Merchants, missionaries & migrants: 300 years of Dutch-Ghanaian relations Kessel, W.M.J. van Citation Kessel, W. M. J. van. (2002). Merchants, missionaries & migrants: 300 years of Dutch-Ghanaian relations. Amsterdam: KIT Publishers. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/4734 Version: Not Applicable (or Unknown) License: Leiden University Non-exclusive license Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/4734 Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable). Merchants, Missionaries and Migrants: 300 years of Dutch-Ghanaian Relations Merchants, 300 years of Dutch-Ghanaian Relations Missionaries I. van Kessel (ed) & Migrants KIT-Publishers Sub-Saharan Publishers Colofon Merchants, Missionaries and Migrants. 300 years of Dutch- Editing English text: Forest-Flier Editorial Service, Alkmaar, Ghanaian Relations was published on the occasion of the the Netherlands celebration of 300 years of Dutch-Ghanaian diplomatic English translation of ch. 3 and 11 from the Dutch by relations. It is the outcome of the conference ‘Past and M. de Jong, London, Great Britain Present of Dutch Ghanaian Relations’, organized by the Design: Ad van Helmond, Amsterdam, the Netherlands African Studies Centre (Leiden), which was held in The Hague Lithography: PrePart, Eindhoven, the Netherlands on 7 November 2001. The book was a joint initiative of KIT Reproductions from books unless otherwise indicated Publishers and African Studies Centre. photographed by: I. de Groot, KIT Fotobureau, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This publication was sponsored by the Netherlands Ministry Illustrations: KIT Publishers wishes to thank H. den Heijer of Foreign Affairs. for his research Production: Far East Productions, Soest, the Netherlands Merchants, Missionaries and Migrants. Printed in Singapore. 300 years of Dutch-Ghanaian Relations I. van Kessel (ed.) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any © 2002 KIT Publishers (Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam) form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the First published in Ghana in 2002 by Sub-Saharan Publishers, publishers. P.O.Box 358, Legon, Accra, in a co-publishing arrangement with KIT Publishers, P.O.Box 95001, 1090 HA, Amsterdam. Page 2 and 3: Map of Africa. Illustration from Johannes Blaeu, Atlas Maior, Amsterdam 1662. Adapted from the map his father ISBN 9988 550 77 4 Willem Jansz. Blaeu made in 1617. (Sub-Saharan Publishers edition) available in Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Europe, excluding the Netherlands ISBN 90 6832 523 X (KIT Publishers edition) available in rest of the world A past for future generations Ghana and the Netherlands have come a long Modern slave markets are highly mobile and way since David van Nyendael paid his historic situational, and discussions around the buying visit in 1701 to the royal court of King Osei Tutu and selling of slaves are coded. Slaves remain the of Ashanti as an envoy of the Dutch West India property of their master, subject entirely to his Company. From a trading relationship that will, working long hours for no remuneration, focused on the exchange of Ghanaian gold, ivory, with no access to education and no freedom to slaves and cocoa for Dutch textiles, weapons and marry or to associate freely. They escape servi- consumer products such as the famous Dutch tude not by exercising their ‘legal’ rights, but genever, we have advanced to a stage where the mainly through escape. The challenge before us Netherlands has become one of Ghana’s most today is to come up with strategies that would important development partners. It is my hope help overcome this tragic manifestation of that this fruitful relationship will be intensified human greed and insensitivity. The hope of by way of increased Dutch direct investments in freedom depends in real measure upon our Ghana in the future. commitment to the principle of the dignity of man. The contributions in this book focus on the longstanding and occasionally intricate eco- The past was not so good. The present has been nomic, political, cultural and human ties that mutually beneficial. It is our responsibility to have evolved between our two countries over the strive to build a future that is even more advanta- past centuries. The various chapters deal with geous to our two countries. We must ensure that central themes such as the slave trade, the cocoa out of the ashes of that which was wrong, a new trade, liaisons between European men and future blossoms, a future of which unborn African women and present-day Ghanaian generations of our two countries can be proud. migration to the Netherlands. Dr Grace Amponsah-Ababio Of particular concern to us must be the contin- Ambassador of Ghana to the Netherlands ued practice of slavery under various guises in several parts of the world. The international media is replete with news of women and children being either lured or coerced into sexual bondage, child soldiers being forced into their vocation by adults who should know better, and children from poor families being sold into perpetual servitude. 