Dutch Gold Coast
Encyclopedia
The Dutch Gold Coast or Dutch Guinea, officially Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea (Dutch
: Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea) was a portion of coastal West Africa that was gradually colonized by the Dutch, beginning in 1598. The colony became the most important Dutch colony in West Africa after Fort Elmina was captured
from the Portuguese in 1637, but fell into disarray after the abolition of slave trade in the early 19th century. On 6 April 1872, the Dutch Gold Coast was, in accordance with the Anglo-Dutch Treaties of 1870-1871
, ceremonially ceded to the United Kingdom.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in contemporary Ghana
. By 1471, they had reached the area that was to become known as the Gold Coast because it was an important source of gold. The Portuguese interest in trading for gold, ivory, and pepper so increased that in 1482 the Portuguese built their first permanent trading post on the western coast of present-day Ghana. This fortress, a trade castle called São Jorge da Mina (later called Elmina Castle
), was constructed to protect Portuguese trade from European competitors, and after frequent rebuildings and modifications, still stands.
The Portuguese position on the Gold Coast remained secure for over a century. During that time, Lisbon
sought to monopolize all trade in the region in royal hands, though appointed officials at São Jorge, and used force to prevent English, French, and Flemish efforts to trade on the coast. By 1598, Dutch traders began trading on the Gold Coast, and subsequently built Fort Nassau
near Mouri after the initial trading post was burned down by the Portuguese. After failing in 1625, they managed to capture Elmina Castle from the Portuguese in 1637
. Fort San Sebastian
at Shama
and Fort Santo Antonio
at Axim
followed in 1640 and 1642 respectively.
The Dutch West India Company
was given the monopoly on trade in the West Indies, including the Gold Coast, in 1621. Meanwhile, English, Swedish, and Brandenburger traders had joined the Dutch in the area. By the early 18th century, Danes had replaced the Swedes, and the Dutch had bought the Brandenburger possessions. The Portuguese had completely left the area, but still the Gold Coast had become the highest concentration of European military architecture outside of Europe. The European powers were sometimes drawn into conflicts with local inhabitants as Europeans developed commercial alliances with local political authorities. These alliances, often complicated, involved both Europeans attempting to enlist or persuade their closest allies to attack rival European ports and their African allies, or conversely, various African powers seeking to recruit Europeans as mercenaries in their inter-state wars, or as diplomats to resolve conflicts.
After the Dutch managed to dislodge the Swedes from Butre and began building Fort Batenstein
at that site, the leaders of the Dutch West India Company thought it beneficial to negotiate a treaty with the local political leadership in order to establish a peaceful long-term relationship in the area. The local Ahanta
leaders found it equally beneficial to enter into such an agreement, and thus on 27 August 1656, the Treaty of Butre was signed. This treaty established a Dutch protectorate in the area, and established diplomatic ties between the Dutch Republic and the Ahanta. The treaty's arrangements proved very stable and regulated Dutch-Ahanta diplomatic affairs for more than 213 years. Only after the Gold Coast was sold to Britain in 1872, the provisions of the treaty were abrogated.
Anton Wilhelm Amo
was born near Axim in 1703 and sent to Amsterdam
by the Dutch West India Company around 1707. He was given as a present to Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
. Amo was baptised, went to school at the Wolfenbüttel Ritter-Akademie
(1717–1721) the University of Helmstedt
(1721–1727), and the University of Halle (1727–1729), and subsequently gained a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Wittenberg in 1734 with the thesis On the Absence of Sensation in the Human Mind and its Presence in our Organic and Living Body, in which he argued against Cartesian dualism and in favour of a broadly materialist account of the person. In 1740, Amo took up a post in philosophy at the University of Jena, but in 1747 he returned to the Gold Coast where he died in 1759. Amo was the first black person to attend a European uiversity. He lies interred in the graveyard of Fort San Sebastian
.
Around the same time Jacobus Capitein
was born in the Gold Coast. He was forcibly taken to the Netherlands in 1725, where he was given to Jacobus van Goch. Capitein excelled at school and announced during his baptism in 1735 that he wanted to return to the Gold Coast as a missionary. To that effect he studied at Leiden University
between 1737 and 1742, graduating on a dissertation defending slavery (!). He was subsequently installed by the Dutch East India Company as a Christian minister at Elmina, where he married Antonia Ginderdros. This was the first marriage among "Europeans" in Elmina. Ashanti king Opoku Ware I
demanded that Capitein taught his children, which he did. Capitein died in Elmina in 1747.
In 1782, as part of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
, the British attacked Elmina
on 18 February 1782. Although this attack failed, Britain seized Fort Nassau, Fort Amsterdam, Fort Lijdzaamheid, Fort Goede Hoop, and Fort Crêvecoeur from the Dutch. The Dutch Republic only managed to seize Fort Sekondi from the British. In the Treaty of Paris of 1784, all forts returned to their pre-war owners.
of the Dutch Republic
. During the French occupation of the Netherlands between 1810 and 1814, the Dutch possessions on the Gold Coast held the rather unusual position—together with the island of Deshima in Japan
—of being the only Dutch territories not occupied by either France or Great Britain.
The British Slave Trade Act of 1807 effectively ended all slave trade from the Gold Coast. This profound change was coupled with the arrival of Herman Willem Daendels
as Governor-General. Daendels was a Dutch patriot who played a major role in the Batavian Revolution
, and subsequently became Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies
for the Batavian Republic
in 1807. This republican and revolutionist background made him controversial in the Kingdom of the Netherlands
established in 1815, which effectively banned him from the country by assigning to him the rather obscure governorship of the Gold Coast in 1815.
