Fort Amsterdam's History
He obtains a new charter giving it exclusive trade rights to the entire African coast between Cabo Blanco and the Cape of Good Hope. Crispe shifts the company’s focus to the Gold Coast and recruits two highly experienced but disgruntled ex-Dutch West India Company employees, Arent de Groot and Jeremias…
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The English presence created a new service economy around the English trading lodge, which attracted many families from Old Kormantin to relocate there and establish a new “Crom” (village adjoining a fort or trading post) on the hilltop to the west of the post. Villagers provided food and accommodations to…
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The Dutch West India Company sends a felt of nine ships with 400 sailors, 800 soldiers, and an unstated number of Brazilian Indian warriors from Pernambuco, Brazil, to capture Elmina Castle. On August 19, the fleet arrives at Komenda, and West India Company Director Nikolaas Van Yperen persuades the King…
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This is done as a defensive reaction to the Dutch conquest of Portuguese bases, such as Elmina Castle.
It destroys trade goods and halts construction. The Guinea Company blames the fire on Dutch-backed saboteurs.
The Guinea Company at Cormantine send 2 yachts, which return with cargoes of sugar. Two other ships operating from Cormantine trade along the coast to the east, supplied with cargoes from Cormantine’s store rooms. Profits from the gold trade and these additional activities reportedly reach £45,000.
Nicholas Crispe, a Royalist, is removed from the Guinea Company. Wartime disruptions interrupt the flow of English goods to Cormantine and other English trading posts for several years. Others, such as London merchant and Barbados investor Maurice Thompson, sponsor rival trade missions to Guinea to procure slaves for Caribbean plantations…
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After a decade of reluctantly tolerating Dutch legger trading ships anchored nearby, the Guinea Company purges Cormantine Village of its pro-Dutch faction. This forces Ammadou, their captain, to negotiate with Dutch West India Company Director General Jacob van der Well to create a new village for them on the north…
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In December 1657, this lease is arranged for an annual payment of £1,300. The shift radically changes commercial operations at Castle Cormantine. The East India Company focuses exclusively on the gold trade in order to obtain bullion to purchase its goods in India and is willing to sell at a…
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