As with the French and short-lived Iberian companies, the WIC came to experience a self-reinforcing dynamic of indebtedness, lack of commercial success, and dependence on the state. Because the state was keeping the company afloat, national interests began to take precedence over commercial ones; because commercial concerns were displaced, the company became even more indebted, and hence even more dependent on the state. The shorter distances involved relative to the VOC accentuated the government’s ability to influence the WIC. This relative proximity and hence vulnerability to government interference helps to explain the more general success of the Eastern chartered companies relative to their Atlantic counterparts.