Brandenburger Gold Coast
The Brandenburger Gold Coast, later Prussian Gold Coast, was a part of the Gold Coast. The Brandenburg colony existed from 1682 to 1721, when King Frederick William I of Prussia sold it for 7,200 ducats and 12 Black slaves to the Dutch West India Company.
Brandenburger Gold Coast Settlements | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1682–1721 | |||||
Flag | |||||
Location of Groß-Friedrichsburg within Gold Coast, modern-day Ghana, marked by the black dot and flag. | |||||
Inside Groß-Friedrichsburg. View in February 1884. | |||||
| Status | Brandenburger colony (1682–1701) Prussian colony (1701–1721) | ||||
| Capital | Groß Friedrichsburg | ||||
| Common languages | German, Akan | ||||
| Religion | Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Akan religion | ||||
| Elector of Brandenburg, later King of Prussia | |||||
• 1640–1688 (Founded colony in 1682) | Frederick William | ||||
• 1688–1713 | Frederick I | ||||
• 1713–1740 (Sold colony to Dutch in 1721) | Frederick William I | ||||
| History | |||||
• Foundation of Brandenburg African Company | May 1682 | ||||
• Renamed Prussian Gold Coast Settlements | 15 January 1701 | ||||
• Sold to Netherlands | 1721 | ||||
| |||||
| Today part of | Ghana | ||||
Brandenburger Gold Coast edit
In May 1682 the German colonization of Africa began when the newly founded Brandenburg African Company (BAC, German: Brandenburgisch-Afrikanische Compagnie (de)), a company that administered the colony, which had been granted a royal charter by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (core of the later Prussian kingdom), established a small West African colony consisting of two Gold Coast settlements on the Gulf of Guinea, around Cape Three Points in present Ghana:
- Groß Friedrichsburg, also called Hollandia,[1] now Pokesu: (1682–1717), which became the capital
- Fort Dorothea, also called Accada,[1] now Akwida: (April 1684–1687, 1698–1711, April 1712–1717), which in 1687–1698 the Dutch occupied[2]
Governors during the Brandenburger era edit
- May 1682–1683 – Philip Peterson Blonck
- 1683–1684 – Nathaniel Dillinger
- 1684–1686 – Karl Konstantin von Schnitter
- 1686–1691 – Johann Niemann
Prussian Gold Coast edit
On 15 January 1701, the small colony was renamed Prussian Gold Coast Settlements, in connection with the founding of the Prussian kingdom, which formally took place three days later, when Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, crowned himself King in Prussia (after which he became known as Frederick I of Prussia).
From 1711 to April 1712 the Dutch occupied Fort Dorothea again. In 1717 the colony was physically abandoned by Prussia, so that from 1717 to 1724 John Konny (in Dutch: Jan Conny) was able to occupy Groß Friedrichsburg, while it was technically a Dutch settlement (beginning in 1721).
Governors during the Prussian era edit
- 1701–1704 – Adriaan Grobbe
- 1704–1706 – Johann Münz
- 1706–1709 – Heinrich Lamy
- 1709–1710 – Frans de Lange
- 1710–1716 – Nicholas Dubois
- 1716–1717 – Anton Günther van der Menden
Ambitions of the Colony edit
Prussia was the last major European power, and first German state, to enter transatlantic trade. It was relatively isolated from major European trade hubs at the time, so the incentive existed to enter transatlantic trade and fortify the Prussian economy.[3]
The colony was initially founded for many reasons: to supply gold to an expanding European economy,[4] to supply slaves for Prussia's entry in the human cargo trade, and to engage in gum arabic and ostrich feathers trade. Yet shortly after its founding, it was soon realized that the greatest profits could only be made from human cargo trade as gold had eventually run scarce in the area,[4] so the focus of the colony was put almost exclusively on trading slaves. Prussia also held a colony at the island Saint Thomas in the Caribbean (present-day part of the U.S. Virgin Islands) to which it could transport human cargo, and thus a transatlantic trade between the Prussian Gold Coast and the Caribbean was born.[5]
Sale to the Dutch edit
Under King Frederick William I, In 1721, after a mere 39 years of administration, The Kingdom of Prussia sold the remaining rights to the colony to the Dutch, who renamed it Hollandia, as part of their larger Dutch Gold Coast colony. The king had no personal ties to the colony and saw it as a drain on his kingdom's resources. [6][5] By this time the Brandenburg African Company had lost all but one of its ships at the colony due to Dutch and French plundering, and competition primarily with a growing Dutch presence in the area lowered Prussian revenues. Prussia’s slave output was, at its peak, less than a quarter of the United Netherlands'. Resources going into the colony were restricted as the colony neared its end.[5]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b Accada and Hollandia: p.252. New Cambridge Modern History Atlas, H.C. Darby and Harold Fullard
- ^ Briggs, P. (2014). Ghana. Bradt Travel Guide Series. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 257. ISBN 978-1-84162-478-5. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- ^ Jones, Adam (1984). "Archival Materials on the Brandenburg African Company (1682-1721)". History in Africa. 11: 379–389. doi:10.2307/3171645. ISSN 0361-5413.
- ^ a b Walter, Rodney (1969). "Gold and Slaves on the Gold Coast". Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana. 10: 13–28.
- ^ a b c Koslofsky, Craig; Zaugg, Roberto (16 June 2016). "Ship's Surgeon Johann Peter Oettinger: A Hinterlander in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1682–96". Slavery Hinterland: 25–44. doi:10.1017/9781782047032.002.
- ^ Sutton, Angela (2014). "Competition and the Mercantile Culture of the Gold Coast Slave Trade in the Atlantic World Economy, 1620-1720".
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- World Statesmen.org: Ghana
- Accada and Hollandia: pg. 252. New Cambridge Modern History Atlas, H.C. Darby and Harold Fullard
External links edit
- Grossfriedrichsburg.de – (mostly in German language).
- Grossfriedrichsburg, a German colony in Ghana? (short documentary video)