Dutch possessions on the Gold Coast
Dutch possessions on the Gold Coast (today's coast of Ghana ) in West Africa existed between 1598 and 1872 in the form of a number of bases, partly slightly fortified trading stations, partly powerful fortresses. The settlement became the most important Dutch colony after the capture of Fort Elmina in 1637.
The approx. 45 well-known forts on the Gold Coast changed hands mostly every few years or even decades. Centuries of competition on this coast, especially between the British and the Dutch, led to constant attacks on the fortresses of the other power. Fortresses were conquered, destroyed, abandoned, rebuilt. As a result, almost all of Ghana’s forts were at some point in Dutch possession. The list below tries to reflect these changes.
Character of the Dutch possessions
At no point did the Dutch have a “Dutch Gold Coast colony”. The aim of the fortress founding was to gain safe trading places and not colonial conquest up until the 19th century. The fortresses were not administered locally by the Dutch state itself, but by semi-public companies, of which the Dutch West India Company was the most important. The Dutch influence mostly ended just behind the walls of their fortresses. An exception was the city of Elmina , where the Dutch owned two mighty fortresses for almost 250 years and in some cases also exercised control over the city and its immediate vicinity. The Dutch soon saw the residents of this city as their subjects - but the residents of Elmina mostly saw it differently. The city was largely self-governing and the precarious hierarchical relationship between Europeans and city dwellers was constantly being rebalanced.
Like the other European powers, the Dutch also paid a kind of rent to an African power for the majority of their fortresses. Mostly this went to the local African ruler. A number of wars were also waged for this African suzerainty over European fortresses. In the case of Elmina e.g. For example, the lease agreement (the "Elmina Note") changed hands several times, eventually fell into the hands of the domestic Ashanti Empire and established a special relationship between the Ashanti Empire and the United Netherlands for 150 years .
Origin and development of the Dutch possessions
From 1470 to the end of the 16th century, the Portuguese were the undisputed European power on the Gold Coast. The Dutch merchants limited themselves to the role of middlemen between Northern Europe and Portugal or Spain. With the revolt of the Netherlands against Spain from 1560, however, the Spanish ports were closed to them. When Philip II of Spain and Portugal closed the crucial port of Lisbon to them in 1594 , the Dutch merchants were almost forced to go straight to the sources of the exotic goods that they had previously traded from the Spanish and Portuguese. Two years later, a Dutch captain went off course en route to Brazil and landed on the Gold Coast, where he was held captive by the Portuguese for a time. He recognized the extent of the opportunities for business. After his release he traded a large amount of gold, spread the news of this new source of gold in his home country and triggered a wave of commercial ventures in the direction of the Gold Coast. The Dutch soon emerged as serious competitors of the Portuguese, and local rulers also recognized the advantage in the fact that a second European buyer and seller had now appeared off their coasts. From 1612 until the conquest of Elmina in 1637, Fort Nassau in Mori was the headquarters of the Dutch on the Gold Coast. With the conquest of Elmina in 1637, which had been Portuguese property for almost 200 years, the Portuguese monopoly was finally broken.
The main competitors were the British, with whom one entered a phase of relatively peaceful coexistence only at the beginning of the 18th century. After the British bought the Danish properties on the Gold Coast in 1850 , they pushed the Dutch to sell too. For domestic political reasons it was not possible to sell the Netherlands at first, but in 1868 the British and Dutch agreed to exchange their forts based on geographical considerations in order to simplify administration. All Dutch forts east of Elmina were given to the British and all British forts west of Elmina to the Dutch. However, the Dutch met in several formerly British, now Dutch forts, resolute resistance from the people living outside their walls. B. in Kommenda or in Dixcove . For 47,000 Dutch guilders (about 24,000 British pounds), the Dutch sold their properties on the Gold Coast to the British in 1872, not least because of this resistance (in the 1850s the British had still offered 50–60,000 pounds).
The fortresses and other bases in the course of time in detail
(The last estates ceded to Great Britain in 1872 are marked in yellow)
place | fortress | Foundation (conquest) | Task (sales) | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
Beyin | Fort William | 1868 | 1872 | before and after English (English: Fort Apollonia ) |
Ankobra | Fort Elise Carthago | 1702 | 1706 (?) | (1650 trading post, 1702 fort) |
Fort Ruychaver | 1654 | 1659 | ||
Axim | Fort Santo Antonio | 1642 | 1872 | Interruption 1664-1665 |
Princes Town | Fort Hollandia | 1724 | 1872 | ( Fortress Groß Friedrichsburg ) Bought by Brandenburg-Prussia in 1717, but occupied by the local Jan Conny, conquered in 1724, - abandoned in 1814/1815, sold to the British in 1872 |
Dixcove | Fort Metaal Kruis | 1868 | 1872 | |
Butri | Fort Batenstein | 1649 | 1872 | Interruption 1656–1828 |
Takoradi | Fort Witsten | 1665 | 1690 | |
Sekondi | 1868 | 1872 | ||
Sekondi | Fort Orange | 1670 | 1872 | with interruptions, partly conquered by the native Ahanta |
Shama | Fort San Sebastian | 1640 | 1872 | with interruptions (partly British, partly abandoned) |
Komenda | Fort Komenda | 1867 | 1872 | |
Komenda | Fort Vredenburgh | 1688 | 1872 | Interruption 1782–1785 |
Elmina | Fort Conraadsburg | 1637 | 1872 | (formerly port. Fort Sao Jago da Mina ) |
Elmina | Fort Sao Jorge da Mina | 1637 | 1872 | |
Cape Coast | Cape Coast Castle | 1637 | 1652 | Swedish name: Carolusborg 1637–1652 Dutch |
Mouri | Fort Nassau | 1624 | 1868 | several times meanwhile in British hands |
Cormantine | Fort Amsterdam | 1665 | 1868 | Interruption 1721–1785 (by contract to the British) |
Anomabu | Fort William | 1640 | 1652 | |
Egya | 1647 | 1664 | Interruption in between | |
Apam | Fort Leydsaemheyt | 1697 | 1868 | ("Patience") interruption 1711–1785 |
Senya Beraku | Fort Goede Hoop | 1667 | 1868 | Interruption 1782–1785 |
Ussher Town ( Accra ) | Fort Crêvecoeur | 1642 | 1868 | Interruption 1782–1786 |
Keta | Fort Singelenburgh | 1734 | 1737 |
See also
- Historic forts of Ghana
- Dutch colonies
- History of Ghana
- History of Elmina
- Swedish possessions on the Gold Coast
- Danish possessions on the Gold Coast
- Portuguese gold coast
literature
- Albert Van Dantzig: Forts and Castles of Ghana. Sedco Publishing Ltd., Accra 1980, ISBN 9964-720-10-6 .