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Ghana Britain and the Gold Coast: The Early Years
By the early nineteenth century, the British, through conquest
or purchase, had become masters of most of the forts along the
coast. Two major factors laid the foundations of British rule and
the eventual establishment of a colony on the Gold Coast: British
reaction to the Asante wars and the resulting instability and
disruption of trade, and Britain's increasing preoccupation with
the suppression and elimination of the slave trade.
During most of the nineteenth century, Asante, the most
powerful state of the Akan interior, sought to expand its rule and
to promote and protect its trade. The first Asante invasion of the
coastal regions took place in 1807; the Asante moved south again in
1811 and in 1814. These invasions, though not decisive, disrupted
trade in such products as gold, timber, and palm oil, and
threatened the security of the European forts. Local British,
Dutch, and Danish authorities were all forced to come to terms with
Asante, and in 1817 the African Company of Merchants signed a
treaty of friendship that recognized Asante claims to sovereignty
over large areas of the coast and its peoples.
The coastal people, primarily some of the Fante and the
inhabitants of the new town of Accra, who were chiefly Ga, came to
rely on British protection against Asante incursions, but the
ability of the merchant companies to provide this security was
limited. The British Crown dissolved the company in 1821, giving
authority over British forts on the Gold Coast to Governor Charles
MacCarthy, governor of Sierra Leone. The British forts and Sierra
Leone remained under common administration for the first half of
the century. MacCarthy's mandate was to impose peace and to end the
slave trade. He sought to do this by encouraging the coastal
peoples to oppose Kumasi rule and by closing the great roads to the
coast. Incidents and sporadic warfare continued, however. MacCarthy
was killed, and most of his force was wiped out in a battle with
Asante forces in 1824. An Asante invasion of the coast in 1826 was
defeated, nonetheless, by a combined force of British and local
forces, including the Fante and the people of Accra.
When the British government allowed control of the Gold Coast
settlements to revert to the British African Company of Merchants
in the late 1820s, relations with Asante were still problematic.
From the Asante point of view, the British had failed to control
the activities of their local coastal allies. Had this been done,
Asante might not have found it necessary to attempt to impose peace
on the coastal peoples. MacCarthy's encouragement of coastal
opposition to Asante and the subsequent 1824 British military
attack further indicated to Asante authorities that the Europeans,
especially the British, did not respect Asante.
In 1830 a London committee of merchants chose Captain George
Maclean to become president of a local council of merchants.
Although his formal jurisdiction was limited, Maclean's
achievements were substantial; for example, a peace treaty was
arranged with Asante in 1831. Maclean also supervised the coastal
people by holding regular court in Cape Coast where he punished
those found guilty of disturbing the peace. Between 1830 and 1843
while Maclean was in charge of affairs on the Gold Coast, no
confrontations occurred with Asante, and the volume of trade
reportedly increased threefold. Maclean's exercise of limited
judicial power on the coast was so effective that a parliamentary
committee recommended that the British government permanently
administer its settlements and negotiate treaties with the coastal
chiefs that would define Britain's relations with them. The
government did so in 1843, the same year crown government was
reinstated. Commander H. Worsley Hill was appointed first governor
of the Gold Coast. Under Maclean's administration, several coastal
tribes had submitted voluntarily to British protection. Hill
proceeded to define the conditions and responsibilities of his
jurisdiction over the protected areas. He negotiated a special
treaty with a number of Fante and other local chiefs that became
known as the Bond of 1844. This document obliged local leaders to
submit serious crimes, such as murder and robbery, to British
jurisdiction and laid the legal foundation for subsequent British
colonization of the coastal area.
Additional coastal states as well as other states farther
inland eventually signed the Bond, and British influence was
accepted, strengthened, and expanded. Under the terms of the 1844
arrangement, the British gave the impression that they would
protect the coastal areas; thus, an informal protectorate came into
being. As responsibilities for defending local allies and managing
the affairs of the coastal protectorate increased, the
administration of the Gold Coast was separated from that of Sierra
Leone in 1850.
At about the same time, growing acceptance of the advantages
offered by the British presence led to the initiation of another
important step. In April 1852, local chiefs and elders met at Cape
Coast to consult with the governor on means of raising revenue.
With the governor's approval, the council of chiefs constituted
itself as a legislative assembly. In approving its resolutions, the
governor indicated that the assembly of chiefs should become a
permanent fixture of the protectorate's constitutional machinery,
but the assembly was given no specific constitutional authority to
pass laws or to levy taxes without the consent of the people.
In 1872 British influence over the Gold Coast increased further
when Britain purchased Elmina Castle, the last of the Dutch forts
along the coast. The Asante, who for years had considered the Dutch
at Elmina as their allies, thereby lost their last trade outlet to
the sea. To prevent this loss and to ensure that revenue received
from that post continued, the Asante staged their last invasion of
the coast in 1873. After early successes, they finally came up
against well-trained British forces who compelled them to retreat
beyond the Pra River. Later attempts to negotiate a settlement of
the conflict with the British were rejected by the commander of
their forces, Major General Sir Garnet Wolseley. To settle the
Asante problem permanently, the British invaded Asante with a
sizable military force. The attack, which was launched in January
1874 by 2,500 British soldiers and large numbers of African
auxiliaries, resulted in the occupation and burning of Kumasi, the
Asante capital.
The subsequent peace treaty required the Asante to renounce any
claim to many southern territories. The Asante also had to keep the
road to Kumasi open to trade. From this point on, Asante power
steadily declined. The confederation slowly disintegrated as
subject territories broke away and as protected regions defected to
British rule. The warrior spirit of the nation was not entirely
subdued, however, and enforcement of the treaty led to recurring
difficulties and outbreaks of fighting. In 1896 the British
dispatched another expedition that again occupied Kumasi and that
forced Asante to become a protectorate of the British Crown. The
position of asantehene was abolished and the incumbent was
exiled.
The core of the Asante federation accepted these terms
grudgingly. In 1900 the Asante rebelled again but were defeated the
next year, and in 1902 the British proclaimed Asante a colony under
the jurisdiction of the governor of the Gold Coast. The annexation
was made with misgivings and recriminations on both sides. With
Asante subdued and annexed, British colonization of the region
became a reality.
Data as of November 1994
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