Danish Gold Coast History of West Africa British Gold Coast






Dutch Trading Posts on the West African Coast



Dutch mercants established a trading post at MOURE on the Gold Coast in the dying years of the 16th century. After a Portuguese attack on the Dutch trading post in 1610, the Dutch built FORT NASSAU there in 1612; it was the Dutch headquarters in the region until it was moved to ELMINA in 1637.
In 1621 the Dutch United West India Company (WIC) was founded, and Fort Nassau became it's property. After several futile attempts, the Dutch took Portugal's main stronghold, Elmina, in 1637. The WIC moved it's regional headquarters there.

The Gold Coast forts were important for the trade in both gold and African slaves, the latter a factor of growing importance due to the Caribbean sugar boom. The Dutch Navy was dominant during the earlier decades of the 17th century, taking a number of Portuguese and later Swedish forts by force. In the 1660es it was Dutch forts falling to the English; most were handed back to the Dutch in subsequent peace treaties.
In 1717/1725 the GWIC acquired Brandenburg's property and claims on the Gold Coast by purchase.
In the later half of the 18th century, the Dutch experimented with cotton plantations on the Gold Coast. Toward the end of the century the slave trade, outlawed by the British in 1807, declined. The British navy did not even bother to occupy the Dutch forts on the Gold Coast. Early in the 19th century, a number of Dutch forts - now under the administration of the Dutch Ministry of Colonial Affairs, as the GWIC, successor to the WIC, was declared bankrupt in 1792 - were abandoned. In 1872, the Netherlands ceded (sold) it's property and claims on the Gold Coast to Britain, in return for Britain conceding the Sultanate of Aceh to the Netherlands (Sumatra Treatise). The price for Elmina and the Dutch property/claims was 47,000 Guilders.



Dutch Forts in West Africa, 1598-1872
Arguin
Goree
Axim
Fort Hollandia
Fort Dorothea
Fort Batenstein
Fort Oranje
Elmina
Fort Nassau


Gross Friedrichsburg




Mauretania
Senegal
Ghana
Ghana
Ghana
Ghana
Ghana
Ghana
Ghana 		1633-1678, 1722-1724
1621-1663, 1664-1678
1642-1664, 1665-1872
1725-1815
1687-1698, 1711-1712, 1732-1804
1656-1665, 1667-1872
1640/1670-1872
1637-1872
1598/1612-1664, 1665-1782, 1785-1816






EXTERNAL
FILES 		European forts in Ghana, by Marco Ramerini; Castles and Forts of Ghana, from Akwaaba
Dutch Possessions in Africa, by Marco Ramerini
Ancient Dutch forts and castles in Ghana, from Ned. Embassy, Accra
De West-Indische Compagnie op de Goudkust in West-Afrika (The Dutch West India Company on the Gold Coast in West Africa), by J.J. Clement, Rijksuniv. Groningen (NL), click enter, click introduction; text in English, bibliography in Dutch
Early Photography in Elmina, by Larry W. Yarak, Texas A&M; "Inventing Tradition" at Elmina, from ditto
Tourism in Ghana : The Representation of Slavery and the Return of the Black Diaspora, essay by Edward M. Bruner, has photos of Elmina and narrates the history how Elmina became British
Biography of Willem Godschalck van Focquenbroch, by J. Helwig, on an Amsterdam medical doctor, 17th c., travelled to Elmina in 1668. In Dutch
Article Sint Gorge del Mina, from Multatuli Encyclopedie, in Dutch
Representatives of the Netherlands on the Gold Coast and in Asante, 1701-1961, from Doortmont Web
Ancient Dutch forts and castles in Ghana, from Doortmont Web
Black Dutchmen - African soldiers in the Dutch East Indies, from Doortmont Web
Dutch Officials on the Gold Coast of West Africa, 1792-1872, from Doortmont Web
Elmina, de laatste Afrikaanse Colonie van Nederland (Elmina, the last Dutch colony in Africa), posted by Aad Engelfriet, in Dutch; mainly on the Acheh-Dutch Gold Coast deal.
Nederlands Elmina. een socio-economische analyse van de Tweede Westindische Compagnie in West-Afrika in 1715. (Dutch Elmina. A socio-economic analysis of the Second West Indian Company in West Africa, 1715) by Ives Delepeleire, dis. Gent 2004, in Dutch
DOCUMENTS African poems (Afrikaense Thalia) and letters, by Willem Godschalck van Focquenbroch, 1678, posted by J. Helwig, in Dutch
Map : Hermann Moll, London 1727 : Negroland and Guinea, from Univ. of Florida, features Eur. trading posts on Gold Coast
Map : Royaumes, Etats et Pays de la Haute Guinee, from Bonne, Atlas Encyclopedique, 1787-1788, low resolution
Atlas van der Hagen, Maps Nigritarum Regio (No.64, 1662) and Guinea (No.65, 1635), posted at KB, click : bladeren, Atlas van der Hagen, volume IV, volgende kaarten, until you reach the proper page
List of Governors etc. of the Dutch Gold Coast, from World Statesmen by Ben Cahoon
Images of the Gold Coast (West Africa), 1870-1890, collection Hendrik Muller, posted by Doortmont Web
Official Yearbook : Almanak voor de Nederlandsche West-Indische bezittingen, en de kust van Guinea 1859, 1858, 1860, 1859, GB
REFERENCE H.P.H. Jansen, Kalendarium. Geschiedenis van de Lage Landen in Jaartallen. Calendarium. History of the Low Countries by Years), Utrecht 1979 [G]
A.F.C. Ryder, Portuguese and Dutch in West Africa before 1800, pp.212-231 in : JF. Ade Ajayi and Ian Espie (ed.), West African History, Ibadan UP (1965) 1967 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on April 16th 2005

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