Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/96

 88 GOLD COAST - of the locality. The Dutch cultiva- ,. ,-ot ton, Hax, hemp, coffee, tobacco, and ground nuts, with much success. From Chama to Elmina is about 20 in. Between .-in- the native towns of Kommenda (pop. 4000), with the ruins of an old English fort; Koramanie (pop. 2,300), with the remains of the Dutch fort Vredenburg ; and Ampeni (pop. 4,500). Elmina, called by the natives Oddena, the capital of the former Dutch colonies, had a population of 15,000 in 1867. (See ELMINA.) CUR- Coast Castle, 8 m. E., the capital of the Gold Coast colony (pop. 10,000), derives its name from its fortress built on rocks near the seashore. Behind, on a gentle slope, is the European town, with picturesque houses sur- rounded by gardens of tropical fruits. Anam- boe or Anamabu, 10 in. E. of Cape Coast Cas- tle, and Accra or Akrah, nearly 70 m. further, are the two most easterly fortified settlements on the coast, but there are missionary stations at several intervening points. The shve trade is virtually abolished, but domestic slavery ex- ists to a great extent throughout the protecto- rate. The principal exports are gold dust, palm oil and kernels, gum, ivory, and monkey skins ; the imports are cotton and silk goods, guns, gunpowder, hardware, tobacco, and wines and spirits. The total tonnage of vessels entered and cleared, exclusive of coasting trade, in 1871, was 251,047. The total value of im- ports for 1871 was 250,672, of which 171,- 978 were from Great Britain ; total value of ex- ports in 1871, 295,208. The chief trade pre- vious to 1872 was with the Ashantees. Since 1850 the colony, previously under the juris- diction of Sierra Leone, has had a government of its own, with a governor and executive and legislative councils. It has also judicial, mili- itary, ecclesiastical, and educational establish- ments. The gross amount of public revenue, raised in part by a tax of 3 per cent, on im- ports, was in 1871 28,609 ; gross expenditure, 1871, 29,094. An attempt was made to im- pose a poll tax of a shilling a head on all the protected natives, which in 1852 produced 7,- 567; in 1861 it had fallen to 1,552, and since then it has not been levied. The Dutch did not levy any import duties. The first Euro- pean nation to establish themselves on the Gold Coast were the Portuguese, who began the fort at Elmina in 1481. In 1637 it was cap- tured by the Dutch, and three years later all tin- Portuguese possessions on the coast were ceded to tlu-tn. In 1662 the "Company of Royal Adventurers of England trading to i." and in 1672 the " Royal African Com- pany of England," built rival forts and fac- m;ir tin- Dutch company's settlements, whirli resulted in constant disagreements and qimnvk In the war of 1781 the English cap- tun-,1 all tlu- hutch forts except Elmina. On their n-tor:ition by the treaty of Versailles, -neral assumed the government of lony, but the rivalry continued and fre- quently It-il to bloodshed between the negro tribes of the two jurisdictions. Considering that this unsatisfactory state of affairs was duo principally to the positions of the forts of the two nations, which alternated with each other, an agreement was made in 1867 that the boundary line between the colonies should be the Sweet river, a small stream between Elmina and Cape Coast Castle ; that all the settlements E. of this point should belong to England, and all W. of it as far as the Assinie river to the Netherlands. In accordance with this treaty, the Dutch ceded Mori, Kormantin, Assam, Bereku, and Fort Crevecceur at Accra ; the English, Apollonia, Dixcove, Sekundi, and Kommenda, and the protected territories of Wassa, Denkira, and Tufel. The Dutch forts were surrendered to the English without trouble, but the natives resisted the transfer of the English stations to the Dutch. Dis- turbances ensued, and on Jan. 31, 1867, the Dutch burned Kommenda as a punishment. In 1868 they burned Sekundi in retaliation, and in 1869 Dixcove. The natives became only the more incensed at these measures, and the Dutch government, despairing of peace, agreed, by a treaty ratified at the Hague Feb. 17, 1872, to transfer all its possessions to Eng- land, which was formally done the following April. The Danish settlements had previously been ceded to Great Britain (in 1850), so that the latter power now controlled the whole coast. The king of Ashantee, who had been accustomed to draw his supplies of arms and ammunition through the Dutch factories free of duty, objected to the transfer of the forts, which cut him off from access to the coast, and declared that the Dutch had no power to transfer Elmina, which he said belonged to him, the Dutch having paid him a tribute of 300 a year. In January, 1873, the Ashantees crossed the Prah and invaded the protectorate. The protected tribes offered but a feeble re- sistance, and in June both Cape Coast Castle and Elmina were threatened by a force esti- mated at 50,000 men. The native king of Elmina aided the Ashantees, and four out of the eight captains of the quarters into which the town is divided refused to take the oath of allegiance. On June 30 the quarter of the native king was bombarded by the fort and destroyed, and in the afternoon of the same day the Ashantees were defeated with a loss of 500 and their general, and withdrew to Effutu, 12 m. distant. In August Takorady was bombarded by the British fleet, Dixcove repelled an attack of the Ashantees, and Axim, where the natives rose against the garrison, was burned. In October Gen. Sir Garnet Wolseley was sent from England to Cape Coast Castle with both civil and military powers. Early in January, 1874, he set out for Koomassie with about 2,000 white troops, building a military road as he went, and the Ashantees fell back before him. The Prah was crossed without opposition. At Amoaful, about 22 m. from Koomassie, a severe battle