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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The 'Elmina Note': Myth and Reality in Asante-Dutch Relations |
Author: | Yarak, Larry W. |
Year: | 1986 |
Periodical: | History in Africa |
Volume: | 13 |
Pages: | 363-382 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Ghana Netherlands |
Subjects: | colonization fortifications Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171552 |
Abstract: | Examination of the origin and meaning of the so-called 'Elmina note' (or kostbrief), the pay document which authorized the Asantehene to collect two ounces of gold per month from the Dutch authorities at Elmina. The Dutch began paying kostgeld to the Asantehene in 1744. This payment represented ground rent or tribute for the Dutch fort at Accra - the right of the Asantehene to collect the stipend developed on him as a consequence of his defeat of the ahene of Akyem in 1742 and the relationship was predicated on mutually k beneficial commercial relations conducted at the fort. In 1818 the kostgeld was made payable at Elmina; the new kostbrief therefore became known as the 'Elmina note'. It became a symbol of the peculiar relationship of the Dutch and Elmina to Asante: in the official Dutch and Elmina view, an 'alliance'; in the official Asante view, sovereignty over the land occupied by the Dutch. Notes, ref. |