Swedish Gold Coast

Swedish Gold Coast
Cabo Corso
Svenska Guldkusten
Swedish colony

 

1650–1658
1660–1663

Flag of Sweden Coat of arms of Sweden
Map of Sweden Overseas Territories and Territorial Entities
Historic map of the Gold Coast
Capital Fort Christiansborg
Languages Swedish
Political structure Colony
King/Queen of Sweden
   1632–1654 Christina of Sweden
  1654–1660 Charles X Gustav of Sweden
  1660–1697 Charles XI of Sweden
Administrator
  1650–1656 Henrik Carloff
  1656–1658 Johan Filip von Krusenstierna
  1659–1660 Johan Filip von Krusenstierna
  1663 Tönnies Voss
Historical era Colonial period
   Established 1650
  Danish conquest 1658
  Treaty of Copenhagen 1660
   Fall 1663
Today part of  Ghana

The Swedish Gold Coast (Swedish: Svenska Guldkusten) was a Swedish colony founded in 1650 by Hendrik Carloff on the Gulf of Guinea in present-day Ghana in Africa. It lasted until April 1663 when the whole Swedish Gold Coast was seized by Denmark, and integrated in the Danish Gold Coast.

Geography

The colony consisted of only a few forts and trading posts scattered around Cabo Corso (present-day Cape Coast) along the coast on the Gulf of Guinea in what later would become the British Gold Coast then Ghana.

The colony consisted of fortifications and trading posts (factories):

Colonial heads

Each of the three Swedish administrators had a different gubernatorial title:

History

Following the foundation of the Swedish Africa Company (1649) by Louis de Geer an expedition under the command of Hendrik Carloff was sent to Africa in 1650. Carloff made a treaty with the Akan King of Futu (also Feta) on selling some areas of land. On 22 April 1650 the Swedish Gold Coast was founded and Carloff became its first administrator. In 1652 the foundations were laid of the fort Carlsborg

In 1656 Johan Filip von Krusenstierna (brother of the greatgrandfather of Adam Johann von Krusenstern)[1] was appointed the new Governor. This enraged Carloff. He left Cabo Corso only to return on 27 January 1658 on the Danish Privateer Glückstadt. Fort Carlsborg was seized and made part of the Danish Gold Coast colony.

King Charles X Gustav of Sweden made this one of his reasons to go to war with Denmark. After the Treaty of Copenhagen in 1660 Cabo Corso Castle was to be returned to Swedish administration: However it then was revealed that Carloff's associate Samuel Schmidt or Smith had already sold the colony in April 1659 to the Dutch West India Company on his own, and had disappeared with the gold to Angola.

Later on the local population started a successful uprising against their new masters and in December 1660 the King of the Akan people subgroup-Efutu again offered Sweden control over the area. A new expedition was sent to the colony which remained under Swedish administration only for a short period. Von Krusenstierna was reappointed as administrator.

On 20 April 1663 Fort Carlsborg and the capital Fort Christiansborg again were seized by the Danes after a long defense under the Swedish commander Anton Voss.

On 9 May 1664 the area again was seized, this time by Robert Holmes who made it part of the British Gold Coast colony.

References

  1. (German) Baltic nobility genealogy handbook Governor Johan Filip von Krusenstierna family

Sources

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