Raymond E. Dumett. El Dorado in West : The -Mining Frontier, African Labor, and Colonial Capitalism in the Gold Coast, 1875-1900. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1999. xviii + 396 pp. $24.95, paper, ISBN 978-0-8214-1198-8.

Reviewed by Andrew F. Clark

Published on H-Africa (August, 1999)

The later nineteenth century witnessed the capitalistic gold mining. He examines various his‐ most extensive and famous series of gold migra‐ toriographical questions and provides consider‐ tions in modern history. Gold rushes occurred in able new information on the topics of mining, la‐ diferent parts of the world, including California, bor relations, capitalism, and colonialism in , , New Zealand, Alaska, southwestern . The high quality photo‐ and the southwestern Gold Coast of . graphs at the end of each chapter depicting both Each of the gold discoveries caused large migra‐ indigenous and expatriate gold mining are a valu‐ tions of prospectors, skilled laborers, engineers, able addition to the book. land speculators, share pushers and con artists Gold mining and trading predated the arrival who moved from one fnd to the next, bringing of Europeans. The Akan was one of West with them various skills but all with one goal, Africa's major gold sources, along with Bambuhu proft. In this excellent account focused on the on the upper Senegal and Bure on the upper Wassa area of the southwestern Gold Coast, Ray‐ Niger, for the trans-Saharan trade. West African mond Dumett, who has published extensively on gold made its way to medieval and Renaissance the colonial period and on gold mining, explores . Gold initially attracted Europeans to the the frst modern mechanized gold rush in West area, beginning with the Portuguese in the ff‐ Africa and its aftermath. teenth century, who were followed by the Dutch, He discusses land, labor, capital, technology, the British and several other West European pow‐ transport, management, culture clash, and colo‐ ers, all seeking an El Dorado on the coast. nial rule. Drawing on abundant archives and While the El Dorado of European myth never fully some oral interviews, Dumett's book examines in materialized, the gold trade fourished before and particular the relationship between mining and during the trans- which it out‐ colonialism as well as the continuity of traditional lasted as well. The imposing forts and castles African mining and the beginnings of European H-Net Reviews along the coast were built for participation in the Dumett also discusses the critical roles of gold, rather than trans-Atlantic slave trade. women and concludes that it is highly likely more The Akan societies that engaged in the At‐ women than men participated in mining opera‐ lantic trade also produced gold for their own use tions in any given year. Strict gender division of and exchange with other African groups. The labor did not exist on the mines. Finally, the au‐ Akan were expert gold miners and artisans as thor concludes that, despite the observations of well as careful protectors of the deposit sources some contemporary Europeans, mining made eco‐ from outsiders. Traditional methods of gold min‐ nomic sense to local inhabitants. During the dry ing had been developed over the centuries and season when they would be generally idle, farm‐ they persisted well after the arrival and encroach‐ ers mined for gold, expecting and sometimes ment of Europeans into the gold felds. achieving a lucky strike. The potential benefts outweighed the costs. Akan farmer-miners contin‐ After a scientifc and highly detailed account ued to mine in traditional fashion and seasonally of the geological structures and the location of well after the introduction of full-time mecha‐ gold in Ghana, Dumett turns to a discussion of tra‐ nized European mining. ditional gold mining in the Southwestern Akan re‐ gion. In addition to providing insight into the dif‐ Dumett then turns to the frst gold rush in cult and arduous processes of excavation, crush‐ Wassa in southwestern Gold Coast that lasted ing, and washing, the author argues against some from approximately 1877 to 1885. The initial commonly held assumptions about gold mining in group of prospectors were West Africans from precolonial West Africa and especially in the Gold other mining areas, followed later by Europeans Coast region. Local miners were not inefcient who brought in modern mechanized mining. Yet and backward but demonstrated remarkable in‐ Akan farmer-miners were not displaced by new novation and adaptability in terms of tools and mechanized companies but competed alongside techniques in both shallow-pit mining, the most them on an equal basis. Traditional methods and common type, and deep-level reef mining. relations of production persisted and operated si‐ multaneously with European methods and ad‐ Dumett also posits that traditional gold min‐ vances. While discussing some of the leading Eu‐ ing occurred primarily within the family group, ropean fgures, Dumett also cites the vision and with husbands, wives and other household mem‐ leadership of several pioneering African en‐ bers forming the basic work unit and that, con‐ trepeneurs. These men were not merely collabo‐ trary to the fndings of Emmnual Terray for the rators assisting encroaching European capitalism centralized states such as Asante and Gyaman, and imperialism but creators of an indigenous slaves were not the primary laborers in Wassa. capitalist class for future economic development Some slaves worked in the mines but the majority and self-government. They beneftted from the of mined gold was the work of free individuals colonial presence and yet were also its harshest and family groups. Thus, he argues against a slave critics. They pursued their own agendas and in‐ mode of production in favor of several types of la‐ terests. bor organization, including kin-based relations of production. The author declares that the Dumett- Once the initial gold rush was transformed Terray debate over the dominant mode of produc‐ into long-term mining, the mining companies had tion is unresolvable because there was in reality to set about the business of making a proft from no single dominant mode and no unifed set of la‐ the prospecting. Dumett considers the complicat‐ bor relations in mineral production on the Gold ed set of obstacles that companies had to over‐ Coast. come. Insufcient capitalization, inexperienced