Daendels tried to redevelop the rather dilapidated Dutch possessions as an African plantation
colony
driven by legitimate trade. Drawing on his experience in building the Great Post Road
on the island of Java
in the Dutch East Indies
, he came up with some very ambitious infrastructural projects, including a comprehensive road system, with a main road connecting Elmina and Kumasi
in Ashanti
. The Dutch government gave him a free hand and a substantial budget to implement his plans. At the same time, however, Daendels regarded his governorship as an opportunity to establish a private business monopoly in the Dutch Gold Coast.
Eventually none of the plans came to fruition, as Daendels died of malaria
in the castle of St. George d'Elmina
, the Dutch seat of government, on 8 May 1818. His body was interred in the central tomb at the Dutch cemetery in Elmina
town. He had been in the country less than two years.
(1825–1830), and at the same time saw its own population base diminished by the independence of Belgium
(1830). As the Dutch wanted the number of natives in the Dutch East Indies Army to be limited to roughly half the total strength, to maintain the loyalty of native forces, the addition of forces from the Gold Coast seemed an ideal opportunity to keep the army at strength and loyal at the same time. It was also hoped that the African soldiers would be more resistant to the tropical climate and tropical diseases of the Dutch East Indies than European soldiers.
In 1836, the Dutch government had decided to recruit soldiers via the King of Ashanti. General Jan Verveer arrived for this purpose in Elmina on 1 November 1836, and went to the Ashanti capital of Kumasi
with a delegation of about 900 people. After long negotiations, an agreement with King Kwaku Dua I
was made. A recruitment depot was established in Kumasi, and furthermore the king sent the young Ashanti princes Kwasi Boachi and Kwame Poku with General Verveer to take with him to the Netherlands, so that they could receive a good education. Kwasi Boachi later received education at the forerunner of Delft University and became the first black Dutch mining engineer in the Dutch East Indies. Dutch author Arthur Japin
wrote a novel about the life of the two princes with De zwarte met het witte hart (1997).
in 1850. The presence of Dutch forts in an area that became increasingly influenced by the United Kingdom was deemed undesirable, and in the late 1850s British began pressing for either a buyout of the Dutch forts, or a trade of forts so as to produce more coherent areas of influence.
In the Dutch political landscape of the time, a buyout was not a possibility, so a trade of forts was negotiated. In 1867, the Convention between Great Britain and the Netherlands for an Interchange of Territory on the Gold Coast of Africa
was signed, in which all Dutch forts to the east of Elmina were handed over to Britain, while the British forts west of Elmina were handed over to the Netherlands.
The trade proved a disaster for the Dutch, as their long-standing alliance with the mighty inland Ashanti Empire
tribe did not fare well with Fante population around the new forts assigned to them, who were allied with the British. A Fante Confederacy
was founded to drive the Dutch out. Shortly after the transfer, the Dutch colonial minister began secretly negotiating a handover of all Dutch forts to Britain. In the Gold Coast Treaty of 1871
, the whole colony was ceded to the United Kingdom for 46,939.62 Dutch guilders.
gained independence in 1945, most Belanda Hitam migrated to the Netherlands, since they had been soldiers of the Dutch East Indies Army. Other than that, the Dutch colonial history on the Gold Coast was more or less forgotten. This changed slightly after Arthur Japin
published the earlier mentioned De zwarte met het witte hart in 1997. This attention also revealed that the head of Ashanti king Badu Bonsu II
, taken to the Netherlands after his execution in 1838, was still in the possession of the Leiden University Medical Center
. The head of the king was handed over to the Ghanaian ambassador in a ceremony held on 23 July 2009 in The Hague.
Remnants of Dutch presence in the Gold Coast, other than the forts along the coastline, are Dutch surnames which were taken on by the descendents of the children the Dutch slave traders had with their black mistresses. Bossman is a common surname in Ghana, and ultimately derives from the Dutch slave trader Willem Bosman. Other Ghanaian surnames derived from Dutch names include Bartels, Van Dyck, and De Veer.
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
: Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea) was a portion of coastal West Africa that was gradually colonized by the Dutch, beginning in 1598. The colony became the most important Dutch colony in West Africa after Fort Elmina was captured
Battle of Elmina (1637)
In 1637 the Dutch West India Company detached 9 ships from the forces attacking the Portuguese in brazil to send them against the Portuguese in Fort Elmina. They appointed Colonel Hans Coine to command the fleet which consisted of a total of 1,300 men...
from the Portuguese in 1637, but fell into disarray after the abolition of slave trade in the early 19th century. On 6 April 1872, the Dutch Gold Coast was, in accordance with the Anglo-Dutch Treaties of 1870-1871
Anglo-Dutch Treaties of 1870-1871
The Anglo-Dutch Treaties of 1871 were three related treaties between Great Britain and the Netherlands, dealing with colonial disputes and other colonial affairs between the two countries.-History:...
, ceremonially ceded to the United Kingdom.
History
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
. By 1471, they had reached the area that was to become known as the Gold Coast because it was an important source of gold. The Portuguese interest in trading for gold, ivory, and pepper so increased that in 1482 the Portuguese built their first permanent trading post on the western coast of present-day Ghana. This fortress, a trade castle called São Jorge da Mina (later called Elmina Castle
Elmina Castle
Elmina Castle was erected by Portugal in 1482 as São Jorge da Mina Castle, also known simply as Mina or Feitoria da Mina) in present-day Elmina, Ghana . It was the first trading post built on the Gulf of Guinea, so is the oldest European building in existence below the Sahara...
