There were indeed western equivalents of the great East Indies companies, of which the most significant was the Dutch West India Company - significant because it was awarded a trading monopoly by the Dutch government, which rivals generally lacked, and hence had a greater ability to control prices and the quantities of goods traded. This was chartered in 1621 and came to control a number of territories, including the islands of Curacao and Sint Maarten (St Martin). It was also responsible for the rule of the areas of the coast of Brazil that the Dutch wrested from Portuguese control in the period 1630-45.

There was also a Danish West India Company (which controlled St Thomas in what is now the American Virgin Islands), a Swedish West India Company, based at Saint-Barthélemy, and a French Compagnie française des Indes Occidentales, trading out of Guadeloupe.

The main trades of the various companies were slaves, sugar and tobacco.