A Brill Calendar: August 28

Few monuments on the UNESCO list of World Heritage are so deserving of the distinction as Elmina, the fortress at the Gold Coast of Western Africa.

Founded by the Portuguese in 1482 in order to safeguard African gold shipments gold to Lisbon, the bulwark was deemed impregnable to outside forces until August 28 1637, when a surprise attack by soldiers of the Dutch West Indian Company on the lightly defended land-side of the vast complex resulted in an easy conquest of the strategic intercontinental position.

It caused the emergence of a new Atlantic system of trade, in which the shipment of black African slaves to sugar-plantations in Brazil played a crucial role. Elmina stayed under Dutch authority until ceded to Great Britain in 1872, 390 years after its founding.

The acquisition of human merchandize presupposed regional continuous cooperation with indigenous chieftains and warlords; the operation and exploitation worked smoothly for many generations. Nobody was really surprised that the Ashanti people, who had benefited greatly from the intercontinental commercial arrangement, rose against Queen Victoria’s subjects almost immediately after the Dutch left.

The British were the first to abolish slavery in 1833, and the Brazilians the very last, in 1888. Neither the United States nor the Kingdom of The Netherlands were in the vanguard of emancipation; both as late as 1863.

In the history of world-encompassing interdependencies - always resting on economic considerations under a veneer of curiosity, inquisitiveness and missionary zeal – it is seldom that a robust system, demonstrating its viability for centuries, is eradicated within a few years. The loss of the last Dutch colonial possession in Africa was deeply regretted by the Dutch King Willem III.