Portuguese Gold Coast

Portuguese Gold Coast
Costa do Ouro
1482–1642
Coat of arms of Portuguese Gold Coast
Coat of arms
StatusColony
of the Portuguese Empire
CapitalSão Jorge da Mina
Common languagesPortuguese
Religion
Roman Catholicism
Head of state 
• King
   1482–1495 (first)
John II of Portugal
• King
   1640–1642 (last)
John IV of Portugal
Donatary captains 
• 1482–1484 (first)
Diogo de Azambuja
• 1634–1642 (last)
António da Rocha Magalhães
History 
• Established
21 January 1482
• Disestablished
9 January 1642
 Succeeded by
Dutch Gold Coast
Gold Coast
Elmina Castle (São Jorge da Mina): the primary stronghold of the Portuguese in the Gold Coast, situated on a peninsula where the Benya River meets the Gulf of Guinea.

The Portuguese Gold Coast was a Portuguese colony on the West African Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) along the Gulf of Guinea.[1] Established in 1482, the colony was officially incorporated into Dutch territory in 1642 .[2] From their seat of power at the fortress of São Jorge da Mina (located in modern Elmina), the Portuguese commanded a vast internal slave trade, creating a slave network that would expand after the end of Portuguese colonialism in the region.[3] The primary export of the colony was gold, which was obtained through barter with the local population.[4] Portuguese presence along the Gold Coast increased seamanship and trade in the Gulf, introduced American crops (such as maize and cassava) into the African agricultural landscape, and made Portuguese an enduring language of trade in the area.[5]

  1. ^ Migeod, F. W. H. (1916). "A History of the Gold Coast and Ashanti". Journal of the Royal African Society. 15 (59): 234–243. ISSN 0368-4016. JSTOR 715346.
  2. ^ Klooster, Wim (2016). The Dutch moment : war, trade, and settlement in the seventeenth-century Atlantic world. Ithaca. ISBN 978-1-5017-0612-7. OCLC 959554732.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Rodney, Walter (1969). "Gold and Slaves on the Gold Coast". Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana. 10: 13–28. ISSN 0855-3246. JSTOR 41406348.
  4. ^ Feinberg, Harvey M. (1989). Africans and Europeans in West Africa: Elminans and Dutchmen on the Gold Coast During the Eighteenth Century. American Philosophical Society. ISBN 978-0-87169-797-4.
  5. ^ Ijoma, J.O. (1982). "Portuguese Activities in West Africa Before 1600 the Consequences". Transafrican Journal of History. 11: 136–146. ISSN 0251-0391. JSTOR 24328537.