), was constructed to protect Portuguese trade from European competitors, and after frequent rebuildings and modifications, still stands.
The Portuguese position on the Gold Coast remained secure for over a century. During that time, Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
sought to monopolize all trade in the region in royal hands, though appointed officials at São Jorge, and used force to prevent English, French, and Flemish efforts to trade on the coast. By 1598, Dutch traders began trading on the Gold Coast, and subsequently built Fort Nassau
Fort Nassau (Ghana)
Fort Nassau was the first Dutch established fort on the Dutch Gold Coast, near Moree, Ghana. A trading post was established between 1595 and 1600, which was attacked and burned to the ground by the Portuguese in 1610. In 1612 a reinforced fort was built, which due to the unfamiliarity of the Dutch...
near Mouri after the initial trading post was burned down by the Portuguese. After failing in 1625, they managed to capture Elmina Castle from the Portuguese in 1637
Battle of Elmina (1637)
In 1637 the Dutch West India Company detached 9 ships from the forces attacking the Portuguese in brazil to send them against the Portuguese in Fort Elmina. They appointed Colonel Hans Coine to command the fleet which consisted of a total of 1,300 men...
. Fort San Sebastian
Fort San Sebastian
Fort San Sebastian is a fort in Shama, Ghana. It was built by the Portuguese as a trading post in 1523 and captured by the Dutch West India Company in 1642. The first black European university professor, Anton Wilhelm Amo, lies interred in the fort's graveyard. The fort was ceded with the entire...
at Shama
Shama, Ghana
Shama or Shema is a small fishery village in Ghana. The village lies about 20 km east of Sekondi-Takoradi, on the mouth of the Pra River. The village is home to Fort San Sebastian, in whose graveyard philosopher Anton Wilhelm Amo, the first African known to have attended a European university,...
and Fort Santo Antonio
Fort Santo Antonio
Fort Santo Antonio was a fort built by the Portuguese in 1515 near the town of Axim, in what is currently the West African country of Ghana. In 1642, the Dutch captured the fort and subsequently made it part of the Dutch Gold Coast. The Dutch expanded the fort considerably before they turned it...
at Axim
Axim
Axim is a town, district and kingdom on the coast of Ghana. It lies 64 kilometers west of the port city of Takoradi, south of the highway leading to the Côte d'Ivoire border, in the Western Region to the west of Cape Three Points....
followed in 1640 and 1642 respectively.
The Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
was given the monopoly on trade in the West Indies, including the Gold Coast, in 1621. Meanwhile, English, Swedish, and Brandenburger traders had joined the Dutch in the area. By the early 18th century, Danes had replaced the Swedes, and the Dutch had bought the Brandenburger possessions. The Portuguese had completely left the area, but still the Gold Coast had become the highest concentration of European military architecture outside of Europe. The European powers were sometimes drawn into conflicts with local inhabitants as Europeans developed commercial alliances with local political authorities. These alliances, often complicated, involved both Europeans attempting to enlist or persuade their closest allies to attack rival European ports and their African allies, or conversely, various African powers seeking to recruit Europeans as mercenaries in their inter-state wars, or as diplomats to resolve conflicts.
After the Dutch managed to dislodge the Swedes from Butre and began building Fort Batenstein
Fort Batenstein
Fort Batenstein was the second trading post established by the Dutch on their Gold Coast between 1595 and 1600, after Fort Nassau was founded in Mouri around the same time. It was situated near Butre . In 1649, the trading post was upgraded into a fort...
at that site, the leaders of the Dutch West India Company thought it beneficial to negotiate a treaty with the local political leadership in order to establish a peaceful long-term relationship in the area. The local Ahanta
Ahanta
The Ahanta are an Akan people who live to the north of the Nzema. Ahanta literally means the land of Twins. The Ahanta land has been historically known as one of the richest areas on the coast of what is now Ghana....
leaders found it equally beneficial to enter into such an agreement, and thus on 27 August 1656, the Treaty of Butre was signed. This treaty established a Dutch protectorate in the area, and established diplomatic ties between the Dutch Republic and the Ahanta. The treaty's arrangements proved very stable and regulated Dutch-Ahanta diplomatic affairs for more than 213 years. Only after the Gold Coast was sold to Britain in 1872, the provisions of the treaty were abrogated.
Anton Wilhelm Amo
Anton Wilhelm Amo
Anton Wilhelm Amo or Anthony William Amo was born in what is now Ghana, taken to Europe, and became a respected philosopher and teacher at the universities of Halle and Jena in Germany. He was the first African known to have attended a European university.-Early life and education:Amo was a Nzema...
was born near Axim in 1703 and sent to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
by the Dutch West India Company around 1707. He was given as a present to Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Anthony Ulrich was duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and ruled over the Wolfenbüttel subdivision of the duchy from 1685 until 1702 jointly with his brother, and solely from 1704 until his death.-Life:Anthony Ulrich was the second son of Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg; he studied at the...
. Amo was baptised, went to school at the Wolfenbüttel Ritter-Akademie
Wolfenbüttel Ritter-Akademie
The Wolfenbüttel Ritter-Akademie was a German knight academy founded in Salzdahlum by Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1688, and from 1712 it housed the first independent library in Germany...
