Jacob Peter Huydecoper (11 November 1811 – 12 February 1845) was an early 19th-century Elmina Euro-African civil servant and diplomat on 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. ...

Early life

Jacob Huydecoper was born 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 ...

to Willem Huydecoper and a Fante woman named Akosewa Kombati. He was a member of the prominent Afro-European Huydecoper family, which traces its ancestor to

Jan Pieter Theodoor Huydecoper Jan Pieter Theodoor Huydecoper (2 September 1728 – 11 July 1767) was an administrator of the Dutch West India Company. He served as Director-General of the Dutch Gold Coast between 1759 and 1760 (ad interim) and from 1764 until his death i ...

, a Director-General of the Dutch Gold Coast in the 18th century.

Career

Huydecoper started his career in the colonial administration of the

in July 1832, when he was installed as a provisional assistant at Elmina. He became a regular assistant on 15 December 1836. Huydecoper was charged with the recruitment 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 ...

, Gold Coastan and

Akan Akan may refer to: People and languages *Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire *Akan language, a language spoken by the Akan people *Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan *Central Tano languages, a language group w ...

recruitments for the

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The ...

, at the Ashanti capital of

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...

, between 1838 and 1842. With this move, he followed in the footstep of his father, who also was the Dutch

envoy Envoy or Envoys may refer to: Diplomacy * Diplomacy, in general * Envoy (title) * Special envoy, a type of diplomatic rank Brands *Airspeed Envoy, a 1930s British light transport aircraft *Envoy (automobile), an automobile brand used to sell Bri ...

at the Ashanti court between 1816 and 1817.

Death and legacy

Huydecoper returned from Kumasi on 1 February 1842, and was honourably discharged of all his duties on 31 March 1842. Three years later, Huydecoper died in Elmina at the age of 33. Huydecoper is considered the initiator of the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

mission in Elmina, established in 1842, after he himself was converted to Christianity by The Reverend

Thomas Birch Freeman Thomas Birch Freeman (6 December 1809 in Twyford, Hampshire – 12 August 1890 in Accra) was an Anglo-African Wesleyan minister, missionary, botanist and colonial official in West Africa. He is widely regarded as a pioneer of the Methodist Chur ...

when the latter was stationed at Kumasi in 1839.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Huydecoper, Jacob 1811 births 1845 deaths Converts to Christianity Dutch Gold Coast people Dutch people of Ghanaian descent Ghanaian people of Dutch descent People from Elmina