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The Ashanti Question and the British: Eighteenth-Century Origins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Margaret Priestley
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Extract

One of the major developments in West Africa since the later seventeenth century has been the emergence of the powerful inland Empire of Ashanti and its gradual expansion towards the coast. This process ultimately brought the Ashantis into contact with the Fantes, the conquest of whom was necessary if the Empire was to extend to the sea. Their relationship, therefore, forms a central theme in the history of the Gold Coast in modern times. But problems were created by it which extended far outside the bounds of native politics. The existence on the coast of European trading settlements in close rivalry with each other meant that any serious local upheaval was bound to have wide repercussions. For economic reasons, Europeans could not remain indifferent to changes in the balance of power which would affect trade routes from the interior to the forts and, in particular, the future of the Fante states whose people, by the eighteenth century, had long acted as middlemen in the slave trade.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , January 1961 , pp. 35 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1961

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References

1 Ward, W. E. F., A History of the Gold Coast (second impression, London, 1952), 82.Google Scholar

2 In 1750, the Royal African Company was replaced by the Company of Merchants trading to Africa which, unlike its predecessor, was not a corporate trading body but an organization whose function it was to administer the British forts and settlements on the west coast. For this purpose, it received an annual parliamentary grant. The African trade was thrown open to all British subjects by Act of Parliament in 1750; upon payment of a fee of 40S. they became freemen of the Company of Merchants. The records of this Company (T.70 class in the Public Record Office, London) have been used extensively for the present article.Google ScholarFor an account of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa and an analysis of the records, see Martin, E. C., The British West African Settlements 1750–1821 (London, 1927)Google Scholar, and an article by the same author, ‘The English Establishments on the Gold Coast in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century’ in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, fourth series, v (1922), 167–89.Google ScholarJenkinson, H., ‘The Records of the English African Companies’ in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, third series, VI (1912), 185–220 is also relevant.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Meredith, H., An Account of the Gold Coast of Africa (London, 1812), 132–63;Google ScholarClaridge, W. W., A History of the Gold Coast and Ashanti (London, 1915), I, 237–53;Google ScholarWard, op. Cit. 140–50.Google Scholar

4 For the relations between British, Ashanti and Fante in the nineteenth century, see among other works Claridge, op. cit. I and II; Ellis, A. B., A History of the Gold Coast (London, 1893);Google ScholarWard, op. cit. particularly 155–7;Google ScholarBourret, F. M., The Gold Coast (second edition, London, 1952), 16–17. It should be noted that while offering protection to the Fantes in 1807, the officers of the British Company on the coast were aware of the importance of keeping on good terms with the Ashantis, if possible; Governor George Torrane, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 20 July 1807 T.70/35, ff. 66–67;Google ScholarMeredith, op. cit. 153–4 and n. 83 below.Google Scholar

5 Claridge, op. cit. I, 242–3;Google ScholarWard, op. cit. 142–5 and 155.Google Scholar

6 Both Claridge and Ellis deal much more fully with the nineteenth century than with the eighteenth; the former devotes three chapters only of vol. I to ‘The Rise of Ashanti, 1700–1803’ (Claridge, op. cit. I, 181–234) and the latter also has three chapters on the eighteenth centuryGoogle Scholar (Ellis, op. cit. 74–106).Google ScholarSee also Bowdich, T. E., Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee (London, 1819), part II, 228–50;Google ScholarDupuis, J., Journal of a Residence in Ashantee (London, 1824), part I, 224–64;Google ScholarCruickshank, B., Eighteen Years on the Gold Coast of Africa (London, 1853), 40–61;Google ScholarWard, op. cit. 107–19 and 130–54. There are many similarities between these accounts which give only a generalized picture of Ashanti history in the eighteenth century, based in the main on oral tradition rather than written records.Google Scholar

7 Cruickshank, op. cit. 53–54 and 57. By ‘direct intercourse’ Cruickshank meant that there was an exchange of messages between the Governor of Cape Coast Castle and the King of Ashanti. For the 1792 episode, see Minutes of the Council at Cape Coast Castle, 3 May and 29 Dec. 1792, T.70/153, f. 204 and ff. 231–2.Google Scholar

8 Ellis, op. cit. 100–1 and 104;Google ScholarClaridge, op. cit. I, 213;Google ScholarFuller, F., A Vanished Dynasty (London, 1921), 35–36;Google ScholarMartin, op. cit. 54 and 151;Google ScholarWard, op. cit. 132 and 140.Google Scholar