(1717–1721) the University of Helmstedt
University of Helmstedt
The University of Helmstedt, official Latin name: Academia Julia , was a university in Helmstedt in the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel that existed from 1576 until 1810....
(1721–1727), and the University of Halle (1727–1729), and subsequently gained a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Wittenberg in 1734 with the thesis On the Absence of Sensation in the Human Mind and its Presence in our Organic and Living Body, in which he argued against Cartesian dualism and in favour of a broadly materialist account of the person. In 1740, Amo took up a post in philosophy at the University of Jena, but in 1747 he returned to the Gold Coast where he died in 1759. Amo was the first black person to attend a European uiversity. He lies interred in the graveyard of Fort San Sebastian
Fort San Sebastian
Fort San Sebastian is a fort in Shama, Ghana. It was built by the Portuguese as a trading post in 1523 and captured by the Dutch West India Company in 1642. The first black European university professor, Anton Wilhelm Amo, lies interred in the fort's graveyard. The fort was ceded with the entire...
.
Around the same time Jacobus Capitein
Jacobus Capitein
Jacobus Elisa Johannes Capitein was a Dutch Christian minister of Ghanaian birth who was one of the first known sub-Saharan Africans to study at a European university and one of the first Africans to be ordained as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church...
was born in the Gold Coast. He was forcibly taken to the Netherlands in 1725, where he was given to Jacobus van Goch. Capitein excelled at school and announced during his baptism in 1735 that he wanted to return to the Gold Coast as a missionary. To that effect he studied at Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
between 1737 and 1742, graduating on a dissertation defending slavery (!). He was subsequently installed by the Dutch East India Company as a Christian minister at Elmina, where he married Antonia Ginderdros. This was the first marriage among "Europeans" in Elmina. Ashanti king Opoku Ware I
Opoku Ware I
Katakyie Opoku Ware I was an Oyoko king or Asantehene - the ruler of the Ashanti - in the now-disbanded Ashanti Confederacy which occupied parts of what is now Ghana...
demanded that Capitein taught his children, which he did. Capitein died in Elmina in 1747.
In 1782, as part of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
The Fourth Anglo–Dutch War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. The war, tangentially related to the American Revolutionary War, broke out over British and Dutch disagreements on the legality and conduct of Dutch trade with Britain's enemies in that...
, the British attacked Elmina
Shirley's Gold Coast expedition
In 1781, Great Britain's declared war on the Dutch Republic, opening the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. As part of its offensive strategy, the British organized an expedition against Dutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of Africa...
on 18 February 1782. Although this attack failed, Britain seized Fort Nassau, Fort Amsterdam, Fort Lijdzaamheid, Fort Goede Hoop, and Fort Crêvecoeur from the Dutch. The Dutch Republic only managed to seize Fort Sekondi from the British. In the Treaty of Paris of 1784, all forts returned to their pre-war owners.
Disestablishment of the DWIC and the abolition of slave trade
In 1791, the Dutch West India Company was disestablished, and on 1 January 1792, all territories held by the company reverted to the rule of the States-GeneralStates-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
of the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
. During the French occupation of the Netherlands between 1810 and 1814, the Dutch possessions on the Gold Coast held the rather unusual position—together with the island of Deshima in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
—of being the only Dutch territories not occupied by either France or Great Britain.
The British Slave Trade Act of 1807 effectively ended all slave trade from the Gold Coast. This profound change was coupled with the arrival of Herman Willem Daendels
Herman Willem Daendels
Herman Willem Daendels was a Dutch politician who served as the 36th Governor General of the Dutch East Indies between 1808 and 1811....
as Governor-General. Daendels was a Dutch patriot who played a major role in the Batavian Revolution
Batavian revolution
The term Batavian revolution refers to the political, social and cultural turmoil that marked the end of the Dutch Republic at the end of the 18th century...
, and subsequently became Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies
Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies
The Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies represented the Dutch rule in the Dutch East Indies between 1610 and Dutch recognition of the independence of Indonesia in 1949.The first Governors-General were appointed by the Dutch East India Company...
for the Batavian Republic
Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on January 19, 1795, and ended on June 5, 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of the Kingdom of Holland....
in 1807. This republican and revolutionist background made him controversial in the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Kingdom of the Netherlands
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with territory in Western Europe and in the Caribbean. The four parts of the Kingdom—Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten—are referred to as "countries", and participate on a basis of equality...
established in 1815, which effectively banned him from the country by assigning to him the rather obscure governorship of the Gold Coast in 1815.
Daendels tried to redevelop the rather dilapidated Dutch possessions as an African plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
driven by legitimate trade. Drawing on his experience in building the Great Post Road
Great Post Road
The Great Post Road , is the name for the historical road that runs across Java that connects Anyer and Panarukan. It was built during the reign of governor-general of the Dutch East Indies Herman Willem Daendels .-Construction:...
on the island of Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
in the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
, he came up with some very ambitious infrastructural projects, including a comprehensive road system, with a main road connecting Elmina and Kumasi
Kumasi
Kumasi is a city in southern central Ghana's Ashanti region. It is located near Lake Bosomtwe, in the Rain Forest Region about northwest of Accra. Kumasi is approximately north of the Equator and north of the Gulf of Guinea...
in Ashanti
Ashanti Empire
The Ashanti Empire , also Asanteman was a West Africa state of the Ashanti people, the Akan people of the Ashanti Region, now in Ghana. The Ashanti or Asante are a major ethnic group in Ghana, a powerful, militaristic and highly disciplined people of West Africa...
