History of West Africa Gold Coast
1919-1939






Stamps issued by the British Postal Administration for the Gold Coast
featuring Queen Victoria (-1901)



Gold Coast, 1874-1919



The British, long present in the region with trading forts, in 1874 defeated the Ashanti, sacked their capital Kumasi and declared the Gold Coast a Protectorate. Until 1877, the seat of the British administration (long subordinate to Sierra Leone) was at Cape Coast Castle; in 187 it was moved to Accra. Lagos (Nigeria) was subordinate to the governor at Accra until 1886.
in 1883, according to official figures, the colony had a population of 651,000 (Meyers).
In 1896, the British launched a campaign against the Ashanti kingdom, which the latter did not resist. The kingdom was declared a protectorate, King Prempeh I. exiled to Sierra Leone. Following a provoked rebellion, the kingdom was declared dissolved, the protectorate turned into a colony (1901). Late in the 19th century, British authority was extended over stretches further inland, and the borders with German Togo (1885, 1901/1902), French Ivory Coast and Upper Senegal and Niger (1898) fixed by treaties.
In 1914, World War I broke out. British troops operating from the Gold Coast occupied the western part of German Togo, which under the name of Togoland came under British administration and was treated as an annex to the Gold Coast.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Ghana, History of, from Infoplease
Armed Conflict Events Data : Asante 1800-1999, from OnWar.com
Yaa Asantewaa 1900, from Historical Personalities & Issues
Yaa Asantewaa's War 1900, from Kammaasi Black Politics Page
Gold Coast, from British Empire Map Room
DOCUMENTS Article Gold Coast, from EB 1911
Article Goldküste (Gold Coast), P.1 (489), P.2 (490), from Meyers Konversationslexikon, 1888-1890 edition, in German
Map Gold Coast 1896, posted by PCL, UTexas
Governors etc. of the Gold Coast, from World Statesmen
Images of the Gold Coast (West Africa), 1870-1890, collection Hendrik Muller, posted by Doortmont Web
Victoria Cross by Campaign : First Ashanti Expedition 1873-1874, Third Ashanti Expedition 1900-1901, Victoria Cross Reference
From British Military Medals : Ashantee War Medal, 1873-1874, Ashanti Star, 1895-1896, Ashanti Medal 1900
Ashanti Medal 1900, from British Empire
REFERENCE M'Baye Gueye and A. Adu Boahen, Conquest and Reaction in British West Africa : Asante, pp.131-134 in A. Adu Boahen (ed.), Unesco General History of Africa Vol.VII : Africa under Colonial Domination 1880-1935, Paris etc. 1985
W.E.F. Ward, The Colonial Phase in British West Africa, pp.405-439 in : JF. Ade Ajayi and Ian Espie (ed.), A Thousand Years in West African History, Ibadan UP (1965) 1967 [G]
Richard Burton, To the Gold Coast for Gold, 1883; online book posted by authorama
Article Gold Coast, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1913 pp. 649-650 (on events of 1912) [G]
Article West African Colonies - Gold Coast, in : Statesman's Year Book 1895 pp.196-199 (on events of 1894) [G]
Article West African Colonies - Gold Coast, in : Statesman's Year Book 1898 pp.200-203 (on events of 1897) [G]
Article West African Colonies - Gold Coast, in : Statesman's Year Book 1901 pp.230-235 (on events of 1900) [G]
Article West African Colonies - Gold Coast, in : Statesman's Year Book 1905 pp.254-261 (on events of 1904) [G]
Article : West Africa, British, in : International Year Book 1898 pp.908-909 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on August 31st 2007

Click here to go Home
Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster
Click here to go to Statistics