2 H-Net Reviews company directors, enormous technological dif‐ tiers, a traditional Akan farmer-miner gold-min‐ culties at every step of the process, inadequate ing frontier, and an expatriate-controlled capital‐ transportation facilities, and the poor health and istic mining frontier. The sudden infux of people high mortality of workers were all barriers to vast into new mining centers caused numerous prob‐ riches. Dumett discusses at length the recruitment lems in the area, as it did in other frontier gold and treatment of African labor in the 1880s and rush around the globe. One of the aggra‐ 1890s. Owing to the problems of recruiting local vating factors in Wassa was the presence of so labor, European company ofcials concluded that many outsiders, some from traditionally hostile local Akan either could not or would not work at ethnic groups. Shantytowns sprung up with no the Wassa mines. The author demonstrates con‐ regulation. Violence was commonplace as were clusively that the Akan had various reasons for substandard housing and sanitation. Abundant al‐ their reluctance to work in the mines for the com‐ cohol and frearms added to the volatile mix of panies. Mining and porterage were considered destabilizing factors. An absent colonial govern‐ dangerous, arduous and not worht the wages ment only contributed to the instability. Yet paid. The Akan preferred to remain in agriculture Dumett argues that, under the circumstances, it is and work seasonally in the mines using tradition‐ revealing that there wasn't more violence and al methods. In order to meet labor demands, com‐ chaos. African resilience and initiative won out panies recruited women as porters and carriers, over colonial indiference and neglect. and also brought in men from to work un‐ Despite the odds, three mining companies, in‐ derground and in other unskilled positions. Al‐ cluding the Tarkwa and Aboso, the Gie Appanto, most seventy percent of the work force during and the Wassa (Gold Coast) Mining Companies, ex‐ this period was made up of Kru and Bassa men tracted substantial gold for export and posted from Liberia. Dumett next turns his attention to profts, although not as high as predicted. Dumett the colonial government and its interactions with examines in depth these three ventures which at both European mining companies and African their peak in 1896 employed a total of 1,200 work‐ workers. The colonial government remained aloof ers. Even with the beginnings of mechanization, and rather disinterested in the needs both of the the Akan farmer-miners remained the backbone companies and their laborers, pursuing a policy of the industry, and these three companies compe‐ of neglect over action and intervention. For exam‐ tently mobilized and handled African labor which ple, the Colonial Ofce never investigated miners' contributed to their success. A fundamental issue complaints about living conditions and never sug‐ concerns the economic benefts and costs of gold gested administrative procedures that would ben‐ mining in the region. Dumett rejects the notion eft either Africans or Europeans. This indifer‐ that the companies exploited the region for all it ence was most notable in the area of transporta‐ was worth and that they consciously tried to cre‐ tion with the government ignoring the companies' ate an African proletariat. The mining companies pleas for a railroad linking Wassa to the coast. most likely pumped more money into the area Other examples of neglect include the Colonial Of‐ than they ever took out in direct profts. He points fce's refusal to extend ordinances to the interior, to several positive developments, mainly in the severe limits on funds for infrastructural im‐ areas of infrastructure and skills transfer, that provements, and the refusal to fund a geological beneftted local people in the long term. Dumett survey or to validate leasing arrangements. also concludes that the exportation of gold from Dumett discusses especially well the condi‐ traditional African production far surpassed ex‐ tions for miners on the frontier. There were in ef‐ fect two simultaneously expanding mining fron‐

3 H-Net Reviews ports from the European sector until 1893 and held frm the next four years. Mechanized production did not destroy tradi‐ tional methods of mining. Right around the turn of the twentieth century, vast and important changes occurred in mining in the Gold Coast, and the author notes that he will publish on that peri‐ od in the future. Like this work, that study will no doubt make a valuable and most welcome contri‐ bution to the literature on mining, labor, colonial‐ ism and African history in general. Copyright (c) 1999 by H-Net, all rights re‐ served. This work may be copied for non-proft educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ tact [email protected].

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Citation: Andrew F. Clark. Review of Dumett, Raymond E. El Dorado in West Africa: The Gold-Mining Frontier, African Labor, and Colonial Capitalism in the Gold Coast, 1875-1900. H-Africa, H-Net Reviews. August, 1999.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=3341

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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