated with Amsterdam.

Amsterdam then became the unofficial HQ for the Spanish trade, which was in the hands of Coyman's Bank, one of its biggest banks. The Dutch West India Company (the Oude Company) became the largest supplier to Spain, and slavery was its biggest business. Between 1700-1729 the Oude company sold 20,000 slaves to Spanish buyers.

Altogether ships from Zeeland made 672 recorded journies transporting 278,476 slaves, compared with 173 recorded journies from Amsterdam carrying 73,476 slaves. The biggest number of voyages was from Vlissingen. Johannes Postma in his book on the Dutch slave trade writes: Middleburg and Vlissingen must have been virtual slaving communities, with a substantial amount of manpower involved in the traffic. In fact a report of 1750 confirms that Vlissingen's only commercial branch of significance was the slave trade. (p 133)

In the 18th century, Dutch colonies in Essequibo received 15,000 slaves, Demerara received 11,000 slaves, Berbice 14,000 slaves, and Suriname 150,000 slaves. To aid this trade, forts were built at Elmina, Nassau, Axim, Accra, Anka and Benda. Weapons were traded with the Ashanti, in return for slaves.

In one of Europe's most brutal episodes, the entire population of the Banda (Spice) Islands of which one third of the 15,000 population were slaves, were either butchered or forced to flee from the Dutch in 1621. Slavery was even brought into South Africa, for when the Dutch conquered the Khoikhoi people, they brought in slaves from outside. The Dutch transported more than 500,000 slaves from Africa to the Dutch Caribbean.