Historical-Archaeological Investigations at the Frederiksgave Plantation, Ghana: A Case Study of Slavery and Plantation Life on a Nineteenth Century Danish Plantation on the Gold Coast
Date
2002-01
Authors
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Publisher
University of Ghana
Abstract
The global processes that were unleashed due to the maritime exploration and
commercial expansion of Europe made an impact on indigenous cultures of the
Atlantic world. Between the late fifteenth and the nineteenth century the Atlantic
Slave Trade, which existed due to the European contact, and basically involved
trade in Africa's human cargoes, affected traditional institutions and local life. On
the Gold Coast, the Royal Danish Government established agricultural plantations
in the foothills of the Akuapem Mountains and along the estuary of the Volta
River. The plantations, which were established in the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth century, produced agricultural commodities for consumption and
industrial processing.
The thesis surveyed the Danish plantations on the Gold Coast, highlighting on
their location. historical development and production management as portrayed by
Danish documentary sources. The present state of the plantations is also
described. The study has demonstrated that the Danish plantations on the Gold
Coast developed as a result of the European global expansionist activities
particularly the Atlantic Slave Trade. The diverse archaeological objects
particularly, the exotic trade goods obtained at the Frederiksgave plantation is an
indication of the incorporation of the Danish plantation complex into the
European dominated world economic system of the nineteenth century.
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Resident enslaved African workers provided labour on the plantations. This work
investigated the social conditions of the enslaved African workforce who
tirelessly cultivated the plantations in the Akuapem Mountains. Originally, the
Danes, who participated in the Atlantic Slave Trade, used enslaved Africans in
their forts and private homes. However, when they became involved in plantation
agriculture on the Gold Coast, these slaves were transferred to work on the farms
as plantation workers. Archaeological data recovered from the Frederiksgave
plantation was combined with documentary, ethnographic and oral information to
provide insights into what the daily life was like for the enslaved workers on the
plantations. The enslaved workers on the plantations were drawn from different
ethnic backgrounds on the Gold Coast. They engaged in diverse servile tasks,
which ranged from weeding, planting, harvesting and head loading and
transporting harvested commodities to warehouses on the Accra coast. The
subsistence and building construction patterns on the plantations strongly
remained African. It was clear that all categories of slaves on the plantation were
trapped by their enslaved condition. The slaves therefore adopted appropriate
responses to resist their disadvantaged social conditions.
Description
PhD in Archaeology
Keywords
Historical-Archaeological Investigations, The Frederiksgave Plantation, Slavery, Plantation, Ghana