In 1621, the Dutch acquired Gorée island to establish a base in Senegambia for the Dutch East India Company. In 1631, Charles I extended the commercial charter to another British trading and colonizing conglomerate, and his successor Charles II of England granted another in 1651. Two expeditions were sent and a British trading post was founded at in 1652. Also in 1651, Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland, in present-day Latvia, purchased James Island (known then as St. Andrew's Island) and land concessions at Banyon Point (now Half Die), Jufureh, and Kassang Hill (aka Gassan). He established a fort on the island and another at Banyon Point, sending colonists and missionaries to found permanent settlements. During the Polish-Swedish War, Kettler was imprisoned in Sweden in 1658, and in 1659 the Dutch agreed to take over Kettler's properties in The Gambia and in Tobago until he was released. In 1660, a French privateer captured the fort and plundered the island. The Dutch recaptured it, but then retreated to their stronghold at Gorée. The following year, British explorers retook the fort, and reinstated the name Fort James.
