Fort Ruychaver, also Fort Ruijghaver, was a Dutch trading post in the hinterland of the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, in contemporary

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 ...

. It existed between 1654 and 1660 on the banks of River

Ankobra The Ankobra River is primarily situated in Ghana. Rising north east of Wiawso, it flows about south to the Gulf of Guinea. Its entire course is in south Ghana.Jacob Ruijghaver, the director 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 ( ...

's possessions on the Gold Coast, who ordered its establishment. The aim of the trading post was to enhance the trade in

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

, as the area surrounding the fort was locally renowned for its gold mines. The classification of the trading post as a fort is a product of modern literature. The trading post was probably not as reinforced as the term "fort" implies, and likely consisted of a simple lodge and a few smaller huts.

Location

In the literature, two possible locations for the fort are given. The map shows both these locations. One possibility is that Fort Ruychaver was situated on the right bank of the Ankobra River, opposite the Bonsa River, in the Egwira Region. Doorman, among others, was of this school. The other theory, primarily advocated by Daaku, takes a diary entry of Director-General Valckenburg as the point of departure. The entry says that the trading post was situated 30 miles from the coast. As one Amsterdam mile equals 5,754.53

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

, that would mean the fort's location is 173 kilometres inland. At this distance ("

as the crow flies __NOTOC__ The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points, rather similar to "in a beeline". This meaning is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliv ...

") indeed a settlement called Sanaya is situated, where according to Daaku once stood Fort Ruychaver. At both locations, exhausted gold fields exist, that were also centres of gold production in pre-colonial times. It seems rather unlikely, however, that the Dutch travelled through vast gold fields in order to establish a fort 173 kilometres inland.

History

The history of the trading post was as dramatic as it was short-lived. The Dutch succeeded in controlling the area around

Fort Santo Antonio Fort Saint Anthony (Portuguese: ''Forte de Santo António''; Dutch: ''Fort Sint Anthony'') was a fort built by the Portuguese in 1515 near the town of Axim, in what is now Ghana. In 1642, the Dutch captured the fort and subsequently made it part ...

Axim Axim is a coastal town and the capital of Nzema East Municipal district, a district in Western Region of South Ghana. Axim lies 64 kilometers west of the port city of Sekondi-Takoradi in the Western Region, west of Cape Three Points. Axim has ...

from 1642 onward, especially after signing the

Treaty of Axim The Treaty of Axim was concluded between the Netherlands and the chiefs of Axim in the western region of the Gold Coast (West Africa) and signed at Fort St. Anthony near Axim on 17 February 1642. The treaty regulated the jurisdiction of the Net ...

with the local State of Axim on 17 February of the said year. With Axim as their base, the Dutch endeavoured to spread their influence further inland, so as to gain better access to the gold field there. This effort was not always very successful, not the least because of resistance of the native population.

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

competition in the Egwira region gold trade made the Dutch decide in 1654 to capture the French trading posts and settlements, which included a trading post near the future Fort Ruychaver. The natives certainly did not appreciate Dutch presence in their homeland too much, but at the same time welcomed the possibilities of trade with a European power. The Dutch tried to cement the uneasy peace that existed at that moment by sending African salt merchants from Axim to the fort to do the trade with the local Egwira. The peace did not last for long. In 1659, Dutch officers in Axim noted that the transport and communication routes to the fort were blocked, and in early 1660, the message arrived that the fort was destroyed by the local population, with the Axim merchants driven out. The Dutch effort to control the gold trade inland had failed. The Dutch only renewed their effort in the late 1830s, at that time attempting to establish a gold mine of their own.

Notes

References

* * Meredith, Henry (1812). ''An Account of the Gold Coast of Africa: with a brief history of the African Company'', London. * Cruickshank, Brodie (1855). ''Ein achtzehnjähriger Aufenthalt auf der Goldküste Afrika's'', Leipzig. * Doorman, J. G. (1898). ''Die Niederländisch-West-Indische Compagnie an der Goldküste'', In: ''Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde'' (Batavia), 40 (5/6), pp. 387–496. * Daaku, Kwame Yeboa (1970). ''Trade and politics on the Gold Coast 1600–1720 - A Study of the African Reaction to European Trade'', Oxford. {{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1654 Dutch Gold Coast History of Ghana Castles in Ghana 1654 establishments in the Dutch Empire Ruychaver