9 The development of Fante as the most powerful of the coastal states, like the expansion of Ashanti in the interior, is one of the prominent features of Gold Coast history in the eighteenth century. Small and extremely disunited at the beginning of the century, by the later part Fante had extended its influence over a coastal strip stretching eastwards from the Sweet river near Elmina to Beraku, a distance of about 60 miles. Politically, Fante was a federation of semi-independent states; its nominal head by the end of the century was the King of Abora, a state which lay a small distance inland from the coast. In 1752, the British had described Abora as the first town in Fante for greatness and at least twice as big as Anomabu; it was on one of the routes leading from Ashanti to the coast and it was here that the Ashantis defeated the Fante army in the invasion of 1807. In addition to Abora, Mankesim, Anomabu and Efutu (the latter under Fante influence by the later eighteenth century) also occupied very important positions in the Fante federation and had to be consulted on major issues. This fact is clearly illustrated by the British and Dutch attempts at mediation between the Ashantis and Fantes which began in 1765; messengers and presents were sent to the leading people in these places; Governor Thomas Melvil, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 20 Aug. 1752, Board of Trade and Plantations, Original Correspondence, C.O. 388/45, Dd 151 (Public Record Office, London); Governor William Mutter, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 10 Jan. 1764, T. 70/35, f.Google ScholarBosman, W., A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea (second edition, London, 1725), 48–52;Google ScholarMeredith, op. cit. 95–96, 111–12 and 115;Google ScholarEllis, op. cit. 108–9;Google ScholarClaridge, op. Cit. I, 229;Google ScholarWard, op. cit. 136 and 544; see also p. 52 below.Google Scholar

10 See Davies, K. G., The Royal African Company (London, 1957), 1–16 and 264–90 for a very good account of European rivalries in West Africa and their interaction with native politics in the time of the Royal African Company, the predecessor of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa.Google Scholar

11 Ward, op. cit. 135–6;Google ScholarDavies, op. cit. 225–8, 288–9Google Scholar and Appendix 1, 350–7.Google Scholar

12 Bleau, Robert, Cape Coast Castle to the Royal African Company, 25 Feb. 1715, T. 70/6, f. 9; Papers Relating to the Commerce of Africa, Egerton MSS. 1162 A, f. 8 and ff. 29–30 (British Museum); Egerton MSS. 1162 B, ff. 85–93;Google ScholarHippisley, J., ‘On the Necessity of Erecting a Fort at Cape Appolonia’ in Essays (London, 1764), 52–54;Google ScholarWyndham, H. A., The Atlantic and Slavery (London, 1935), 32;Google ScholarDavies, op. cit. 288–9.Google Scholar

13 See Dupuis, op. cit. part II, xxvii for a description of the Wassaw road from Kumasi to the coast, one branch of which led to Elmina, Kommenda and Shama and the other to Cape Three Points and the European establishments farther west.Google ScholarBowdich, op. cit. 162 and 168, also refers to it as one of the three great paths between Kumasi and the coast.Google Scholar

14 Egerton MSS. 1162 B, f. 103; extract of a letter from the Chiefs of Cape Coast Castle to Captain Pocock, Commander of H.M.S. Sutherland, 27 Nov. 1745, Board of Trade and Plantations, Original Correspondence, C.O. 388/44, Cc 21; Governor Nassau Senior, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 6 Aug. 1758, T. 70/30, f. 261;Google ScholarMutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 15 Oct. 1760,Google ScholarIbid.. f. 377; Director-General J. P. T. Huydecooper, Elmina to the Assembly of the X, Amsterdam, 15 Oct. 1764, Letters and Papers from the Coast of Guinea, 1761–4, W.I.C. I I 5 (Archives of the second Dutch West India Company in the State Archives, The Hague); Hippisley, op. cit. 52–53. The records of the second Dutch West India Company, like those of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa are a valuable source of information for affairs on the coast in the eighteenth century. In the case of the Dutch records, the author has used the large collection of notes and transcripts made by the late Mr J. T. Furley during many years of research in European archives. His papers are now in the Library of the University College of Ghana.Google Scholar

15 Governor Thomas Melvil, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, II June 1752, C.O. 388/45, Dd 115 Governor Nassau Senior, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 3 Feb. 1760, T. 70/30, ff. 335–6. The British described the Wassaws as one of the most powerful and warlike nations on or near the coast in the middle of the century; Egerton MSS. 1162 B, f. 9.Google Scholar

16 Governor Thomas Melvil to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 23 July 1751, C.O. 388/45, Dd 6; Hippisley, op. cit. 53–54.Google Scholar

17 Governor William Mutter, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 10 Jan. 1764, T.70/31, f. 43; Hippisley, op. cit. 55–56. The fort at Prampram, near Accra, was built by the Royal African Company about 1742, soon after the King of Wassaw and his allies had stopped the ways.Google ScholarDupuis, op. cit. part II, xxvii and xxxi–xxxiiGoogle Scholar and Bowdich, op. cit. 162–4 both describe the route from Kumasi to Accra.Google Scholar

18 Governor Thomas Melvil, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 7 Aug. 1754, T.70/30, f. 66; Director-General Erasmi, D. P., Elmina to the Assembly of the X, 22 March 1761, W.I.C. 115;Google ScholarDirector-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., Elmina to the same, 15 Oct. 1764Google Scholar, Ibid.; Governor William Mutter, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 21 Jan. 1765, T.70/31, f. 114; Egerton MSS. 1162 B, f. 103Google ScholarHippisley, op. cit. 55.Google Scholar

