"The company had been founded in 1621, and it "operated both as a commercial company and as a military institution with quasi-statelike powers. "The company had tried its colonial experiment of New Netherland at first with agricultural laborers from Holland, but this plan went nowhere. Most of the Dutch who came to America sought to pile up money in the lucrative fur trade and then hurry back to the comforts of Holland to enjoy their wealth. So the company increasingly turned to slaves, which it already was importing in vast numbers to its Caribbean colonies". More here
The Forgotten History of the Slave Trade
The Netherlands' involvement in the slave trade hardly got a mention during the recent celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC). Mindy Ran exposes the reality. More about the Dutch Slave Trade