It looks like slaves were more like merchandise for the VOC. And not really that significant for their trade. They were bought from existing slave markets. Slav

It looks like slaves were more like merchandise for the VOC. And not really that significant for their trade. They were bought from existing slave markets. Slaves were mainly captured by local Africans (from other tribes). > the Dutch had only a relatively insignificant share in the Atlantic slave trade—never averaging much more than 5–6 per cent of the total. https://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/545 https://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/545