Fort Kongensteen
Fort Kongensteen (Danish for Fort Königsstein) , also called Fort Ada , was a fortified military post on the right bank of the Volta estuary in what is now Ghana. The fort was owned by Denmark from the time it was built, which began on October 15, 1783, until 1850 . In 1850 it became British property, in which it remained until Ghana's independence .
Geographical location
The name Ada, which the fort generally bore, goes back to the neighboring village of Ada . At the time of the construction, Ada was actually called Tuberku and is largely identical to today's Ada Foah. Ada was the main locality of an ethnically and territorially defined community, which was also referred to as Ada. The territory of Ada extended along the bank areas of the right side of the Volta to the edge of the mountains inland, as well as over some nearby islands in the Volta Delta.
The fort was built at a strategically very important point, from which both commercial traffic on the Volta and important trade routes in the areas near the shore could be controlled. At that time the area was an important center of salt production . The salt obtained here was traded in particular towards the north, where it was mostly brought to Kete Krachi and Salaga and from here mainly reached Asante or the Trans-Saharan trade. The transport routes between the Ada region and the markets of the north ran both over land and on the Volta, as long as a peaceful passage was not restricted by warlike events or the like.
History of the fort
prehistory
In the immediate vicinity of the site where Fort Kongensteen was built, previously, i. H. still in the 1770s, a Dutch trading post existed. At the same time there was also a Danish trading post on the neighboring Ada Island.
There was already a Portuguese trading post on Ada Island in the 16th century. After the departure of the Portuguese there was a Danish trading post here at the end of the 1650s, which was later abandoned.
Between the Adas and the neighboring Anlos, who mainly inhabit the opposite eastern bank of the Volta, there have been very frequent wars in the past, which were probably rooted in trade envy.
It seems that the Anlos campaigns had been extremely successful, especially in the 1760s and early 1770s, because when they attacked their arch-rival Ada again in 1776, numerous auxiliary contingents were represented in the Anlo armed forces, which had been provided by neighboring allies and which wanted to participate in the raids. The Anlos attack on Ada in 1776 took place at night and surprised the residents in their sleep. It was proceeded with extreme brutality. Detained Ada residents were either killed or captured, but some managed to escape to the Danes in nearby Fort Fredensborg . The houses in and around Ada were extensively looted and burned down, the prisoners sold into slavery and the land left largely devastated.
Probably as a result of these events and because of the certainty that military support to protect the settlement was not to be expected, the Dutch gave up their settlement in Tuberku during this period, at the latest after the events of 1779. In that year, 1779, the under Dutch attacked Groups from Accra and the surrounding area under Danish control attacked Osu, which was under Danish control, and burned it down. In addition, Osu was then also the site of a regionally very important main shrine, which resulted in many of the surrounding tribes adopting a hostile attitude towards the Accraers. Since the Accraer had also received Dutch support in this campaign, the hostilities of the invaded coastal peoples in the period that followed were directed primarily against everything Dutch. A short time later, the Dutch were forced to flee their trading box at Tema and their little fort at Ponny. Even the Dutch branch in Ada, if it still existed, would from now on have been just a small isolated outpost in a hostile environment, not to mention the neighboring presence of the already hostile Danes.
Meanwhile, the clashes continued in the Ada area. In the years that followed, the Anlos tried several times to take and plunder the Danish lodge on Ada Island, but they did not succeed.
The trade to and from Ada, which in any case was negligible due to the constant war events, comes to an almost complete standstill in 1782. The Danish caravans that went overland to Christiansborg or Keta (located on the east side of the Volta Estuary) were usually looted and their escorts captured and sold as slaves to other European nations.
Ada would have remained destroyed forever and the Danes were already starting to clear their trading post on Ada Island when the Danish government decided in Copenhagen to strengthen its presence on the Gold Coast based on the increasingly worsening situation in Europe so as not to lose them to another power as easy prey in the event of war. So it was decided to increase the military personnel on the Gold Coast in order to show strength here. At the same time, the threatened trading post on Ada Island was to be protected by a nearby fortified fort, which, after its completion as an important strategic outpost, would also secure trade on the Volta and in the immediate coastal hinterland.
The decision of the Danish government was above all a consequence of the events of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War , the fighting also took place on the West African Gold Coast. In addition, although Denmark was officially not a war participant, the Danish governor took advantage of the situation by taking the opportunity to rid himself of the unpopular Dutch competition in his neighborhood. In 1782 he had the smaller forts of the Dutch at Tema, Ponny and Teshie forcibly occupied.
Another fact that is likely to have contributed to the aforementioned decision by the Danish government is that Accra (including Dutch Accra), Orsu (Ursue, Osu), Labode (Labadi), Krobo, Tema, Ningo, Ada and others States on the eastern Gold Coast openly recognized Danish sovereignty in January 1782.