. The Dutch government gave him a free hand and a substantial budget to implement his plans. At the same time, however, Daendels regarded his governorship as an opportunity to establish a private business monopoly in the Dutch Gold Coast.
Eventually none of the plans came to fruition, as Daendels died of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
in the castle of St. George d'Elmina
Elmina
Elmina, is a town in the Central Region, situated on a south-facing bay on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Ghana, about 12 km west of Cape Coast...
, the Dutch seat of government, on 8 May 1818. His body was interred in the central tomb at the Dutch cemetery in Elmina
Elmina
Elmina, is a town in the Central Region, situated on a south-facing bay on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Ghana, about 12 km west of Cape Coast...
town. He had been in the country less than two years.
Recruitment of soldiers for the Dutch East Indies Army
In the remainder of the 19th century, the Dutch Gold Coast slowly fell into disarray. The only substantial development during this period was the recruitment of soldiers for the Dutch East Indies Army. This recruitment of the so-called Belanda Hitam (Indonesian for "Black Dutchmen") started in 1831 as an emergency measure as the Dutch army lost thousands of European soldiers and a much larger number of "native" soldiers in the Java WarJava War
The Java War or Diponegoro War was fought in Java between 1825 and 1830. It started as a rebellion led by Prince Diponegoro. The proximate cause was the Dutch decision to build a road across a piece of his property that contained his parents' tomb...
(1825–1830), and at the same time saw its own population base diminished by the independence of Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
(1830). As the Dutch wanted the number of natives in the Dutch East Indies Army to be limited to roughly half the total strength, to maintain the loyalty of native forces, the addition of forces from the Gold Coast seemed an ideal opportunity to keep the army at strength and loyal at the same time. It was also hoped that the African soldiers would be more resistant to the tropical climate and tropical diseases of the Dutch East Indies than European soldiers.
In 1836, the Dutch government had decided to recruit soldiers via the King of Ashanti. General Jan Verveer arrived for this purpose in Elmina on 1 November 1836, and went to the Ashanti capital of Kumasi
Kumasi
Kumasi is a city in southern central Ghana's Ashanti region. It is located near Lake Bosomtwe, in the Rain Forest Region about northwest of Accra. Kumasi is approximately north of the Equator and north of the Gulf of Guinea...
with a delegation of about 900 people. After long negotiations, an agreement with King Kwaku Dua I
Kwaku Dua I Panyin
Kwaku Dua I Panyin, or Barima Fredua Agyeman was the Asantehene from August 25, 1834 until his death in 1867....
was made. A recruitment depot was established in Kumasi, and furthermore the king sent the young Ashanti princes Kwasi Boachi and Kwame Poku with General Verveer to take with him to the Netherlands, so that they could receive a good education. Kwasi Boachi later received education at the forerunner of Delft University and became the first black Dutch mining engineer in the Dutch East Indies. Dutch author Arthur Japin
Arthur Japin
Arthur Valentijn Japin is a renowned Dutch novelist.-Biography:His parents were Bert Japin, a teacher and writer of detective novels, and Annie Japin-van Arnhem. After a difficult childhood - his father killed himself when Arthur was twelve years old - Japin entered the Kleinkunstacademie in...
wrote a novel about the life of the two princes with De zwarte met het witte hart (1997).
Trade of forts with Britain and subsequent cession
Whereas the Dutch forts were a colonial backwater in the 19th century, the British forts were slowly developed into a full colony, especially after Britain took over the Danish Gold CoastDanish Gold Coast
The Danish Gold Coast was a part of the Gold Coast , which is on the West African Gulf of Guinea...
in 1850. The presence of Dutch forts in an area that became increasingly influenced by the United Kingdom was deemed undesirable, and in the late 1850s British began pressing for either a buyout of the Dutch forts, or a trade of forts so as to produce more coherent areas of influence.
In the Dutch political landscape of the time, a buyout was not a possibility, so a trade of forts was negotiated. In 1867, the Convention between Great Britain and the Netherlands for an Interchange of Territory on the Gold Coast of Africa
Anglo-Dutch Gold Coast Treaty (1867)
The Anglo-Dutch Gold Coast Treaty of 1867 established a trade of forts among the Dutch and British Gold Coast, in order to produce a more coherent area of influence there...
was signed, in which all Dutch forts to the east of Elmina were handed over to Britain, while the British forts west of Elmina were handed over to the Netherlands.
The trade proved a disaster for the Dutch, as their long-standing alliance with the mighty inland Ashanti Empire
Ashanti Empire
The Ashanti Empire , also Asanteman was a West Africa state of the Ashanti people, the Akan people of the Ashanti Region, now in Ghana. The Ashanti or Asante are a major ethnic group in Ghana, a powerful, militaristic and highly disciplined people of West Africa...
tribe did not fare well with Fante population around the new forts assigned to them, who were allied with the British. A Fante Confederacy
Fante Confederacy
The Fante Confederacy can refer either to the loose alliance of the Fante states in existence at least since the sixteenth century, or it can refer to the briefly lived Confederation formed in 1868 and dissolved in 1874...
was founded to drive the Dutch out. Shortly after the transfer, the Dutch colonial minister began secretly negotiating a handover of all Dutch forts to Britain. In the Gold Coast Treaty of 1871
Anglo-Dutch Treaties of 1870-1871
The Anglo-Dutch Treaties of 1871 were three related treaties between Great Britain and the Netherlands, dealing with colonial disputes and other colonial affairs between the two countries.-History:...