19 Director-General Erasmi, D. P., Elmina to the Assembly of the X, 22 March 1761, W.I.C. 115;Google ScholarGovernor William Mutter, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants to Africa, 21 Jan. 1765, T.70/31, f. 114. Akim was a constant source of trouble to the Ashantis in the eighteenth century and rebelled against their overlordship on every possible occasion;Google ScholarClaridge, op. cit. I, 198–9, 209 and 212;Google ScholarWard, op. cit. 132.Google Scholar

20 Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., Elmina to the Assembly of the X, 15 Oct. 1764, W.I.C. 115.Google Scholar

21 See 9 above.

22 Governor Thomas Melvil, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 11 March 1753, T.70/30, f. 7 and ff. 11–12;Google Scholar Governor Nassau Senior to the same, 55 June 1758, Ibid.. f. 245; Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa to Governor Nassau Senior and Council, Cape Coast Castle, 1 Jan. 1759, T.70/29, f. 155; Governor Charles Bell, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 5 June 1765, T.70/30, f. 407; Matson, J. N., ‘The French at Amoku’ in Transactions of the Gold Coast and Togoland Historical Society, 1, part II (Achimota, 1953), 49.Google Scholar

23 Governor Nassau Senior, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 25 Sept. 1759 and 3 Feb. 5760, T.70/30, f. 322 and f. 335;Google ScholarMutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 15 Oct. 1760Google Scholar, Ibid.. f. 77; Director-General Erasmi, D. P., Elmina to the Assembly of the X, 22 March 1761, W.I.C. 115.Google Scholar

24 Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., Elmina to the Assembly of the X, 15 Oct. 1764, W. I. C. 115.Google Scholar

25 Governor William Mutter, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 21 Jan. 1765, T.70/31, ff. 114–55.Google Scholar

26 Most historians of the Gold Coast date Osei Kojo's reign from 1752–81, following Dupuis, although Reindorf gives 1770–81. The actual dates were 1764–77, according to the evidence of the British and Dutch Companies' records. On 21 Jan. 1765, the Governor of Cape Coast Castle reported to the Committee of the Company of Merchants that Kusi had been succeeded by Osei Kojo (‘Sey Coomah’) in the previous year; on 19 Jan. 1778 the news of his death was similarly reported; it is likely, of course, that Osei Kojo died towards the end of 1777 since it would take time for the news to reach the coast; Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., Elmina to the Assembly of the X, 15 Oct. 1764, W.I.C. 115 Governor William Mutter, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 21 Jan. 1765, T.70/31, f. 114; Governor Richard Miles, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 19 Jan. 5778, T. 70/32, f. 73;Google ScholarDupuis, op. cit. 241–4;Google ScholarEllis, op. cit. 99–100;Google ScholarClaridge, op cit. II, Appendix D, 500;Google ScholarReindorf, C. C., The History of the Gold Coast and Asante (second edition, Basel, 1951), Appendix D;Google ScholarWard, op. cit. 369;Google ScholarPriestley, M. and Wilks, I., ‘The Ashanti Kings in the Eighteenth Century: a Revised Chronology’ in Journal of African History, I, no. 1 (1960), 94–96.Google Scholar

27 Erasmi, Fiscal D. P., Elmina to the Presidial Chamber, Zeeland, 3 Aug. 1760, W.I.C. 115;Google Scholar Director-General J. P. T. Huydecooper, Elmina to the Assembly of the X, 15 Oct. 1764, Ibid.. There are also indications in printed works that Kusi was not a very effective ruler; Cruickshank says he had difficulty in keeping the conquered states under subjection without attempting any further expansion and Fuller describes him as ‘anelderly mediocrity, who left the business of governance to his chiefs and advisers’; his reign came to an end in 5764, not in 5752 as usually stated; Cruickshank, op. cit. 52;Google ScholarFuller, op. cit. 31 and 26 above.Google Scholar

28 Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., Elmina to the Assembly of the X, 15 Oct. 1764Google Scholar, W.I.C. 115; the same to the same, 8 March. 1765, Ibid.., 116; John Hippisley and Gilbert Petrie, Accra to Governor William Mutter, Cape Coast Castle, 1 Oct. 1765, Board of Trade and Plantations, Original Correspondence, C.O. 388/53, LI 55; Governor John Hippisley, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 20 March and 13 July 1766, T.70/31, f. 177, f. 199 and ff. 205–2; Bowdich, op. cit. 237. The authors of Gold Coast histories refer to Osei Kojo's reign as a time of considerable activity on the part of Ashanti; for example, Bowdich and Claridge mention his victories over a number of dependent provinces, including Wassaw and Akim, which were in revolt and Ellis says that European trade was greatly interrupted during his reign because he kept the Fantes in a state of continual alarm by invasion threats;Google ScholarBowdich, op. cit. 236–7;Google ScholarEllis, op. cit. 101;Google ScholarClaridge, op. cit. I, 212–13;Google ScholarFuller, op. cit. 33–36.Google Scholar

