History of the Gold Coast and Asante, based on traditions and historical facts : comprising a period of more than three centuries from about 1500 to 1860

1895·22.6 MB·English

by  Reindorf, Carl Christian

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McKEW PARR COLLECTION
MAGELLAN
and the AGE of DISCOVERY
PRESENTED TO
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY • 1961
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HISTORY OF THE GOLD COAST
AND ASANTE,
BASED ON TRADITIONS AND HISTORICAL FACTS,
COMPRISING A PERIOD OF MORE THAN THREE CENTURIES
FROM ABOUT TO
1500 1860.
BY
EEV. CARL CHRISTIAN REINDORF,
NATIVE PASTOR OF THE BASEL MISSION, CHRISTIANSLORG. GOLD COAST.
BASEL
1895.
Printed for the Author,
to be had of
the Missiousbuchhaiidluiig Basel, Switzerland,
Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co. London,
the Basel Mission Book Depot Christianshorg, tr. C,
the Gold Coast District Book Depot, Cape Coast, W. Africa.
7 51)
m
Preface.
To the Educated Coinmiiiiity in the Gold Coast Colony.
—
Bear Friends,
The sole object of this publication is, to call the attention of all you
my friends and countiymen, to the study and collection of our history,
and to create a basis for a future more complete history of the Gold
Coast.
A history is the methodical narration of events in the order in which
they successively occurred, exhibiting- the origin and progress, the causes
and effects, and the auxiliaries and tendencies of that which has occurred
in connection with a nation. It is, as it were, the speculum and meas-
ure-tape of that nation, showing its true shape and stature. Hence a
nation not possessing a history has no true representation of all the
stages of its development, whether it is in a state of progress or in a
state of retrogression. In the place of a written history, tradition, which
from antiquity was a natural source of history, was kept and trans-
mitted regularly by our ancestors to their children in their days. It
was not, of course, in uniform theory, but existed and exercised its in-
fluence in the physical and mental powers of our people. This impor-
—
tant custom of a nation which our forefathers felt obliged to pre-
serve and transmit from one generation to another, so as to enable us
—
to compare our times with theirs has, since the dawn of education,
been gradually neglected and forgotten. Since then it has been the
good fortune of the Gold Coast to possess educated men of powerful
mind, who I am sure were well qualified to collect the traditions of
their forefathers as a basis for a future history of the Gold Coast.
But unfortunately such collections have not been preserved by their suc-
cessors, but have been left to the memories of the uneducated commu-
nity. Such a work as writing- a history of the Gold Coast would not
have been difficult for such of our brethren as the late lamented Eev.
William Hansen, and Charles Bannerman, and some others in Fante;
they possessed the mental powers which would have enabled them to
do it successfully. Unfortunately, however, these lights on the Gold
Coast were carried away by death in the prime of life.
A history of the Gold Coast written by a foreigner would most prob-
ably not be correct in its statements, he not having the means of
*
M 771 ^
1
IV Preface.
acquiring the different traditions in the country and of comparing them
with those which he may have gathered from a single individual. Un-
less a foreigner writes what he witnesses personally, his statements will
be comparatively worthless, as it is the case with several accounts of the
Gold Coast already published. Hence it is most desirable that a history
of the Gold Coast and its people should be written by one who has
not only studied, but has had the privilege of initiation into the history
of its former inhabitants and writes with true native patriotism.
It is no egotism when I say 1 have had the privilege of being ini-
tiated into, and also of possessing a love for, the history of my country.
My ancestors on the father's and mother's side belonged to the families
of national ofliciating high priests in Akra and Christiansborg. And I
should have become a priest either of Nai at Akra or Klote at Chris-
tiansborg, if I had not been born a mulatto and become a Christian.
My worthy grandmother Okakg Asase, as in duty bound to lier chil-
dren and grandchildren, used to relate the traditions of the country to
her people when they sat around her in the evenings. My education
and calling separated me from home, and prevented me from complet-
ing the series of these lessons in native tradition.
However in 1860 I felt a craving to spend some days with her, so
as to complete it; but she died whilst I was absent from home in Krobo
as a catechist. Four years later Rev. Fr. Aldinger asked me to collect
traditions for him; but the old lady was dead, and the old people,
though possessing a vast store of tradition, refrained from imparting it;
so I obtained very little for him.
This treatment of the then old people stirred up a greater desire in
me to use all available means in my power to collect traditions. From
more than two hundred persons of both sexes 1 ol)tained what know-
ledge of the subject I now possess. These traditions I have carefully
compared in order to arrive at the truth. The result I now humbly
present to the public, to whom I have to suggest a few remarks.
If a nation's history is the nation's speculum and measure-tape, then
it brings the past of that nation to its own view, so that the past may
be compared with the present to see whether progress or retrogression
is in operation; and also as a means of judging our nation by others,