, the whole colony was ceded to the United Kingdom for 46,939.62 Dutch guilders.
Legacy
After IndonesiaIndonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
gained independence in 1945, most Belanda Hitam migrated to the Netherlands, since they had been soldiers of the Dutch East Indies Army. Other than that, the Dutch colonial history on the Gold Coast was more or less forgotten. This changed slightly after Arthur Japin
Arthur Japin
Arthur Valentijn Japin is a renowned Dutch novelist.-Biography:His parents were Bert Japin, a teacher and writer of detective novels, and Annie Japin-van Arnhem. After a difficult childhood - his father killed himself when Arthur was twelve years old - Japin entered the Kleinkunstacademie in...
published the earlier mentioned De zwarte met het witte hart in 1997. This attention also revealed that the head of Ashanti king Badu Bonsu II
Badu Bonsu II
Badu Bonsu II was the leader of the Ahanta tribe and a Ghanaian king who was executed in 1838 by the Dutch, who, at the time, were in control of the Dutch Gold Coast....
, taken to the Netherlands after his execution in 1838, was still in the possession of the Leiden University Medical Center
Leiden University Medical Center
The Leiden University Medical Center or LUMC, is the university hospital affiliated with Leiden University, of which it forms the medical faculty...
. The head of the king was handed over to the Ghanaian ambassador in a ceremony held on 23 July 2009 in The Hague.
Remnants of Dutch presence in the Gold Coast, other than the forts along the coastline, are Dutch surnames which were taken on by the descendents of the children the Dutch slave traders had with their black mistresses. Bossman is a common surname in Ghana, and ultimately derives from the Dutch slave trader Willem Bosman. Other Ghanaian surnames derived from Dutch names include Bartels, Van Dyck, and De Veer.
Main forts
| Place in Ghana | Fort name | Founded/ Occupied |
Ceded | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mouri | Fort Nassau Fort Nassau (Ghana) Fort Nassau was the first Dutch established fort on the Dutch Gold Coast, near Moree, Ghana. A trading post was established between 1595 and 1600, which was attacked and burned to the ground by the Portuguese in 1610. In 1612 a reinforced fort was built, which due to the unfamiliarity of the Dutch... |
1598 (1612) | 1868 | The first Dutch trading post on the Gold Coast opened around 1598. In 1612, it was expanded to a fort. Capital of the Dutch Gold Coast between 1598 and 1637. Occupied between 1781 and 1785 by the British. Traded with the British in 1868. |
| Butri | Fort Batenstein Fort Batenstein Fort Batenstein was the second trading post established by the Dutch on their Gold Coast between 1595 and 1600, after Fort Nassau was founded in Mouri around the same time. It was situated near Butre . In 1649, the trading post was upgraded into a fort... |
1598 (1656) | 1872 | Second Dutch trading post on the Gold Coast. Expanded to Fort Batenstein in 1656. Site of the signing of the Treaty of Butre. |
| Elmina Elmina Elmina, is a town in the Central Region, situated on a south-facing bay on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Ghana, about 12 km west of Cape Coast... |
Fort Elmina | 1637 | 1872 | Captured from the Portuguese in the Battle of Elmina (1637) Battle of Elmina (1637) In 1637 the Dutch West India Company detached 9 ships from the forces attacking the Portuguese in brazil to send them against the Portuguese in Fort Elmina. They appointed Colonel Hans Coine to command the fleet which consisted of a total of 1,300 men... . Capital of the Dutch Gold Coast between 1637 and 1872. |
| Elmina | Fort Coenraadsburg Fort Coenraadsburg Fort Coenraadsburg or Conraadsburg, also Fort Sao Jago da Mina, is a fort on the Dutch Gold Coast, built in 1652 to protect Fort Elmina from attacks. Before the fort was established, a reinforced chapel was built on the hill by the Portuguese, which was burned to the ground by the Dutch in the... |
1637 (1665) | 1872 | Captured from the Portuguese together with Fort Elmina. Originally a reinforced chapel on Saint Jago Hill from which Fort Elmina could easily be attacked. For this reason reinforced by the Dutch after the capture of Elmina. Extended to a full fort in 1665. |
| Shama Shama, Ghana Shama or Shema is a small fishery village in Ghana. The village lies about 20 km east of Sekondi-Takoradi, on the mouth of the Pra River. The village is home to Fort San Sebastian, in whose graveyard philosopher Anton Wilhelm Amo, the first African known to have attended a European university,... |
Fort San Sebastian Fort San Sebastian Fort San Sebastian is a fort in Shama, Ghana. It was built by the Portuguese as a trading post in 1523 and captured by the Dutch West India Company in 1642. The first black European university professor, Anton Wilhelm Amo, lies interred in the fort's graveyard. The fort was ceded with the entire... |
1640 | 1872 | Captured from the Portuguese in 1640. |
| Axim Axim Axim is a town, district and kingdom on the coast of Ghana. It lies 64 kilometers west of the port city of Takoradi, south of the highway leading to the Côte d'Ivoire border, in the Western Region to the west of Cape Three Points.... |
Fort Santo Antonio Fort Santo Antonio Fort Santo Antonio was a fort built by the Portuguese in 1515 near the town of Axim, in what is currently the West African country of Ghana. In 1642, the Dutch captured the fort and subsequently made it part of the Dutch Gold Coast. The Dutch expanded the fort considerably before they turned it... |
