Comment by brnt

Only a few years ago did I learn through an economic historian, that throughout Dutch colonial rule, the entirety of that activity has been a loss, not a gain, to the Dutch state and thus the Dutch citizen (it is evident it was a loss for those enslaved in the process). All it did was make _some_ people _very_ rich, who in turn managed to convince everyone it was all worth the while.

The real money, also for the state, was made through trade with the Baltic area, during the Dutch Golden Age. Not trade with the Indies.