Editing History of Ghana (section)

== Early European contact and the slave trade ==
{{See also|Portuguese Gold Coast}}
When the first European colonizers arrived in the late 15th century, many inhabitants of the Gold Coast area were striving to consolidate their newly acquired territories and to settle into a secure and permanent environment.<ref>{{Citation|title=Irvine, Lt-Col Richard Abercrombie, (died 10 Oct. 1946), late 3rd Batt. (Res.) Lancs Fusiliers; late Provincial Comr, Northern Territories, Gold Coast; retired|date=1 December 2007|work=Who Was Who|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u227299}}</ref> Initially, the Gold Coast did not participate in the export slave trade, rather as [[Ivor Wilks]], a leading colonial historian of Ghana, noted, the Akan purchased slaves from Portuguese traders operating from other parts of Africa, including the [[Kingdom of Kongo|Congo]] and [[Benin]] in order to augment the labour needed for the state formation that was characteristic of this period.<ref name=eec>McLaughlin & Owusu-Ansah (1994), "Early European Contact and the Slave Trade".</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Essien|first=Kwame|s2cid=164992921|date=2016|title=House of Slaves and "Door of No Return": Gold Coast/Ghana Slave Forts, Castles & Dungeons and the Atlantic Slave Trade by Edmund Abaka|journal=Ghana Studies|volume=19|issue=1|pages=203–205|doi=10.1353/ghs.2016.0010|issn=2333-7168}}</ref>

The Portuguese by 1471 had reached the area that was to become known as the Gold Coast,<ref name="Hallett 164">Hallett, ''Africa to 1875'', p. 164.</ref> so named because it was an important source of gold.<ref>{{Citation|title=Gold Coast|date=7 April 2005|work=African American Studies Center|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.41463|isbn=978-0-19-530173-1}}</ref> The Portuguese interest in trading for gold, ivory, and pepper so increased that in 1482 the Portuguese built their first permanent trading post on the western coast of present-day Ghana.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Brivio|first=Alessandra|date=10 March 2017|title='I Am a Slave Not a Wife': Slave Women in Post-Proclamation Gold Coast (Ghana)|journal=Gender & History|volume=29|issue=1|pages=31–47|doi=10.1111/1468-0424.12279|hdl=10281/153000 |s2cid=151691060 |issn=0953-5233|hdl-access=free}}</ref> This fortress, [[São Jorge da Mina]] (later called [[Elmina Castle]]), was constructed to protect Portuguese trade from European competitors, and after frequent rebuildings and modifications, still stands.<ref name=eec /><ref>{{cite book |chapter=Elmina Castle: From Slavery to Tourism|date=16 May 2018|title=Elmina, 'The Little Europe': European Impact and Cultural Resilience |pages=14–27|publisher=Sub-Saharan Publishers|doi=10.2307/j.ctvh8r1bt.8|isbn=978-9988-8829-7-6}}</ref>