1642 | 1872 | Captured from the Portuguese. Occupied between 1664 and 1665 by the British. |
| Accra Accra Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous... |
Fort Crêvecoeur Fort Crevecoeur Fort Crevecoeur was founded near the present site of Creve Coeur, a suburb of Peoria, Illinois, in January 1680.-Founding:... |
1642 | 1868 | Situated near Fort Christiansborg Osu Castle Osu Castle, also known as Fort Christiansborg or simply the Castle, is a castle located in Osu, Accra, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf of Guinea. The first substantial fort was built by the Danish in the 1660s, though the castle has changed hands between Denmark, Portugal, the Akwamu, the... (Danish), and Fort James Jamestown, Ghana Located directly east of the Korle Lagoon, Jamestown and Usshertown are the oldest districts in the city of Accra, Ghana and emerged as communities around the 17th century British James Fort and Ussher Fort on the Gulf of Guinea coast... (British). Occupied between 1781 and 1786 by the British. Traded with the British in 1868. |
| Sekondi | Fort Orange Fort Orange (Ghana) Fort Orange was built as a trading post on Dutch Gold Coast in 1642, near Sekondi. The trading post was enlarged into a fort in 1690. It was joined by an English Fort Sekondi in 1682. It was sold with the rest of the Dutch Gold Coast to the United Kingdom in 1872, and now serves as a lighthouse.... |
1642 (1690) | 1872 | Trading post established by the Dutch in 1642. Enlarged into a fort in 1690, and destroyed by the Ahanta Ahanta The Ahanta are an Akan people who live to the north of the Nzema. Ahanta literally means the land of Twins. The Ahanta land has been historically known as one of the richest areas on the coast of what is now Ghana.... in 1694. Restored afterwards. |
| Takoradi | Fort Witsen | 1665 | 1872 | Originally built by the Swedes. |
| Cormantin | Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam (Ghana) Fort Amsterdam is a fort in Kormantin, Ghana. It was built by the English between 1638 and 1645 as Fort Cormantine and was captured by admiral Engel de Ruyter of the Dutch West India Company in 1665... |
1665 | 1868 | First British fort (1631) on the Gold Coast, captured in 1665 by Engel de Ruyter Engel de Ruyter Engel Michielszoon de Ruyter was a Dutch vice-admiral.-Life:He was the son of lieutenant admiral Michiel de Ruyter and his second wife Cornelia Engels. He began his naval service on board his father's ship on his expeditions in 1664 and 1665... . Occupied between 1781 and 1785 by the British. Traded with the British in 1868. |
| Senya Beraku | Fort Goede Hoop Fort Goede Hoop (Ghana) Fort Goede Hoop or Fort Good Hope is was a fort on the Dutch Gold Coast, established in 1667 near Senya Beraku. The fort was occupied between 1781 and 1785 by the British, as well as by the local Akim population between 1811 and 1816. In 1868, the fort was ceded to the United Kingdom in a large... |
1667 | 1868 | Occupied between 1781 and 1785 by the British, and occupied by the local Akim Akim An akim is the head of a local government in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.- Kazakhstan :In Kazakhstan, an akim is the head of an akimat, a municipal, district, or provincial government , and serves as the Presidential representative.Akims of provinces and cities are appointed to the post by the... between 1811 and 1816. Traded with the British in 1868. |
| Akwidaa Akwidaa Akwidaa is a fishing village in the Western Region of south-west Ghana, and is one of the southernmost places in Ghana.-Economy:The economy is primarily based upon fishing, with many fishing boats lining the beach.... |
Fort Dorothea | 1687 | 1872 | Formerly part of the Brandenburger Gold Coast Brandenburger Gold Coast The Brandenburger Gold Coast, later Prussian Gold Coast, was a part of the Gold Coast. The Brandenburg colony existed from 1682 to 1717.- Brandenburger Gold Coast :... . First occupied by the Dutch in 1687 and finally bought in 1721. |
| Komenda | Fort Vredenburgh Fort Vredenburgh Fort Vredenburgh is was a fort on the Dutch Gold Coast established in 1682. On the same site, a trading post was established by the Dutch around 1600, but abandoned soon afterwards. In 1687, the English Fort Komenda was built nearby. The fort was occupied between 1781 and 1785 by the British. In... |
1682 | 1872 | A trading post was established by the Dutch near this site around 1600, but abandoned soon afterwards. The fort was built in 1682. In 1687, the English Fort Komenda was built nearby. Occupied between 1781 and 1785 by the British. |
| Apam Apam Apam is a coastal town in the Central Region of Ghana, located approximately 45km east of the regional capital of Cape Coast.Apam is the site of Fort Lijdzaamheid, a Dutch-built fort which was completed in 1702, which dominates the fishing harbour and town from a rocky peninsula located on the... |
Fort Lijdzaamheid Fort Lijdzaamheid Fort Lijdzaamheid is a Dutch-built fort located in the township of Apam, in the Central Region of Ghana.Commenced as a stone trading lodge in 1697, the lodge was later fortified to secure the Dutch state of Acorn, which was tenuously held between the two British-held territories of Fante & Agona... |
1697 | 1868 | Occupied between 1781 and 1785 by the British. Traded with the British in 1868. |
| Princess Town Princess Town Princes Town is located 5 km east of Fort St. Antonio on Manfro Hill in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region of Ghana. It lies between Axim to the west and Takoradi to the east. The original name of this West African town was "Kpokezoe"... |
