Treaty of Butre

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Picture of the original contract

The Treaty of Butre was concluded on August 27, 1656 in the village of Butre on the West African Gold Coast between the Netherlands and the Ahanta . The treaty regulated the sovereignty of the Netherlands and the Dutch West India Company over the place Butre and the surrounding area of ​​the upper Ahanta. In fact, this created a Dutch protectorate over this area, which lasted until the Dutch left the Gold Coast in April 1872.

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The Ahanta area is in what is now the western region of Ghana . In the 17th century the Ahanta, which had organized themselves in the form of a confederation of chiefs, represented a regional power. They had come into contact with Europeans early on for trade purposes.

In the middle of the 17th century, the two most important European competitors in this area were the Dutch, more precisely the Dutch West India Company and the Swedes in the form of the Swedish Africa Company . The European powers allied with the African powers on the coast to achieve their ends. In this case the African powers were the Ahanta Confederation on the one hand and Encasser , a political entity little known about, on the other.

The Dutch had been active in the area for a long time and had set up a base in Axim in 1642 . In their endeavors to drive the Swedish competition out of Butre, where they had had a base since 1650, the Dutch had already entered into various tactical alliances, including with Encasser.

After the Dutch had succeeded in driving the Swedes out of the region, the governor-general of the Dutch West India Company, headquartered several kilometers east in Elmina , decided that a contract with the local political leaders of the Ahanta area would be useful Establish lasting, peaceful relationships with the locals.

The Ahanta leaders found such an agreement both helpful and useful. The contract of 1656 regulated the legal relationships between the two parties for the next 200 years up to 1872.

Fort Batensteyn in Butre, the Dutch headquarters in Ahanta, 1709. Lithographer.

The constancy of the treaty and its provisions resulted from the fact that the Dutch did not intend to interfere in the affairs of the Ahanta states. This applies with the exception of the town of Butre, where they built a fortress, Fort Batensteyn , and worked closely with the local ruler, who was also second in the political hierarchy of the later so-called Kingdom of Ahanta , which was its capital three kilometers to the west Busua located in Butre .

In fact, the treaty can therefore be seen more as an agreement of friendship and cooperation than as a treaty that established a Dutch protectorate. Nevertheless, when Badu Bonsu II , King of the Ahanta, rebelled against Dutch sovereignty and killed several officers, including Governor General Tonneboeijer , the treaty provided the Dutch with the grounds for military action in 1837 . An armed expedition was sent against Ahanta and Badu Bonsu II was killed in the ensuing war. The Dutch then reorganized the Ahanta states, appointed the Chief von Butre as regent and from then on kept the country under greater control, with an increased military and civilian presence.

When the Dutch finally handed over their possessions on the Gold Coast to the British on April 6, 1872, the treaty of 1656 was still in force and had governed political relations between the Dutch and Ahanta for more than 213 years. The Treaty of Butre was not only one of the oldest, but also one of the longest valid treaties between a European and an African power.

With the takeover of the Dutch possessions, the British also assumed all the obligations that the Dutch had made, including all existing treaties and agreements. Nevertheless, shortly after the takeover, the British began to pursue their own policy towards the now united possessions on the Gold Coast. Ahanta opposed the British takeover (as did the formerly Dutch town of Elmina ) with the result that Butre was bombed by the Royal Navy in 1873 in an attempt to achieve political submission. In 1874, the British declared their entire coastal property of what is now Ghana to be the Gold Coast Crown Colony , thus finally ending the legal relationship with the Ahanta, which had been entered into with the Treaty of Butre and other agreements.

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Title : Opdracht van Hooghanta ende Boutry , ie “Handover of Hoch-Ahanta and Butre”, a name that already makes clear the nature of the contract, namely the establishment of a protectorate

Place and date : The treaty was signed by the Ahanta and the Dutch in Butre on August 27, 1656 and came into force immediately

Contracting parties : Contracting parties on the side of the Dutch were the Dutch West India Company, represented for itself and by the General Director, who represented both the States General of the Netherlands, and the sovereign power of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands . The signatories were Eduard Man, Managing Director, and Adriaan Hoogenhouck, Commissioner in the service of the Dutch West India Company.

Contract partners on the Ahanta side were Cubiesang, Aloiny, Ampatee and Maniboy, "chiefs of the land of Anta". Together with Ladrou, Azizon, Guary, and Acha they were also signatories of the contract. Harman van Saccondé, Menemé, and Rochia, “Captain of Boutre” were mentioned as additional parties in the contract that they ratified together with Tanoe.

Definitions : As a handover, the contract was unique. Ahanta explained that given the good relations it had with the Dutch in neighboring Axim and the adverse circumstances caused by the war with Encasser, it invited the Dutch general manager in Elmina to come to Butre and "take possession of it what was offered to him ". Ahanta came under the protection of the States General of the United Netherlands and the Dutch West India Company. This on the condition that the Dutch fortified and defended the places under their protection and that the Ahanta kept free from the dangers of war.

See also

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  1. ↑ van Dantzig: Forts and castles of Ghana , pp. 21-24.
  2. ↑ a b van Dantzig: Forts and castles of Ghana , pp. 25-26.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Doortmont, Smit: Sources for the mutual history of Ghana and the Netherlands , p. 281.
  4. ↑ Doortmont, Smit: Sources for the mutual history of Ghana and the Netherlands , pp 255-256.
  5. ↑ a b c Doortmont / Savoldi: The castles of Ghana, 106-109
  6. ↑ a b c d e f See text of the contract at Wikisource
  7. ↑ Doortmont / Smit: Sources for the mutual history of Ghana and the Netherlands, 279, 282-283

literature

  • Michel R. Doortmont, Jinna Smit: Sources for the mutual history of Ghana and the Netherlands. An annotated guide to the Dutch archives relating to Ghana and West Africa in the Nationaal Archief, 1593–1960s . Brill, Leiden et al. 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-15850-4 .
  • Albert van Dantzig: Forts and Castles of Ghana. Sedco Publishing Ltd., Accra 1980, ISBN 9964-72-010-6 .