The Portuguese position on the Gold Coast remained secure for over a century. During that time, [[Lisbon]] sought to monopolize all trade in the region in royal hands, through appointed officials at São Jorge, and used force to prevent English, French, and Flemish efforts to trade on the coast.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=Time on the Coast |title=From Capture to Sale: The Portuguese Slave Trade to Spanish South America in the Early Seventeenth Century|year=2007|pages=72–100|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers|doi=10.1163/ej.9789004156791.i-373.17|isbn=978-90-04-15679-1|s2cid=128336362}}</ref> By 1598, the [[Dutch Republic|Dutch]] began trading on the Gold Coast.<ref>Hallett, ''Africa to 1875'', p. 219.</ref> The Dutch built forts at [[Komenda, Ghana|Komenda]] and Kormantsi by 1612. In 1637 they captured Elmina Castle from the Portuguese and Axim in 1642 (Fort St Anthony). Other European traders joined in by the mid-17th century, largely English, [[Kingdom of Denmark|Danes]], and [[Kingdom of Sweden|Swedes]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carlson |first=Gayle F.|chapter=Fort Atkinson, Nebraska, 1820–1827, and Other Missouri River Sites|title=Frontier Forts of Iowa |editor-last=Whittaker |editor-first=William E. |year=2009|pages=104–120|publisher=University of Iowa Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctt20mvcw1.12|isbn=978-1-58729-882-0}}</ref> The coastline was dotted by more than 30 forts and castles built by Dutch, British, and Danish merchants primarily to protect their interests from other Europeans and pirates. The Gold Coast became the highest concentration of European military architecture outside of Europe. Sometimes they were also drawn into conflicts with local inhabitants as Europeans developed commercial alliances with local political authorities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Veličković|first=Vedrana|chapter=New Alliances?: Eastern Europeans in Contemporary Black British Writing|date=2019|title=Eastern Europeans in Contemporary Literature and Culture|pages=139–166|place=London|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|doi=10.1057/978-1-137-53792-8_5|isbn=978-1-137-53791-1|s2cid=166688430}}</ref> These alliances, often complicated, involved both Europeans attempting to enlist or persuade their closest allies to attack rival European ports and their African allies, or conversely, various African powers seeking to recruit Europeans as mercenaries in their inter-state wars, or as diplomats to resolve conflicts.<ref name=eec /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Arrington|first=Andrea L.|title=Europe and Europeans|date=27 April 2010|journal=African American Studies Center|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.47857|isbn=978-0-19-530173-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Noll, Douglas E.|title=Elusive peace : how modern diplomatic strategies could better resolve world conflicts|date=April 2011|publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1-61614-418-0|oclc=1162426943}}</ref>

[[File:Guinea map 1725.jpg|thumb|A map of the [[Swedish Gold Coast]]]]
Forts were built, abandoned, attacked, captured, sold, and exchanged, and many sites were selected at one time or another for fortified positions by contending European nations.<ref name=eec />

The [[Dutch West India Company]] operated throughout most of the 18th century. The <!-- There is no Wikipedia article for [[British African Company of Merchants]], Please create a article if you can. Thanks-->''British [[African Company of Merchants]]'', founded in 1750, was the successor to several earlier organizations of this type.<ref>{{Citation|last=Ruangsilp|first=B.|title=Chapter Seven. Remain Or Leave?: The Dutch and the Eighteenth-Century Siamese Court|date=1 January 2007|work=Dutch East India Company Merchants at the Court of Ayutthaya|pages=180–220|publisher=BRILL|doi=10.1163/ej.9789004156005.i-279.61|isbn=978-90-474-1986-0}}</ref> These enterprises built and manned new installations as the companies pursued their trading activities and defended their respective jurisdictions with varying degrees of government backing.<ref>{{Citation|title=5. Merchants, Trading Companies, and Public Appeal|date=31 December 2018|work=A Business of State|pages=117–146|publisher=Harvard University Press|doi=10.4159/9780674919990-007|isbn=978-0-674-91999-0|s2cid=228709649}}</ref> There were short-lived ventures by the Swedes and the [[Prussia]]ns.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=17 January 2019|title=Sweden's new government could be short-lived|journal=Emerald Expert Briefings|doi=10.1108/oxan-es241239|issn=2633-304X}}</ref> These nation-states maintained varying alliances with the colonial powers and each other, which resulted in the 1806 [[Ashanti-Fante War]], as well as an ongoing struggle by the [[Empire of Ashanti]] against the British, the four [[Anglo-Ashanti Wars]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ukpabi|first=S. C.|date=December 1970|title=The British Colonial Office Approach to the Ashanti War of 1900|journal=African Studies Review|volume=13|issue=3|pages=363–380|doi=10.2307/523491|jstor=523491|s2cid=145690475 |issn=0002-0206}}</ref> The Danes remained until 1850, when they withdrew from the Gold Coast. The British gained possession of all Dutch coastal forts by the last quarter of the 19th century, thus making them the dominant European power on the Gold Coast.<ref name=eec />