29 Governor Mutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 25 April and 20 July 1765, T. 70/31, f. 131 and f. 134; Minutes of the Council at Cape Coast Castle, 10 July 1765Google Scholar, Ibid.. ff. 137–8; Elmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., entry dated 25 June, W.I.C. 966;Google ScholarDonnan, E., Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade to America (Washington, 1930–1935), II, 526–8. The records of the British and Dutch Companies enable a very full picture to be constructed of the day-to-day events of this period. Particularly useful are the Elmina Journals, the letters from the Governor of Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants in London and the Cape Coast Castle Day Books. The latter give details of daily expenditure at the fort; for example, there is an entry on 28 June 1765 for subsistence paid to three messengers from Fante who came to inform the Governor that the Ashantis had attacked the Fantes. Valuable information is thus supplied about events on the coast; Cape Coast Castle Day Books, 1765, T.70/1022.Google Scholar

30 Elmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., entries dated 25 June and 22 July and Kormantine Correspondence, entries dated 30 June and 4 July, W.I.C. 966; Cape Coast Castle Day Books, 1765, entry dated 18 June, T.70/1022;Google ScholarDonnan, op. cit. II, 527–8. The hostage whom Osei Kojo gave to the Fantes, described in contemporary records as his ‘brother’ or ‘cousin’ was the source of considerable trouble between the Ashantis and Fantes in the period 1765–72. The latter refused for a long time to allow him to return to Ashanti; he was kept in the custody of the private British trader Richard Brew, at Anomabu. Brew's intervention in the Ashanti-Fante dispute caused much irritation to the officers of the British and Dutch companies at Cape Coast Castle and Elmina, see note 74 below.Google Scholar

31 Elmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., entries dated 17 June, 25 June and as July, W.I.C. 966;Google ScholarGovernor Mutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 20 July 1765, T.70/31, ff.134–5;Google ScholarDonnan, op. cit. II, 527. Both Ward and Fuller refer to Fante treachery towards Ashanti in Osei Kojo's reign;Google ScholarWard, op. cit. 132;Google ScholarFuller op. cit. 35.Google Scholar

32 Elmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T.. entries dated 17 June and subsequently, W.I.C. 966; Cape Coast Castle Day Books, 1765, entry dated 18 June, T.70/1022.Google Scholar

33 Seep. 52.Google Scholar

34 Elmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., entries dated 4, 16 and 22 July, W.I.C. 966;Google ScholarGovernor Mutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 20 July 1765, T.70/31, ff. 334–5.Google Scholar

35 Governor Mutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 20 July 1765, T.70/31, f. 135;Google ScholarGovernor Hippisley, John, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 20 March and 33 July 1766Google Scholar, Ibid.. f. 177 and f. 199.

36 Elmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., entries dated 39, 22 and 31 July and 3 and 4 Aug.; W.I.C. 966;Google ScholarGovernor Mutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 25 Oct. and 14 Dec. 1765, T.70/31, ff. 345–6 and ff. 152–3.Google ScholarThe Twifo were the inhabitants of one of the inland states which had allied with Wassaw against Ashanti, see pp. 39–40 above.Google Scholar

37 Governor Mutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 14 Dec. 1765, T.70/31, ff. 152–3;Google ScholarCape Coast Castle Day Books, 1765, entry dated 23 Nov., T.70/1022. The kingdom of Efutu had come within the Fante sphere of influence by the later eighteenth century; the British and Dutch frequently sent messengers to the town of Efutu during their negotiations with the Fantes in this period;Google ScholarMeredith, op. cit. 95–96 and 111–12;Google ScholarBowdich, op. cit. footnote to p. 250 Cruickshank, op. cit. 43; see also above and p. 52 below.Google Scholar

38 Governor Hippisley, John, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 20 March 1766, T.70/31, f. 177.Google Scholar

39 Ashanti traders appeared at Accra in 1766 in order to establish more direct contact with the European forts there, but the recurrent troubles with Akim in Osei Kojo's reign caused a further stoppage of trade on this route; Governor Gilbert Petrie, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 13 Sept. 1766, T.70/31, ff. 210–11;Google ScholarGovernor Miles, Richard, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 25 April 1777, Board of Trade Miscellanea, B.T.6/3 (P.R.O.).Google Scholar

40 Governor Petrie, Gilbert, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 20 Aug. 1767, T.70/31, ff. 270–1.Google Scholar

41 Governor Petrie, Gilbert, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 9 Oct. 1767, ‘I’.70/31, ff. 274–6;Google ScholarMinutes of the Council at Cape Coast Castle, 25 Oct. 1767Google Scholar, Ibid.. ff. 282–4.

