Martinus Swarte (born 13 May 1813 – 8 April 1835) was a Dutch colonial administrator on 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 ...

. He was interim commander in 1833.

Biography

Martinus Swarte was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

to Franciscus Swarte from

Papenburg Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners. Geog ...

and Anna Sophia van der Aa from

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

. At age 16, on 2 March 1830, Martinus Swarte was appointed assistant 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. ...

. In March 1833, he became acting commander, after the previous acting commander Eduard Daniel Leopold van Ingen had died. He was relieved of his duties on 10 May 1833, when

Christiaan Lans Christiaan Ernst Lans (born 12 September 1789 – 17 August 1843) was a soldier in the Royal Netherlands Army who by royal decree of 2 December 1832 was appointed Commander of the Dutch Gold Coast. He took office on 11 May 1833 and served unti ...

arrived from the Netherlands to replace him. At the end of 1833, he went on leave to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, but shipwrecked on the way home. Martinus Swarte died in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

on 8 April 1835, where he was staying to recuperate from his wounds.

Personal life

Swarte married Charlotte Bartels, daughter of

Carel Hendrik Bartels Carel Hendrik Bartels (29 September 1792 – 10 February 1850) was the wealthiest and most important Euro-African trader and businessman on the Dutch Gold Coast in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Apart from his entrepreneurial ...

around 1833. They had one daughter, Anna Sophia Swarte, who would in 1851 marry the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

merchant and mayor of Cape Coast Robert Hutchison.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swarte, Martinus 1813 births 1835 deaths Colonial governors of the Dutch Gold Coast