In the late 17th century, social changes within the politics of the Gold Coast led to transformations in warfare, and to the shift from being a gold exporting and slave importing economy to being a major local slave exporting economy.<ref>{{cite journal |title=From Gold to Slaves on the Gold Coast |last=Rodney |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Rodney |date=1969 |journal=Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana |volume=X |pages=13–28}}</ref>

[[File:Triangular trade.svg|thumb|The triangular Atlantic slave trade routes]]
Some scholars have challenged the premise that rulers on the Gold Coast engaged in wars of expansion for the sole purpose of acquiring slaves for the export market.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Figure 1.16. Export market performance is improving in some countries |journal=[[Economic Outlook (OECD publication)|OECD Economic Outlook]] |volume=2012 |issue=2 |doi=10.1787/888932743026}}</ref> For example, the Ashanti waged war mainly to pacify territories that were under Ashanti control, to exact tribute payments from subordinate kingdoms, and to secure access to trade routes—particularly those that connected the interior with the coast.<ref name=eec />

The supply of slaves to the Gold Coast was entirely in African hands. Most rulers, such as the kings of various Akan states engaged in the slave trade, as well as individual local merchants.<ref name=eec /> The demographic impact of the slave trade on West Africa was probably substantially greater than the number actually enslaved because a significant number of Africans perished during wars and bandit attacks or while in captivity awaiting transshipment. All nations with an interest in West Africa participated in the slave trade.<ref>{{Citation|title=The Demographic Profile of the Enslaved Population|date=26 June 2017|work=The Atlantic Slave Trade from West Central Africa, 1780–1867|pages=100–121|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/9781316771501.006|isbn=978-1-316-77150-1}}</ref> Relations between the Europeans and the local populations were often strained, and distrust led to frequent clashes. Disease caused high losses among the Europeans engaged in the slave trade, but the profits realized from the trade continued to attract them.<ref name=eec />

The growth of [[abolitionism|anti-slavery]] sentiment among Europeans made slow progress. Although individual clergymen condemned the slave trade as early as the 17th century, major Christian denominations did little to further early efforts at abolition.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lohse|first=Russell|s2cid=145087804|date=December 2002|title=Slave-Trade Nomenclature and African Ethnicities in the Americas: Evidence from Early Eighteenth-Century Costa Rica|journal=Slavery & Abolition|volume=23|issue=3|pages=73–92|doi=10.1080/714005250|issn=0144-039X}}</ref> In 1807, Britain used its naval power and its diplomatic muscle to [[Slave Trade Act 1807|outlaw]] trade in slaves by its citizens and to begin a campaign to stop the international trade.<ref name="Hallett p. 188">Hallett, ''Africa to 1875'', p. 188.</ref> The British withdrawal helped to decrease external slave trade.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baten |first1=Joerg |last2=Moradi |first2=Alexander |date=January 2007 |title=Exploring the evolution of living standards in Ghana, 1880–2000: An anthropometric approach |journal=Books Online |pages=3}}</ref> The importation of slaves into the United States was outlawed in 1808. These efforts, however, were not successful until the 1860s because of the continued demand for [[plantation]] labour in the New World.<ref name=eec />

Because it took decades to end the trade in slaves, some historians doubt that the humanitarian impulse inspired the abolitionist movement. According to historian [[Eric Williams]], for example, Europe abolished the trans-Atlantic slave trade only because its profitability was undermined by the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref>{{Citation|last=McInnis|first=Maurie D.|title=Representing the Slave Trade|work=Slaves Waiting for Sale|year=2011|pages=27–54|publisher=University of Chicago Press|doi=10.7208/chicago/9780226559322.003.0003|isbn=978-0-226-05506-0}}</ref> Other scholars, however, disagree with Williams, arguing that humanitarian concerns as well as social and economic factors were instrumental in ending the African slave trade.<ref name=eec />