42 Governor Grossle, John, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 24 April 1769, T.70/31, f. 349;Google ScholarGovernor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 22 June 1772Google Scholar, Ibid.. f. 430 and p. 55 below. In addition to the Wassaw and Akim paths from Ashanti to the coast, another major route was through Assin, leading to the forts in Fante territory; Dupuis, op. cit. part II, xxvii;Google ScholarBowdich, op. cit. 162.Google Scholar

43 Governor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 22 June and 12 Aug. 1772, T.70/31, ff. 430–3;Google ScholarMinutes of the Council at Cape Coast Castle, 11 Aug. 1772, T.70/152, f. 14. The Committee in London was of the opinion that the 1772 troubles were connected with the fact that Osel Kojo's relative had not been handed over to the Ashantis in 1768, but had been retained as a hostage in Fante until very recently. He had been in the custody of the private British trader, Richard Brew, at Anomabu and the Committee was anxious that the Governor of Cape Coast Castle should disavow any knowledge of Brew's behaviour;Google ScholarGovernor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 22 June 1772 and 6 March T.70/31, f. 430 and f. 439;Google ScholarCommittee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa to Governor Mill, David and Council, Cape Coast Castle, 10 Dec. 1772, T.70/69, ff. 210–11.Google Scholar

44 Governor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 12 Dec. 1772, 30 Jan. and 6 March 1773, T.70/31, f. 435, f. 439 and f. 446. The Ashantis were not very successful in their attack on the Krobos, who were able to protect themselves in their hillside stronghold.Google Scholar

45 Governor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 12 July 1773, T.70/31, f. 452; the same to the same, 4 Dec. 1773 and 15 April 1775, T.70/32, f. 5 and f. 23;Google ScholarGovernor Miles, Richard, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 15 and 19 Jan. 1778Google Scholar, Ibid.. ff. 72–73 and 46 below.

46 The export of slaves by Britain from the Gold Coast showed a decrease during the periods of Ashanti-Fante troubles, according to the following contemporary statistics: 1762: 4087 1763: 4145 1764: 4520 1765: 2360 War between the Ashantees and Fantees 1766: 2375 1767: 4002 1768: 5781 1769: 5905 1770: 7203 1771: 5770 1772: 3275 ‘War between the Ashantees and Fantees’ 1773: 6820 1774: 8156 1775: 8108 ‘An account of the Number of Slaves Exported from the Gold Coast to H.M.'s Plantations in America since the year 1757 distinguishing each year’, Merchants' Hall, Bristol, 19 March 1777, Board of Trade Miscellanea, B.T.6/3. The same figures, without the references to an Ashanti-Fante war, are given for the period 1755 to 1768 in ‘An Annual Register of the Number of Slaves Exported from the Gold Coast of Africa’, produced in 1771 by Gilbert Petrie, late Governor of Cape Coast Castle, T.70/1263.Google Scholar

47 Journal of the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, Jan. 1764 to Dec. 1767, 228–9 and 230–1;Google ScholarIbid.. Jan. 1768 to Dec. 1775, 23–24 and 331–2; Memorial of the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa to the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, read 4 May 1768, in Letters from the African Company 1721–92, Adm. 1/3810 (P.R.O.). For the relations between the Company of Merchants trading to Africa and the government and an analysis of the records, see Martin, op. cit. and 2 above.Google Scholar

48 Bosman, op. cit. 69.Google Scholar

49 Sir Thomas, Dalby, Cape Coast Castle to the Royal African Company, 22 Oct. 1708, T.70/26; the same to the same, 8 May 1709, T. 70/5, f. 57;Google ScholarWyndham, op. cit. 31–32;Google ScholarDavies, op. cit. 288.Google Scholar

50 Governor Roberts, John, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 24 Dec. 5780, T.70/32, f. 174;Google ScholarHippisley, op. cit. 52.Google Scholar

51 Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa to Governor Thomas Melvil and Council, Cape Coast Castle, Nov. 1752, C.O. 388/45, dd 107; the same to Governor William Mutter and Council, Cape Coast Castle, 15 Oct. 1764, T.70/69, f. 32; Governor William Mutter, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 21 Jan. 1765, T.70/31, f. 11 Governor David Mill, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 30 Dec. 1775, T.70/32, ff. 30–31;Google ScholarCruickshank, op. cit. 54–55.Google ScholarIn 1775, Governor Mill, David asked the Committee to send out special presents for the Kings of Ashanti and Fante in order to facilitate the negotiations over the opening of the paths. For the King of Ashanti, his requests included a large umbrella of crimson damask with a gold fringe and a gilt elephant on top, the umbrella to spread 15 ft.; the King of Fante's umbrella was only to spread 12 ft., however, and his presents were to be of slightly inferior quality. There was a long delay in sending the gifts from Britain and in April 1777, the Governor said that when they arrived, they might possibly be kept for some future emergency, such as a threatened invasion, when presents were a necessary preliminary to negotiations with the King of Ashanti;Google ScholarGovernor Miles, Richard, Cape Cast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, a April 1777, B.T. 6/3.Google Scholar

52 Grosvenor, Seth, Phipps, James and Bleau, Robert, Cape Coast Castle to the Royal African Company, 16 July 1753, T. 70/22;Google ScholarGovernor Mutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 20 July 1765, T. 70/31, f. 135;Google ScholarCape Coast Castle Day Books, 1765Google Scholar, entry dated 18 June, T. 70/1022; Ibid.. 1769, entries dated 7 Oct. and 1 Dec., T. 70/1028; Wyndham, op. cit. 32.Google Scholar