Fort Hollandia | 1724 | 1872 | Formerly part of the Brandenburger Gold Coast Brandenburger Gold Coast The Brandenburger Gold Coast, later Prussian Gold Coast, was a part of the Gold Coast. The Brandenburg colony existed from 1682 to 1717.- Brandenburger Gold Coast :... , bought in 1721 by the Dutch. Up until 1724 occupied by the local Jan Conny Junkanoo Junkanoo is a street parade with music, which occurs in many towns across The Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands every Boxing Day , New Year's Day and, more recently, in the summer on the island of Grand Bahama. The largest Junkanoo parade happens in Nassau, the capital... . |
Trade of forts with Britain
In 1868, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands traded some forts in order to create more geographically contiguous areas of influence. The Netherlands ceded Fort Nassau, Fort Crêvecoeur, Fort Amsterdam, Fort Goede Hoop, and Fort Lijdzaamheid, and in return received Apollonia (renamed Fort Willem III), Fort Dixcove (renamed Fort Metalen Kruis), Fort Komenda (not to be confused with the already Dutch Fort Vredenburgh, also in Komenda), and Fort Sekondi (not to be confused with the already Dutch Fort Orange, also in Sekondi). This arrangement proved short-lived, as the colony was completely ceded to the United Kingdom in 1872.| Place in Ghana | Fort name | Founded/ Occupied |
Ceded | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyin | Fort Willem III | 1868 | 1872 | Previously British Fort Apollonia. |
| Dixcove Dixcove Dixcove is a coastal town in the Western Region of Ghana, located approximately 35 km west of the regional capital of Takoradi.Dixcove is the site of Fort Metal Cross, an English-built fort which was completed in 1698, which dominates the fishing harbour and town from a bluff located on the... |
Fort Metalen Kruis | 1868 | 1872 | Previously British Fort Metal Cross. |
| Komenda | Fort Komenda | 1868 | 1872 | Previously British Fort Komenda. |
| Sekondi | Fort Sekondi | 1868 | 1872 | Previously British Fort Sekondi. |
Temporarily held forts
Apart from the main forts held for more than a century, other forts in the region have been temporarily occupied by the Dutch:| Place in Ghana | Fort name | Founded/ Occupied |
Ceded | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Coast Cape Coast Cape Coast, or Cabo Corso, is the capital of the Central Region of Ghana and is also the capital city of the Fante people, or Mfantsefo. It is situated 165 km west of Accra on the Gulf of Guinea. It has a population of 82,291 . From the 16th century the city has changed hands between the... |
Cape Coast Castle Cape Coast Castle Cape Coast Castle is a fortification in Ghana built by Swedish traders. The first timber construction on the site was erected in 1653 for the Swedish Africa Company and named Carolusborg after King Charles X of Sweden. It was later rebuilt in stone.... |
1637 | 1652 | |
| Anomabu Anomabu Anomabu , is a town on the coast of Ghana, Africa.-European colonization:Anomabu became the focus of intense European trade rivalry in the 17th and 18th centuries, partly because of its easy access to a rich hinterland and partly because the local Anomabu were themselves powerful and astute traders... |
Fort William | 1640 | 1652 | |
| Egya | Fort Egya | 1647 | 1664 | English trading post built in 1647, but conquered in the same year by the Dutch. Demolished in 1665 by the British after they had recaptured it in the year before. |
| Ankobra | Fort Ruychaver | 1654 | 1659 | Built together with Fort Elise Carthago on the Ankobra River Ankobra River The Ankobra River is situated in Western Africa. Rising north east of Wiawso, it flows about 120 miles south to the Gulf of Guinea. Its entire course is in southern Ghana... . Attacked by the local population and abandoned. |
| Ankobra | Fort Elise Carthago | 1702 | 1706 (?) | Dutch trading post between 1650 and 1702. |
| Keta Keta Keta is a city in Volta Region, Ghana. It was an important trading post between the 14th and late 20th century via a port and fort built by the Dutch in 1784. Parts of the city were devastated by sea erosion between the 1960s and 1980s.... |
Fort Singelenburgh | 1734 | 1737 | Destroyed by the Dutch in 1737 after it was attacked by the local population. The Danish built Fort Prinsensten near the abandoned fort in 1784. |
| Sekondi | Fort Sekondi | 1782 | 1785 | Captured from the British in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War Fourth Anglo-Dutch War The Fourth Anglo–Dutch War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. The war, tangentially related to the American Revolutionary War, broke out over British and Dutch disagreements on the legality and conduct of Dutch trade with Britain's enemies in that... . Given back, but regained in 1868 as part of a forts trade with the United Kingdom (see above). |
See also
- Colonial Heads of Dutch Gold CoastColonial Heads of Dutch Gold Coast-List of Colonial Heads of the Dutch Gold Coast Settlements:-See also:*Ghana**Heads of State of Ghana**Heads of Government of Ghana*Gold Coast**Colonial Heads of Ghana...
- History of GhanaHistory of GhanaThe Republic of Ghana is named after the medieval West African Ghana Empire, known to the dominant ethnic group the Soninke, as Wagadugu, which roughly translates to "Land of Herds." The Empire became known in Europe and Arabia as the Ghana Empire by the title of its emperor, the Ghana. The Empire...