7 Preface Children of Anansi This preface is based The sustainable relations developing between forts on the coast and acquired colonies on the on the speech given at Ghana and the Netherlands must involve chil- other side of the ocean, they also yielded to the the conference ‘Past dren. Their stories and songs contain pearls of temptation of the slave trade. and Present of Dutch- Ghanaian relations’ wisdom. Take for instance the Ghanaian chil- in The Hague on 7 dren’s song about the spider Anansi: The presence of the Dutch at the forts on the November 2001 coast of what is now Ghana sparked an interest entitled ‘Relations ‘Children of Anansi are we in the lifestyle of the local population. The books between Ghana and the Netherlands: more and the wide world is our spider’s web. Pieter de Marees and Willem Bosman wrote on than footnotes?’ Love, longing and fate the subject in 1602 and 1702 respectively are still send us to different points of interest. Africans like Jacobus Capitein and the in this worldwide web. Ashanti princes Kwasi Boachi and Kwame Poku Where they bring us came to the Netherlands and became ‘ambassa- we find threads to grasp, dors’ between the two cultures. threads to leave hanging and threads to let go.’ Awareness of each other’s background and history – and the efforts both sides have made to I hope the pieces in this book will show us which treat the other with respect – have provided the threads we should grasp, which we should leave basis for the sustainable cooperative relationship hanging and which we should let go. to which I am committed as Director-General for International Cooperation. Given my job of shaping cooperation between Ghana and the Netherlands, both now and for I am interested to hear not only what there is to the future, I often wonder what the past should discover from oral history, but also how today’s mean to us today, how we should deal with it Ghanaian migrants feel about Dutch society. I and how we can use it. As the Ambassador of hope that the Netherlands-Ghana Tercentenary Ghana has said: ‘we must learn to understand project will encourage Ghanaians living in this each other, we must respect each other and then country to make their voices heard. Are they able we can work together’. to grasp new threads? What do they regard as important in relations between Ghana and the This certainly includes being aware of and Netherlands? I am confident that our relationship acknowledging mistakes, because only then can is destined to be more than just a footnote in we understand what has hurt or humiliated history. another. The slave trade, which has scarred so many people of African origin, is one example. Ron Keller Director-General for International Cooperation It was the Netherlands’ struggle for independ- at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs ence from Spain that first took the Dutch to the Gold Coast. They initially bought pepper, ivory and gold there, but after they had conquered Merchants, Missionaries and Migrants 8 Table of contents Introduction Merchants, missionaries and migrants: an introduction | Ineke van Kessel 11 Part 1 Merchants and Merchandise 1 An overview of Dutch relations with the Gold Coast in the light of 19 David van Nyendael’s mission to Ashanti in 1701-1702 | Michel R. Doortmont 2 Merchants, middlemen and monarchs: Dutch and Ghanaians 33 in the Atlantic slave trade | Akosua Perbi 3 David van Nyendael: the first European envoy to the court of Ashanti, 41 1701-1702 | Henk den Heijer 4 Ahenfo Nsa (the ‘Drink of Kings’): Dutch schnapps and ritual 51 in Ghanaian History | Emmanuel Akyeampong 5 Cocoa trade between Ghana and the Netherlands: 61 past, present and future | Victor K. Nyanteng Part 2 Missionaries 6 Jacobus Capitein: a tragic life | Henri van der Zee 73 7 Free to be a Slave: Capitein’s theology of convenient slavery | David Kpobi 81 8 Ghanaian churches in the Netherlands: religion mediating a tense relationship | Rijk van Dijk 89 Part 3 Voluntary and involuntary Migrants 9 ‘Brought up well according to European standards’: Helena van der Burgh and 101 Wilhelmina van Naarssen: two Christian women from Elmina | Natalie Everts 10 Maroons, futuboi and free blacks: examples of Akan immigrants 111 in Suriname in the era of slavery | Jean Jacques Vrij 11 The Akan heritage in Maroon culture in Suriname | André R.M. Pakosie 121 12 The black Dutchmen: African soldiers in the Netherlands East Indies | Ineke van Kessel 133 13 Reminiscences of the African community in Purworejo, Indonesia | Endri Kusruri 143 14 ‘We think of Them’: money transfers from the Netherlands to Ghana | Daniel Kojo Arhinful 151 9 Table of contents Merchants, Missionaries and Migrants 10 Merchants, missionaries and migrants An introduction The title of this book – Merchants, missionaries Balance of power Ineke van Kessel and migrants – covers the most important areas Trade was undoubtedly the main reason for the African Studies of contact between Dutch and Ghanaians over Dutch to venture to the unknown lands of the Centre, Leiden the past centuries.