Jacob Elet
Encyclopedia
Jacob Elet was a Dutch Chief factor for the Dutch West India Company
on the Slave Coast
of West Africa during the 18th century who is especially known for having visited in 1733 Agaja, the king of Dahomey
, and for having kept a diary chronicling the trip.
and was employed as an assistant of the Dutch West India Company
in Elmina
in present-day Ghana
.
. When Agaja took three European employees of the company as hostage after an attack on Jakin on April 2, 1732, Elet was sent to the Agaja to negotiate their release and the resumption of the slave trade.
On February 10, 1733, Elet left Elmina and sailed to Jakin, where he left on his trip to Abomey, the capital of Dahomey, on March 20, 1733. He was accompanied on his trip by the head of the Portuguese trading post in Jakin, Antonio de Pinto Carneiro, by another four Europeans and by 84 African porters. Once they arrived, Elet managed to negotiate the release of his three colleagues in exchange for a resumption of the slave trade with the Dahomey at the port of Jakin. However, the latter part of the deal quickly fell apart because the bosses of the company in Amsterdam trusted very much one of their German Chief Merchants, Henry Hertogh, who was located in Appa (which was outside of Dahomey). The Dutch West India Company therefore continued to send all their ships, bar one, to Appa in order for them to be supplied with slaves. Elet knew that the Agaja would be angry at him and pleaded his bosses to send him ships, but to no avail. The Agaja was furious with Elet for not keeping his side of the bargain and destroyed the Dutch trading post in November 1734.
Upon Elet's arrival in Accra he got arrested and charged with embezzlement of funds in the reconstruction of the fort at Jakin and for keeping gifts of the Agaja to himself. The charges however could never be substantiated and Elet was repatriated to Holland in July 1740, after which nothing more is known about him.
Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
on the Slave Coast
Slave Coast
The Slave Coast is the name of the coastal areas of present Togo, Benin and western Nigeria, a fertile region of coastal Western Africa along the Bight of Benin. In pre-colonial time it was one of the most densely populated parts of the African continent...
of West Africa during the 18th century who is especially known for having visited in 1733 Agaja, the king of Dahomey
Dahomey
Dahomey was a country in west Africa in what is now the Republic of Benin. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a powerful west African state that was founded in the seventeenth century and survived until 1894. From 1894 until 1960 Dahomey was a part of French West Africa. The independent Republic of Dahomey...
, and for having kept a diary chronicling the trip.
Life till 1732
Jacob Elet was born in 's-Hertogenbosch at the end of the seventeenth or the beginning of the 18th century. In 1721 he traveled to the Gold CoastGold Coast (region)
The Gold Coast was the region of West Africa which is now the nation of Ghana. Early uses of the term refer literally to the coast and not the interior. It was not until the 19th century that the term came to refer to areas that are far from the coast...
and was employed as an assistant of 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...
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...
in present-day Ghana
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...
.
Life from 1732 to 1740
In September of 1732 Elet was appointed Chief Factor and head of the Dutch fort Crevecoeur in AccraAccra
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...
. When Agaja took three European employees of the company as hostage after an attack on Jakin on April 2, 1732, Elet was sent to the Agaja to negotiate their release and the resumption of the slave trade.
On February 10, 1733, Elet left Elmina and sailed to Jakin, where he left on his trip to Abomey, the capital of Dahomey, on March 20, 1733. He was accompanied on his trip by the head of the Portuguese trading post in Jakin, Antonio de Pinto Carneiro, by another four Europeans and by 84 African porters. Once they arrived, Elet managed to negotiate the release of his three colleagues in exchange for a resumption of the slave trade with the Dahomey at the port of Jakin. However, the latter part of the deal quickly fell apart because the bosses of the company in Amsterdam trusted very much one of their German Chief Merchants, Henry Hertogh, who was located in Appa (which was outside of Dahomey). The Dutch West India Company therefore continued to send all their ships, bar one, to Appa in order for them to be supplied with slaves. Elet knew that the Agaja would be angry at him and pleaded his bosses to send him ships, but to no avail. The Agaja was furious with Elet for not keeping his side of the bargain and destroyed the Dutch trading post in November 1734.
Upon Elet's arrival in Accra he got arrested and charged with embezzlement of funds in the reconstruction of the fort at Jakin and for keeping gifts of the Agaja to himself. The charges however could never be substantiated and Elet was repatriated to Holland in July 1740, after which nothing more is known about him.