This article lists the colonial governors of 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. ...

. During the Dutch presence on the Gold Coast, which lasted from 1598 to 1872, the title of the head of the colonial government changed several times: *1675–1798:

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

(

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: ''directeur-generaal'') *1798–1810:

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

(Dutch: ''gouverneur-generaal'') *1810–1815:

Commandant-General Commandant-general is a military rank in several countries and is generally equivalent to that of major-general. Argentina Commandant general is the highest rank in the Argentine National Gendarmerie, and is held by the national director of the g ...

(Dutch: ''commandant-generaal'') *1815–1819:

(Dutch: ''gouverneur-generaal'') *1819–1838:

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

(Dutch: ''kommandeur'') *1838–1872:

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

(Dutch: ''gouverneur'')

List

Dates in italics indicate ''de facto ''continuation of office.

Direct Dutch rule (1612–1621)

Before the establishment 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 ( ...

on 3 June 1621, Dutch traders nominally were at the direct control of the Dutch government. Initially, the regulation of trade was left to the traders themselves, but after the building of Fort Nassau at Mouri in 1612, a general was installed to administrate the new colony.

Dutch West India Company rule (1621–1791)

Jan_Valckenburgh_(1623-1667)_by_Daniel_Vertangen

Portret_van_Jan_Pranger_Rijksmuseum_SK-A-2248

There are many lists available of Director-Generals of the Gold Coast in service of the Dutch West India Company, all with slightly conflicting names and dates. The most accurate information is available for the eighteenth century, as Harvey Feinberg compiled a list of Director-Generals of that century on the basis of day registries available at the

Nationaal Archief The Nationaal Archief (NA) is the national archives of the Netherlands, located in The Hague. It houses collections for the central government, the province of South Holland, and the former County of Holland. There is also material from private i ...

Direct Dutch rule (1792–1872)

The Dutch West India Company was dissolved in 1791, and its colonies reverted to the rule of the States-General of the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

on 1 January 1792. The last Director-General installed by the Dutch West India Company, Jacobus de Veer, became the first Director-General under the direct authority of the Dutch Republic. The Dutch Republic was succeeded by the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic ( nl, Bataafse Republiek; french: République Batave) was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 and ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis Bona ...

and the

Kingdom of Holland The Kingdom of Holland ( nl, Holland (contemporary), (modern); french: Royaume de Hollande) was created by Napoleon Bonaparte, overthrowing the Batavian Republic in March 1806 in order to better control the Netherlands. Since becoming Emperor ...

, which all inherited the rule over the colony. Although the Kingdom of Holland was incorporated into the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...

, the colony on the Gold Coast was never occupied by either France or Great-Britain. Dutch rule continued under the

Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...

proclaimed in 1815, until the cession of the possessions on the Gold Coast to the United Kingdom in 1872.

Notes

References

* * * {{cite web , url=http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Ghana.html#Dutch , title=Ghana , work=worldstatesmen.org , access-date=15 April 2012 01 L Dutch Gold Coast, Governors

Colonial governors of the Dutch Gold Coast Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 aut ...