The Elmina Java Museum is a museum in

Elmina Elmina, also known as Edina by the local Fante people, Fante, is a town and the capital of the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem Municipal District, Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region, Ghana, Centra ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, dedicated to the history of the so-called

Belanda Hitam Belanda Hitam (from Indonesian meaning "Black Dutchmen", known in Javanese as ''Landa (Walanda) Ireng'') were a group of African (primarily Ashanti and other Akan peoples) recruits in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army during the colonial ...

; soldiers recruited in the 19th century in the

Dutch Gold Coast The Dutch Gold Coast or Dutch Guinea, officially Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea (Dutch: ''Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea'') was a portion of contemporary Ghana that was gradually colonized by the Dutch, beginning in 1612. ...

to serve in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army. The museum is funded by the Edward A. Ulzen Memorial Foundation.

History

Since

Arthur Japin Arthur Valentijn Japin (born 26 July 1956 in Haarlem) is a Dutch novelist. Biography His parents were Bert Japin, a teacher and writer of detective novels, and Annie Japin-van Arnhem. After a difficult childhood—his father killed himself when ...

published his ''

The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi ''The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi'' () is the 1997 debut novel by Dutch author Arthur Japin. The novel tells the story of two Ashanti princes, Kwame Poku and Kwasi Boachi, who were taken from what is today Ghana and given to the Dutch king Willi ...

'' (1997), the history of the Belanda Hitam has attracted renewed attention. Ineke van Kessel, professor at the Centre for African Studies of

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

had met the late Edward Ulzen during her research of the history of the Belanda Hitam. This meeting brought her into contact with his son Prof. Thaddeus Patrick Manus Ulzen, who attended the tenth biennial reunion of Belanda Hitam descendants in

Schiedam Schiedam () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south the city is connected with the village ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in September 2000, and announced on that occasion the decision of his family to provide a permanent site for a museum to preserve the history of the Belanda Hitam. In 2003, the Elmina Java Museum was opened to honour the history of the Belanda Hitam at large, and the Ulzen family in particular.His 2013 book "Java Hill: An African Journey" details 10 generations of the Ulzen family history from Brielle, Netherlands to present day Elmina and the story of the founding of the museum, which is the first private museum in Ghana.

The Ulzen family

The Ulzen family traced its origins to Jan Ulsen, a Dutchman from Brielle, who came to the

in 1732 as an employee of the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...

. A year later, Jan Ulsen died, leaving his son Roelof Ulsen, whom he had taken with him from the Netherlands, an orphan. Roelof Ulsen is then raised on the Gold Coast by personnel of the Dutch West India Company, and makes a career in local government, eventually serving as acting governor of the Gold Coast between 1755 and 1758. In 1765, Roelof Ulsen sailed to the Netherland after 29 years of service, together with his Euro-African son Hermanus. In a rather sad recurrence of history, Roelof died on ship during his voyage to the Netherlands, leaving his son an orphan as well. After graduating in the Netherlands, Hermanus sails back to the Gold Coast in 1779, and it his grandson Manus Ulzen who was recruited for the Dutch East Indies Army.

Notes

References

* * {{cite journal , last=Van Kessel , first=Ineke , year=2005 , title=The tricontinental voyage of Negro Corporal Manus Ulzen (1812-1887) from Elmina , journal=Afrique & Histoire , volume=4 , pages=13–36 , url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/4759 Museums in Ghana Elmina 2003 establishments in Ghana Museums established in 2003