 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (September 2014) |
Danish Gold Coast Settlements Danske Guldkyst | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1658–1850 | |||||||||
 Denmark-Norway and its overseas territories | |||||||||
Danish Gold Coast (Ghana) Map of the Danish Gold Coast | |||||||||
| Status | Denmark–Norway crown colony (1658–1814) Danish Colony (1814–1850) | ||||||||
| Capital | Osu (Christiansborg) (1658–1850) | ||||||||
| Common languages | Danish, German (official) Ga, Dangme, Ewe, Akan | ||||||||
| King of Denmark | |||||||||
• 1658–1670 | Frederick III of Denmark-Norway (first) | ||||||||
• 1848–1863 | Frederick VII of Denmark (last) | ||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||
• 1658-1659 | Hendrik Carloff | ||||||||
• 1847-1850 | Rasmus Eric Schmidt | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Denmark-Norway annexation from Sweden | 1658 | ||||||||
| 1660 | |||||||||
• Disestablished | March 30 1850 | ||||||||
| Currency | Danish rigsdaler | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Ghana | ||||||||
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The Danish Gold Coast (Danish: Danske Guldkyst or Dansk Guinea) comprised the colonies that Denmark–Norway controlled in Africa as a part of the Gold Coast (roughly present-day southeast Ghana), which is on the Gulf of Guinea. It was colonized by the Dano-Norwegian fleet, first under indirect rule by the Danish West India Company (a chartered company), later as a crown colony of the kingdom of Denmark-Norway. The area under Danish influence was over 10,000 square kilometres.[1]
The five Danish Gold Coast Territorial Settlements and forts of the Kingdom of Denmark were sold to the United Kingdom in 1850. Denmark had wanted to sell these colonies for some time as the expenses required to run the colonies had increased following the abolition of slavery. Although Britain was also struggling with rising costs, it sought to purchase them to reduce French and Belgian influence in the region, as well as to further curtail the slave trade that still operated there.[2] The purchased settlements and forts were later incorporated into the British Gold Coast.[3]
- ^ Gøbel, Erik (2016-01-01), "Appendix B to the Report: Slaves Bought at Danish Settlements on the Gold Coast, 1777–89", The Danish Slave Trade and Its Abolition, BRILL, pp. 268–271, doi:10.1163/9789004330566_015, ISBN 978-90-04-33056-6, retrieved 2022-02-05
- ^ van Dantzig, Albert; Priddy, Barbara (1971). A Short History of the Forts and Castles of Ghana. Liberty Press. p. 49.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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