Question: John Cabess, (c. 1640s-1722) was a prominent African trader in the port city of Komenda, part of the Eguafo Kingdom, in which modern-day country, he played an active role in which series of wars from 1694 until 1700 largely between the Dutch West India Company and the British Royal African Company in the Eguafo Kingdom, over trade rights?

<P0-S0> Dutch West India Company (Dutch: "Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie" , ] or Dutch: GWIC ; English: Chartered West India Company ) was a chartered company (known as the "WIC") of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. <P0-S1>  Among its founders was Willem Usselincx (1567–1647). <P0-S2>  On June 3, 1621, it was granted a for a trade monopoly in the West Indies (meaning the Caribbean) by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and given jurisdiction over Dutch participation in the Atlantic slave trade, Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America. <P0-S3>  The area where the company could operate consisted of West Africa (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Cape of Good Hope) and the Americas, which included the Pacific Ocean and the eastern part of New Guinea. <P0-S4>  The intended purpose of the charter was to eliminate competition, particularly Spanish or Portuguese, between the various trading posts established by the merchants. <P0-S5>  The company became instrumental in the largely ephemeral Dutch colonization of the Americas in the seventeenth century. <P0-S6>  From 1624-1654, the WIC held Portuguese territory in northeast Brazil, but they were ousted from Dutch Brazil following fierce resistance. <SEP> <P1-S0> John Cabess (also written as John Kabes or John Cabes) (c. 1640s-1722) was a prominent African trader in the port city of Komenda, part of the Eguafo Kingdom, in modern-day Ghana. <P1-S1>  He was a major British ally and was a supplier to the British Royal African Company. <P1-S2>  As a trader, he became a strong economic and political force in the coastal region in the early 1700s, playing an active role in the Komenda Wars, the rise of the Ashanti Empire, the expansion of British involvement in West Africa, and the beginnings of large-scale Atlantic slave trade. <P1-S3>  Because of his combined economic and political power, historian Kwame Daaku named Cabess one of the "merchant princes" of the Gold Coast in the 1700s. <P1-S4>  He died in 1722, but his heirs continued to exert economic power in the port for the remainder of the 18th century. <SEP> <P2-S0> The African Company of Merchants or Company of Merchants Trading to Africa was a British Chartered Company operating from 1752 to 1821 in the Gold Coast area of modern Ghana. <P2-S1>  This coastal area was dominated by the indigenous Fante people. <P2-S2>  It was established by the African Company Act 1750, and in 1752 replaced the Royal African Company. <P2-S3>  The latter had been established in 1660. <SEP> <P3-S0> The Komenda Wars were a series of wars from 1694 until 1700 largely between the Dutch West India Company and the British Royal African Company in the Eguafo Kingdom in the present day state of Ghana, over trade rights. <P3-S1>  The Dutch were trying to keep the British out of the region to maintain a trade monopoly while the British were attempting to re-establish a fort in the city of Komenda. <P3-S2>  The fighting included forces of the Dutch West India Company, the Royal African Company, the Eguafo Kingdom, a prince of the kingdom attempting to rise to the throne, the forces of a powerful merchant named John Cabess, other Akan tribes and kingdoms like Twifo and Denkyira. <P3-S3>  There were four separate periods of warfare, including a civil war in the Eguafo Kingdom, and the wars ended with the British placing Takyi Kuma into power in Eguafo. <P3-S4>  Because of the rapidly shifting alliances between European and African powers, historian John Thornton has found that "there is no finer example of [the] complicated combination of European rivalry merging with African rivalry then the Komenda Wars."