so that we may gather instruction for our future guidance. When such
is not the case with a nation, no hope can be entertained for better
prospects. Keeping this in mind, we shall more clearly understand the
necessity of collecting materials for a complete history of the Gold Coast
from evei-y source within our reach.
V
Preface.
The title chosen for this publication, "History of the Gold Coast and
Asante" may be deemed to promise more than I was actually able to
give. For, from want of reliable information, the principal and impor-
tant portion of the Gold Coast, Fante, the land of history, the land of
poetry and enlightenment and semi-civilization, could not be treated
fi-om its origin. Still I venture to have the book so named in the hope
that our brethren and friends on the Gold Coast, both Native and Eu-
ropean, may possess better sources of information for a history of the
Gold Coast, and may, laying aside all prejudice, be induced to unite
to bring the history ofthe GJold Coast to perfection. I deem it impossible
for one man unaided to carry out such an important work to perfection.
Having described the principal object I have in view in writing this
work as a desire to produce a complete history of the Gold Coast, I
trust, my friends in Fante, or elsewhere, will co-operate with me in re-
vising, if need be, what I have written, and in assisting me by furnish-
ing additional information, in order that a subsequent edition may be
more complete.
Another important snbject, besides that of Fante etc., which ought to
be more fully investigated before the work would be complete, is the
different conditions and concerns of various European nations on the
Gold Coast and their connections with the people there since their es-
tablishment in this country.
I may also state briefly my object in connecting the history of Asante
with that of the Gold Coast. There must be a starting-point in writing
a history of a nation. If the kingdom of Akra, which appears to have
been the first established on the Gold Coast, could have continued
and absorbed that of Fante, or been absorbed by the latter, I might
have easily obtained the starting-point. But both kingdoms having
failed and the kingdom ofAsante having become the leading and ruling
power, a Gold Coast history would not be complete without the history
of Asante, as the histories of both countries are so interwoven. Thus
my present work carries us from the origin of the diflPerent tribes to
the year 1856 i.e. the rebuilding of the town of Osu or Christiansborg,
a period of at least three centuries.
If, in conjunction with the united efforts of all the educated commu-
nity of the country and those foreigners who take a special interest in
us, we could collect materials of those dark days to complete this pio-
neer work, that from 1857 up to the present time, some thirty years
only, could be easily obtained, as there is sufficient matter already in
store for us.
VI Preface.
Regarding dates and historical facts, I have made references to such
works as I could lay hand upon. The records of the Colonial (4overn-
nient would have furnished nie with correct dates and substantial infor-
mations, but I was unable to obtain access to them. I am, however,
highly thankful to the Rev. P. Steiner for the translation of some pages
from the following works in German, viz. W. J. Muller, Danish chap-
lain in Frederiksborg (now Fort Victoria) near Cape Coast Castle from
1662—1670, published in Hamburg 1673 and in Niirnberg 1675; Fr.
—
Romer, a Danish merchant in Christiansborg from 1735 43, published
at Copenhagen in 1769; Dr. P. E. Isert, Copenhagen 1788; H. C. Mon-
—
rad, a Danish Chaplain in Christiansborg from 1805 9, Weimar 1824;
Dr. 0. Dapper's Africa. The short history of the Bremen Mission was
kindly given me by the Rev. G. Binetsch, of the North German or
Bremen Mission on the Slave Coast.
Besides those, I have got the follov/ing works in English: William
Bosnian, A new and accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea, de-
vided into the Gold, the Slave, and the Ivory Coasts, 1705; Bowdich,
Mission to Ashantee Cruickshank, Eighteen Years on the Gold Coast;
;
Sir Dal. Hay, Ashanti and the Gold Coast; The British Battles; A brief
history of the Wesleyan Missions on the Western Coast of Africa by
William Fox, 1851; the Report of the Basel Mission for 1879, or a
Retrospect on fifty years Mission Work; and the Gold Coast Almanack
for 1842 and 1843, with some few manuscripts of the late Old James
Bannerman and Charles Bannerman, which were kindly communicated
to me by Mr. Edmund Bannerman and from which I obtained some
information about Sir Charles McCarthy's war with Asante. And lastly,
I am thankful to the Rev. A. W. Parker and the Rev. John H. Davies
M. A., the Colonial Chaplain, for their informations.
I have, at the same time, to crave indulgence from all the English
readers of my work for my poor English and for using Dr. Lepsius'
Standard Alphabet in writing the African names. For I have found
out that the English Alphabet could never fully express the names,
and as I have the full conviction that the endeavours of the Basel
German missionaries to cultivate our language and to give us a litera-
ture of our own have been successful, and this work is intended as a
contribution towards that, ray native friends will, in the long run, find
that I have adopted the best mode in doing so.
The vowels a, e, i, o, u, [having the same pronunciation whethe=r they
be long or short] are as in English far, hest, sit, post, full; e e in
=
English there; g o in not, nor; a, e, e, i, o, o, u are nasals; a, e, e,