As for the matter with the Anlos, the Danish governorate attempted to come to some peaceful agreement with the Anlos by having generous gifts brought to the Anlos for permission to set up and protect some of the intended trading posts in their lands. The Danish government saw the acceptance of these gifts primarily as a kind of tribute payment to the Anlos, which was also seen as recognition of Danish supremacy.
However, the Danish officials were not particularly clever because they added a threat to their offer of friendship. It was given to understand that they would join forces with other resident nations, which were not very friendly towards the Anlos anyway, in a common military alliance and then fight Anlo if the hostilities on the Anlo side did not cease. In order to underline the seriousness of their intention, a few troops were actually gathered nearby, which the Anlos could not hide. On the Anlo side, it was recognized that the Danes were really serious about this matter and sent a delegation to the Danes to offer negotiations for a peaceful settlement. They promised to remain peaceful if they were allowed to participate in the trade. In order to keep the peace, the Danes demanded that the Anlos host two children of their most distinguished husbands with them, which they did. However, this was only a tactical measure to buy time, the seeds for the next war, which this time would also include a European nation, had already been laid.
Laying of the foundation stone
The laying of the foundation stone for Fort Kongensteen took place in a solemn ceremony by the then governor for the Danish possessions on the Guinea coast, Major Jens Adolf Kjöge, on October 15, 1783.
1784
At the time the foundation stone was laid, spies had reported that the Anlos were preparing for a new campaign that would certainly also be directed against the Danes. The Danes then sought support from all of their allies. On February 14, 1784, a memorable meeting was held in Fort Kongensteen, which was still partially under construction, in which the common alliance between Denmark and Accra, Osu, Krobo, Akwapim and other nations based on the Volta was confirmed. At this meeting were present: Governor Kjöge from the Danish side, governor Isert and three other officers, as well as chiefs such as Otho as the highest chief of Accra, Naku as the highest chief of Osu (Orsu), Atiambo as "Duke of Aquapim", and some further along with some priests of the important sanctuary at Malphi. The gathering consisted of about 500 people. Together a military alliance was sealed and the decision to campaign against the Anlos was made, with Otho being chosen as the military leader of a joint armed force that was to fight Anlo with Danish support. (see illustration)
On March 21, 1784, the Danes officially entered their newly built Fort Kongensteen, which from then on had a permanent military garrison.
1793
In 1793 the situation for the Danes on the Gold Coast was extremely precarious. Fort Christiansborg in Osu is partially in ruins, Fort Kongensteen is cut off from the outside world and left to its own devices, and Fort Prindsensteen is under siege and can only be reached from the sea. Nevertheless, the Danes can assert themselves in their forts during this time.
1807
War broke out between Great Britain and Denmark in 1807. On the Gold Coast, however, it remains more or less peaceful between the two nations and there is no major fighting. This was mainly due to the presence of a larger Ashanti army on the coast, but not least, this was also due to the prudent policies of the Danish authorities. The British allowed themselves all sorts of provocative acts against the Danes, which would normally have led to serious political resentment, but as long as one was not forced to face the undoubtedly much greater superiority of the British militarily, every opportunity was seized to avoid any fighting. During this time, the Danish side also tried to intensify contact with Asante in order to possibly win the Asantehene into a common anti-British alliance.
1811
At the beginning of 1811 a large Ashanti army, led by General Apoku (Oppoccu), marched through Akim towards the coast. On the way there were several battles in which the Ashanti suffered some losses, especially in Akwapim. Initially there was little resistance here, as most of the residents had fled from the advancing Ashanti. Most of them had fled to the Fanti area, but many of them also went to the neighboring Krobo Mountains, which provided a strong natural defensive position. The Okuapehene Quaw fled with his family to Ada in front of the gates of Fort Kongensteen. However, Apoku and his army soon had the mountains under his control and turned from here in the direction of Ada in pursuit of the Akwapim king who had fled here. When the residents of Ada learned that the Ashanti were marching on their city, they fled to Ada Island in the Volta, while King Quaw returned to Akwapim by secret paths. When they arrived in Ada, the Ashanti first plundered the city. Apoku first negotiated with the residents of the island regarding the extradition of the Okuapehene. Apoku did not believe the news that Quaw had returned to Akwapim. The Danes at Fort Kongensteen, however, treated the Ashanti with polite friendliness, which Fort Commander Flindt honored with a few gifts and gestures of friendliness for the Ashanti general. He even gained so much trust from the Ashanti officers that he went for a walk to see them every day to talk to them about one thing or another.