53 Governor Hippisley, John, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 13 July 1766, T.70/31, f. 201;Google ScholarGovernor Petrie, Gilbert, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 53 Sept. 1766Google Scholar, Ibid.. f. 201; State and Condition of James Fort, Accra, 57 April 1766, Board of Trade and Plantations, Original Correspondence, C.O. 388 /54; Minutes of the Council at Cape Coast Castle, 2 May 1780, T.70/152, f. 51;Google ScholarCrooks, J. J., Records Relating to the Gold Coast (Dublin, 1923), 129;Google ScholarClaridge, op. cit. 1, 209. The rent was 160 shillings a month.Google Scholar

54 Meredith, writing in 1812, said that since their first contacts with Guinea, the English had not tried to develop the inland trade and would have remained ignorant of its potential advantages, but for the Ashanti invasion of 1807; Meredith, op. cit. 36–37 and 206–10. The facts of the eighteenth century certainly do not bear out this statement.Google Scholar

55 Extract of a letter from the Chiefs of Cape Coast Castle to Captain Pocock, Commander of H.M.S. Sutherland, 27 Nov. 1745, C.O. 388/44, Cc. 21.Google Scholar

56 Governor Hippisley, John, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 13 July 1766, T.70/31, f. 199;Google ScholarGovernor Petrie, Gilbert, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 9 Oct. 1767Google Scholar, Ibid.. f. 275.

57 See Martin, op. Cit. especially 31–37.Google Scholar

58 See note 100 below.Google Scholar

59 See pp. 57ff. below.Google Scholar

60 See Blake, J. W., Europeans in West Africa 1450–1560 (Hakluyt Society, Second Series, no. LXXXVII, 1942), II, for documents relating to early English trade with the Gold Coast.Google Scholar

61 Anomabu was one of the main British trading centres on the coast in the second half of the eighteenth century. Between 1753 and 1756, the Company of Merchants built a fort there to replace Charles Fort, which had been built by the Royal African Company but had fallen into disuse by the 1730's. The British were extremely anxious to prevent the French from getting a foothold in these parts after 1750. Cape Coast was in the kingdom of Efutu (Fetu), but by the later part of the century, this state was closely linked with Fante;Google ScholarPriestley, M. A., ‘A Note on Fort William, Anomabu’ in Transactions of the Gold Coast and Togoland Historical Society, II, part I (Achimota, 1956), 46–47;Google Scholar Matson, art. cit., ibid. I, part II (Achimota, 1953), 47–60; see also 37 above.

62 Governor Melvil, Thomas, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of MerchantstradingtoAfrica, 11 Ju1y 1751, C.O. 388/45, Dd 38;Google ScholarGovernor Mutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 20 July and 25 Oct. 1765, T.70/31, f. 135 and f. 145;Google ScholarHippisley, John and Petrie, Gilbert, Accra to Governor William Mutter, Cape Coast Castle, 1 Oct. 1765, C.O. 388/53, LI 55;Google ScholarGovernor Hippisley, John, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 13 July 1766, T.70/31, ff. 199–200;Google ScholarGovernor Petrie, Gilbert, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 31 March 1768Google Scholar, Ibid.. f. 294 Governor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 22 June 1772Google Scholar, Ibid.. ff. 430–1; Meredith, op. cit. 23, 27, 191 and 205.Google Scholar

63 Minutes of the Council at Cape Coast Castle, 10 July 1765, T.70/31, ff. 137–8;Google ScholarHippisley, John and Petrie, Gilbert, Accra to Governor William Mutter, Cape Coast Castle, 1 Oct. 1765, C.O. 388/53, LI 55;Google ScholarGovernor Hippisley, John, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 13 July 1766, T.70/31, f. 200;Google ScholarGovernor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 22 June 1772Google Scholar, Ibid.. f. 431; Minutes of the Council at Cape Coast Castle, 11 Aug. 1772, T.70/152, f. 14.

64 Governor Melvil, Thomas, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 26 Dec. 1753, T.70/30, f. 39;Google ScholarGovernor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 6 March 1773, T. 70/31, f. 440. It should be noted that as soon as the King of Ashanti appeared near the coast in 1765, the Governor of Cape Coast Castle sent him apresent; in July 1766 a subsequent Governor stressed the importance of good relations with the Ashantis and reported to the Committee that he was treating Osei Kojo ‘in a respectful manner’ and preparing a present for him; Governor John Hippisley, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, T.70/31, ff. 200–1 and see p. 48 above.Google Scholar

65 No evidence whatsoever has been found to support Wyndham's statement that in 1767 the British suspected the Dutch of instigating the Fantes and there was certainly no Dutch-Fante alliance by this period, even though such an alliance may have existed at the beginning of the century; Minutes of the Council at Cape Coast Castle, 25 Oct. 1767, T.70/13, f. 282; Ellis, op. cit. 101; Wyndham, op. cit. 32; Davies, op. cit. 283 and 288–9 and see 66 below.Google Scholar

66 Governor Hippisley, John, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 13 July 1766, T.70/31, ff. 199–201;Google ScholarGovernor Petrie, Gilbert, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 21 Oct. 1768Google Scholar, Ibid.. f. 313; Governor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 22 June 1772Google Scholar, Ibid.. f. 431.

