Forts, Castles and Society in West Africa

Gold Coast and Dahomey, 1450-1960
Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-90-04-38014-1
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 7, 276 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 408 g

Reihe: African History

Long regarded as disturbing remnants of the Atlantic slave trade, the European forts and castles of West Africa have attained iconic positions as universally significant historical monuments and world heritage tourist destinations. This volume of original contributions by leading Africanists presents extensive new historical views of the forts in Ghana and Benin, providing both impetus and a scholarly basis for further research and fresh debate about their historical and geographical contexts; their role in the slave trade; the economic and political connections, centred on the forts, between the Europeans and local African polities; and their place in variously focused heritage studies and endeavours.

Contributors are Hermann W. von Hesse, Daniel Hopkins, Jon Olav Hove, Ole Justesen, Ineke van Kessel, Robin Law, John Kwadwo Osei-Tutu, Jarle Simensen, Selena Axelrod Winsnes†, Larry Yarak.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Weitere Mitwirkende

Osei-Tutu, John Kwadwo

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Architektur Gebäudetypen Palastbauten, Burgen, Festungen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Geschichte der Sklaverei
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Afrikanische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

Acknowledgements

List of Figures

Notes on Contributors

1 Introduction: Forts, Castles, and Society in West Africa

John Kwadwo Osei-Tutu

2 Gold Coast Forts and Castles: Key Themes and Perspectives

Jarle Simensen

3 ‘Heaven Is High Above, and Europe Is Far Away’, so Christiansborg Prevails

Selena Axelrod Winsnes

4 ‘Creative and Expedient Misunderstandings’: Elmina-Dutch Relations in the 19th Century

Larry Yarak

5 Wax Prints in West Africa: Unravelling the Myth of Dutch Colonial Soldiers as Cultural Brokers

Ineke van Kessel

6William’s Fort: The English Fort at Ouidah, 1680s–1960s

Robin Law

7The Danish Guinea Coast Forts, Denmark’s Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and African Colonial Policy, 1788–1850

Daniel Hopkins

8Political Relations between Osu and Christiansborg, 1803–1826

Ole Justesen

9Cosmopolitan Conundrums: Impacts of Trade Fortresses on the Gã Space, 1450–1870

John Kwadwo Osei-Tutu and Hermann W. von Hesse

10Forts and Castles in the Colonial Period: Uses and Understandings of the Pre-colonial Fortifications

Jon Olav Hove

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Über Autor(innen)

John Kwadwo Osei-Tutu, Ph.D. (2000), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), is Associate Professor of History (African and World) at NTNU. He has published a monograph, many articles and edited volumes, including (with Victoria Ellen Smith) Shadows of Empire in West Africa: New Perspectives on European fortifications (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).