Traditional gold mining in Adanse

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Periodical article

Title:	Traditional gold mining in Adanse
Author:	Ofosu-Mensah, Ababio Emmanuel
Year:	2010
Periodical:	Nordic Journal of African Studies (ISSN 1459-9465)
Volume:	19
Issue:	2
Pages:	124-147
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ghana
Subjects:	gold mining Adansi polity Ashanti precolonial period
External link:	https://njas.fi/njas/article/view/210/198
Abstract:	Gold mining in the Akan forest area of modern Ghana antedated European contact; until the rise of the Atlantic slave trade, gold was easily the commodity most eagerly sought after on the Gold Coast. For centuries, the people of Adanse state, today a part of Asante owing allegiance to the Golden Stool, worked and mined gold, and their goldfields were a source of supply of gold for the trans-Saharan traders and the European market, both before and during colonial administration of the Gold Coast. The Adanse gold miners used simple but effective technology, and kept Europe supplied with enormous quantities of gold, especially between the thirteenth and the nineteenth century. This article shows the sources of Adanse gold in the historic period, from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century. It also discusses gold production, the media of gold distribution, including trading, and the impact of traditional mining on the people of Adanse. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]