67 Donnan, op. cit. II, 527.Google Scholar

68 Governor Mutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 20 July 1765, T.70/31, f. 136;Google Scholar Minutes of the Council at Cape Coast Castle, 10 July 1765, Ibid.. ff. 137–8; Cape Coast Castle Day Books, 1765, entries dated 7 July and subsequently relating to payments made to Mr. Huydecooper's servants, T.70/1022; Elmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., entries dated 7 July and subsequently, W.I.C. 966 and see pp. 43–44 above.Google Scholar

69 Cape Coast Castle Day Books, 1765, entry dated 8 July, T.70/1022; Elmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., entry dated 8 July, W.I.C. 966.Google Scholar

70 Cape Coast Castle Day Books, 1765, entry dated 21 July, T.70/1022; Elmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., entry dated 22 July, W.I.C. 966.Google Scholar

71 The Elmina Journals and Correspondence with the Outforts and the Cape Coast Castle Day Books make it possible to reconstruct a full picture of the comings and goings of the Companies' messengers during this period. The important Fante town of Mankesim was called ‘Murram’ by the British and ‘Grande Terre’ by the Dutch; Meredith, op. cit. 109; see also and 29 above.Google Scholar

72 Cape Coast Castle Day Books, 1765, entry dated 27 July, T.70/1022; Ibid.. 1766, entries dated 2 Oct. and 27 Dec., T.7/1024.

73 Governor Mutter's, William Comments on Richard Brew and William Webster's letter, dated Anomabu, 14 Sept. 1765 and on John Hippisley and Gilbert Petrie's letter, dated Accra, 1 Oct. 1765, C.O. 388/53, Ll 55;Google ScholarGovernor Mutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 14 Dec. 1765, T.70/31, ff. 153–4;Google ScholarGovernor Petrie, Gilbert, Cape Coast Castle to the same, 20 Oct. 1766Google Scholar, Ibid.. f. 225. There seems little doubt that the native states often prolonged their ‘crises’ in order to improve their bargaining position with Europeans, whose trade was dependent on local goodwill.

74 There are many references in the British and Dutch records to the activities of Richard Brew. In August 1765 he tried to get the Dutch to hand over an Ashanti herald whom they had redeemed from a French slaving ship at Mon and whom Brew claimed was his property. This herald was one of the Ashantis whose return Osei Kojo had demanded in July 1765 as an essential condition of peace with Fante—hence Brew's intervention. The Dutch refused to comply with Brew's demand, whereupon he and his partner at Ariomabu seized and put in chains one of Mr Huydecooper's messengers on his way back to Elmina from Mankesim, where he had been sent in connexion with the Anglo-Dutch peace negotiations. The Dutch protested vigorously to the Governor of Cape Coast Castle and the matter was eventually referred to the Board of Trade by the Committee of the Company of Merchants in London; see the correspondence relating to this matter from 16 Aug. to 25 Oct. 1765, C.O. 388/53, Ll 52 and Ll 55; Elmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., entries during August, W.I.C. 966; Journal of the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, Jan. 1764 to Dec. 1767, 278–9;Google ScholarPriestley, M. A., ‘Richard Brew: an Eighteenth Century Trader at Anomabu’ in Transactions of the Historical Society of Chana, IV, part, (Legon, 1959), 29–46.Google Scholar

75 Hippisley, John and Petrie, Gilbert, Accra to Governor William Mutter, Cape Coast Castle, 1 Oct. 1765 and Mutter's comments on this letter, C.O. 388/53 LI 55.Google Scholar

76 Brew, Richard and Webster, William, Anomabu to Governor William Mutter, Cape Coast Castle, 26 Aug. 1765, C.O. 388/S3, LI 55.Google Scholar

77 Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., Elmina to the Assembly of the X, 15 Oct. 1764, W.I.C. 115;Google ScholarElmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., entries dated 24 and 25 June, W.I.C. 966.Google Scholar

78 Elmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., entries dated 8 and 2 July, W.I.C. 966.Google Scholar

79 Governor Mutter, William, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 25 Oct. and, 4 Dec. 1765, T.70/31, ff. 145–6 and f. 153;Google ScholarElmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, 1765, Director-General Huydecooper, J. P. T., entries dated 19, 22 and 31 July, 3 and 4 Aug. and Sept., W.I.C. 966; see also pp. 44–45 above.Google Scholar

80 It is interesting to note that an entry dated 12 April in the Cape Coast Castle Day Books for 1768 records the payment of 30s. a month to the Company's envoy to the King of Ashanti, during the negotiations for peace between him and the Fantes carried on under the mediation of the Governor from 1 Dec. 1766 to 31 Jan. 1768, T.70/p1026.Google Scholar