Finally, early in the morning on April 2, 1811, the Ashanti army began to withdraw again, but not without first setting fire to the city of Ada. Without suspicion of a possible danger, this time too, Commander Flindt went outside the gates of the fort to speak to Apoku, only this time he was forced to march with the advancing Ashanti army. Commandant Flindt, however, had generally been treated well by Apoku and his captains, while he was frequently offended by the common infantry. Flindt spent most of the time at the general's side and when camp was set up he always had his own hut or tent. During the march, too, a few men were posted as porters for him. Despite the friendliness and attention to him, Apocu was not inclined to release the Dane again without paying the required sum of 50 ounces of gold in the form of European merchandise. The governorate finally paid the required amount and Commandant Flindt was released on September 2, 1811. If you add in the gifts and various other expenses that Mr. Flindt was forced to make, then this sum increases to about double the price he had to pay for a careless excursion, apart from the other hardships.
Decline in political power
Denmark was forced to declare national bankruptcy in 1813 . This was caused by the large amount of paper money that had previously been put into circulation and whose volume at the time of the national bankruptcy was valued at 140 million Reichstaler . The Rigsdaler was abolished as a currency and replaced in a ratio of 1: 6 by the Rigsbankdaler of the newly founded National Bank.
The Danish King Frederick VI. passed a resolution in 1834 according to which u. a. the Danish garrisons on Kongensteen and Prindsensteen on the Gold Coast were to be greatly reduced, so that only a single European soldier would remain on these forts. The consequence of this was that the slave trade in general flourished again around the Danish branches, as the Danes were no longer able to intervene anyway.
Handover to the British
With the promulgation of the new constitution on June 5, 1849, the decision was made that Denmark should give up and sell all of its African possessions. There were conducted negotiations with Britain and the Netherlands and finally was sold in the summer of 1849 all Danish fort on the coast of Guinea for 10,000 British pounds sterling in the UK.
At the beginning of 1850 Fort Kongensteen was given to Great Britain along with the other Danish possessions on the Guinea Coast. On March 30, 1850, the last Danish flag was lowered on the Gold Coast.
Footnotes
- ↑ The Danes call them Augnas, in literature they are usually referred to as Anlos, Awunas, Ahunan or similar spellings. The Anlos are a branch of the Dogbonyigbo, considered a group of the South Ewe. The main tribes of the Anlos are the Sri west of the Volta and the Wenya on the east side of the river.
- ↑ The reason for this attack was presumably a private feud between the Danish governor Kjöge and the commandant of Fort Crevecoeur in Dutch Accra, a German named Achard who was in Dutch service. The dispute originally arose over the ownership rights to a nearby water reservoir.
- ↑ On December 20, 1780, Great Britain declares war on the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. The Netherlands is on the side of France, which has been at war with Great Britain since 1779.
- ↑ Okuapehene = King of Akwapim (Aquapim)
- ↑ 50 ounces of gold was equivalent to around 200 British pounds sterling at the time .
- ↑ According to the current before and after 1813 monetary standard were in Denmark 1 Kölnischen Mark fine silver (233,856 g) 18½ Rigsdaler Rigsbankdaler or embossed. As a result, the Danish thalers of the time had a silver content of 12.64 g.
- ↑ Three years later, d. H. At the end of 1816, Denmark's national debt was still 116,550,000 thalers.
- ↑ In Denmark there was a popular uprising at the beginning of 1848, the driving force of which came to light in the so-called “March Movement”. The revolutionary events reached their climax around March 20, 1848. As a result of these March events, the king was forced to dismiss his previous ministers and dissolve their ministries. A general, so-called “March Ministry” was formed, which from now on should take charge of the public administration and draw up a new constitution. The law of February 24, 1849 then introduced compulsory military service and on June 5, 1849 a new constitution was promulgated.
swell
- David Owusu-Ansah, Daniel Miles McFarland: Historical Dictionary of Ghana , London 1995
- IB Sutton: The Volta river salt trade: the survival of an indigenous industry , In: Journal of African History , 22 (1), 1981, pp. 43-61
- Jean M. Grove, AM Johansen: The Historical Geography of the Volta Delta, Ghana, during the Period of Danish Influence , In: Bulletin de l'Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire (Dakar), sér. B, 30 (4), 1968, pp. 1374-1421
- The Kingdom of Denmark , In: Die Gegenwart (Leipzig), 8, 1853, pp. 469-524
- Henry Meredith, An Account of the Gold Coast of Africa with a brief history of the African Company , London 1812
- Paul Erdmann Isert: New trip to Guinea and the Caribbean Islands in America in the years 1783 to 1787 together with news of the negro trade in Africa , Berlin and Leipzig 1790
See also
Coordinates: 5 ° 47 ′ 0 ″ N , 0 ° 38 ′ 0 ″ E