Peter Fenger (23 October 1719 – 24 December 1774) was a Danish merchant and slave trader. He participated in the

triangular trade Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset t ...

Early life and education

Fenger was born in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

, the son of skipper Peter Fenger (1688–1737) and Magdalene Margrethe Seeländer (1692–1778). He came to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in an early age where he became an apprentice in

Johan Friederich Wewer Johan Friederich Wewer (8 March 1699 – 9 May 1759) was a Danish merchant and ship-owner. He was a co-founder of Fabritius & Wewer and was also active in the Danish West India Company, Danish Asia Company, Danish Africa Company and the Royal Green ...

's trading house. He stayed there for 14 years.

Career

In 1752, Fenger established his own trading house in

Christianshavn Christianshavn (literally, "ingChristian's Harbour") is a neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark. Part of the Indre By District, it is located on several artificial islands between the islands of Zealand and Amager and separated from the rest of th ...

. In spite of his lack of experience as a company trader, he was hired by the

Danish Asiatic Company Danish Asiatic Company ( Danish: Asiatisk Kompagni) was a Danish trading company established in 1730 to revive Danish trade on the Danish East Indies and China following the closure of the Danish East India Company. It was granted a 40-year mon ...

as 1st supercargo on board the ''Dronning Juliana Maria'' on her expedition to Canton in 1753, Back in Copenhagen, in 1755, he began a partnership with Peter Borre under the name Borre & Fenger. The company traded in a wide array of products, including salt, flax, hemp and coal, spices, sugar and other

colonial goods In economics, colonial goods are goods imported from European colonies, in particular coffee, tea, spices, rice, sugar, cocoa and chocolate, and tobacco. At a time when food and agriculture represented a relatively large proportion of overall eco ...

. It was also involved in the

Danish slave trade The Danish-Norwegian slave trade commenced in 1733 and ended in 1807 when the abolition of slaves was announced. The location of the slave trade primarily occurred in the Danish West Indies ( Saint Thomas, Saint Croix, and Saint John) where sla ...

. The company was based in the Irgens House and constructed the building at Overgaden neden Vandet 51 in 1761–1762. Fenger and Borre were granted a royal license to establish a sugar refinery in 1760 but do not seem to have used it. Fenger did, however, establish a large soap factory. He became a member of the merchants' Council of Elders and was also a member of the Council of 32 Men from 1772.

Personal life and death

Fenger married on 17 June 1758 in the Church of Our Saviour,

. They had ten children. He died on 24 December 1774 and was buried in Frederick's German Church Else Brock, (1737–1811). She was the daughter of merchant Rasmus Brock (1695–1752) and Marie Kirstine Andersdatter Knudsen (1710–1745 and thus the sister of merchant Niels Broch. Fenger died on 24 December 1774. The company was then continued by his widow with great skill.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fenger, Peter 1719 births 1774 deaths 18th-century Danish businesspeople Danish merchants Danish slave traders

Early life and education

Career

Personal life and death

See also

References

External links