81 Governor Hippisley, John, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 25 April 1766, T. 70/31, ff. 183–4 and see p. 53 above. The Cape Coast Castle Day Books for 1766 contain many entries of subsistence paid to Ashanti and Fante messengers and gifts to Ashantis and Fantes during this year, see T.70/1024.Google Scholar

82 Governor Hippisley, John, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 13 July 1766, T.70/31, ff. 201–2.Google Scholar

83 Governor Hippisley, John, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 13 July 1766, T.70/31, ff. 200–1. In 1807, Colonel Torrane was anxious to assure the King of Ashanti of his regard for him and was well aware of the commercial advantages to be gained by intercourse with Ashanti, which he said the Fantes had always obstructed;Google ScholarGovernor Torrane, George, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 20 July 1807, T.70/35, ff. 66–67;Google ScholarMeredith, op. cit. 153–4. See also pp. 47–48 above.Google Scholar

84 See p. 49 above.Google Scholar

85 Minutes of the Council at Cape Coast Castle, 25 Oct. 1767, T.70/31, ff. 282–4.Google Scholar

86 Osei Kojo's relative was not in fact returned by the Fantes; he remained in the custody of Richard Brew at Anomabu; by 1772 he had been released, however, see 43 above.Google Scholar

87 Governor Petrie, Gilbert, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 31 March, 27 Aug. and 21 Oct. 1768, T.70/31, f. 294, ff. 308–9, ff. 311–15 and f. 324. Petrie had decided not to continue with his mediation policy as it seemed to bring no results, but in a letter of 6 April 1768, the Committee of the Company of Merchants instructed him to persist in order to prevent the Dutch from getting the sole merit as peacemakers. Much to his annoyance, however, Petrie was unable to prevent Richard Brew from taking some part in the affair; both of them sent many presents to the Fantes during this year; Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa to Governor Gilbert Petrie and Council, Cape Coast Castle, 6 April 1768, T.70/69, f. 125; Cape Coast Castle Day Books, 1768, T.70/1026.Google Scholar

88 See p. 46 above.Google Scholar

89 Elmina Journal and Correspondence with the Outforts, July to Dec. 1772, Director-General P. Woortman's Correspondence with Cape Coast Castle, entries dated 28 and 30 July, W.I.C. 976.Google Scholar

90 Governor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 6 March 1773, T,70/31, f. 443.81 Minutes of the Council at Cape Coast Castle, ix Aug. 1772, T.70/152, f. 14; Crooks, op. cit. 37.Google Scholar

92 Governor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 22 June and 12 Aug. 1772 and 6March 1773, T.70/31, ff. 431–3 and f. 439.Google Scholar

93 See p. 49 above.Google Scholar

94 Journal of the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, Jan. 1764 to Dec. 1767, 228–9 and 230–1.Google Scholar

95 Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa to Governor Mutter, William and Council, Cape Coast Castle, 29 Oct. 1765, T.70/69, f. 58;Google Scholarthe same to Governor Petrie, Gilbert and Council, Cape Coast Castle, 17 Nov. 1767Google Scholar, Ibid.. f. III. One of the Committee's major considerations, of course, was that expenses should be kept as low as possible, since it was dependent upon a limited parliamentary grant for the upkeep of the forts; Martin, op. cit. 54–55.Google Scholar

96 Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa to Governor Hippisley, John and Council, Cape Coast Castle, 3 Sept 1766, T. 70/69, f. 80.Google Scholar

97 Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa to Governor Petrie, Gilbert and Council, Cape Coast Castle, 17 Nov. 1767, T.70/69, ff. 110–11.Google Scholar

98 Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa to Governor Hippisley, John and Council, Cape Coast Castle, 3 Sept. 1766, T.70/69, ff. 80–81.Google Scholar

99 Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa to Governor Mill, David and Council, Cape Coast Castle, 10 Dec. 1772, T.70/69, ff. 210–13 see; also 43 above.Google Scholar

100 Governor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 12 Aug. 1772, T.70/31, ff. 432–3;Google ScholarMinutes of the Council at Cape Coast Castle, 11 Aug. 1772, T.70/152, f. 14. This episode illustrates the delays in correspondence between London and Cape Coast Castle. David Mill's letter of 22 June 1772 reporting further unrest on the coast was received by the Committee between 2 and 10 December of that year. The Committee sent its instructions for a policy of neutrality and mediation on so December and then received Mill's letter of 12 Aug. with the news of the Council's resolution; Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa to Governor David Mill and Council, Cape Coast Castle, 10 Dec. 1772 and 19 April 1773, T.70/69, ff. 210–13 and f. 214.Google Scholar

101 Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa to Governor Mill, David and Council, Cape Coast Castle, 1 April and 10 Dec 1773, T.70/69, f. 214 and f. 218;Google ScholarGovernor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 12 Dec. 1772 and 6 Mar. 1773, T.70/31, f. 435 and f. 439;Google ScholarJournal of the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, Jan. 1768 to Dec. 1773, 331–2; see also p. 46 above.Google Scholar

102 Governor Mill, David, Cape Coast Castle to the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, 22 June 1772, T.70/31, ff. 1–2.Google Scholar