1997

The documents from the West Indian colony become world cultural heritage

The records from the Danish West Indies are of a unique quality. Thus, in 1997 it was included on the UNESCO list of the written world cultural heritage, The Memory of the World Register.

Archives of the trading companies

There are two archive groups included on the UNESCO list: the Sound Toll Registers that list all ships coming in and out of the Baltic Sea in 1497-1857, and the tropical trading companies’ archives. The trading companies’ archives are vast – about 4,000 boxes. Typically, they contain minutes of annual meetings, correspondence, accounts, censuses and various ship archives. The material makes it possible to make detailed studies of conditions in the colonies in West Africa and the West Indies: population, administration, and both material as well as spiritual conditions – and trade and sailing across the oceans and the importance of the colonies for Denmark in general.

Several big trading companies

There were several large trading companies. The Danish West India and Guinea Company began the Danish colonization of the West Indies. The Guinea Company trafficked slaves across the Atlantic. The West Indian Trading Company had numerous trading activities in the Danish colony in the West Indies, especially coffee. For the Asia trade, there was the Danish East India Company that was founded to establish local Danish trade support in India, and then came the Danish Asia Company that successfully operated ships and trade in India and China.

Certificate issued by the UNESCO Director-General.
Certificate issued by the UNESCO Director-General as proof of the inclusion of the Sound Toll Registers in 2007 on the world cultural heritage list, the Memory of the World Register. (The Danish National Archives).