Ghana as a colony was the Gold Coast. This castle was built by the Dutch under fake Swedish auspices to trade in gold. That of course will not get the moderns blood pumping as much as the slave trade and the concomitant colonial grievance porn is big business. So of course that is what is emphasized with the modern outsider accomplished restoration of Cape Coast Castle. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Ghana showed some signs of progress in the 1990s. They were throwing off the failed socialism and getting the gold mining industry producing again with outside help but then still local control. Soon enough, the change in South Africa would make the later selling out to the De Beers/Anglo American/Oppenheimer organization not seem as hideous as it was. Still the 90s was a time of renewed hope and this stamp is a strong reflector of that. This stamp is not a farm out for collectors but printed locally for actual bulk postage use. The way a real country operates. Impressive for sub Saharan Africa.
Todays stamp is issue A243, a 100 Cede stamp issued by Ghana on December 12th, 1991. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations showing national landmarks. This not being a farm out stamp issue like most of Ghana’s offerings seems to flummox the Scott catalog, which does not declare a value for them. This is also true on later surcharges on the issue to reflect currency depreciation. Scott admits this issue requires further examination.
Cape Coast Castle was built by Dutchman Hendrick Carloff as Carolusbrg Castle, named for Swedish King Charles X. This requires a little explanation. Carloff had risen from a ship’s cabin boy to a high executive in the for profit Dutch East India Company. The company was notoriously mismanaged and went through several bankrupsies. The company however possessed a monopoly on Dutch trade. Several executives had the idea to build a rival company, the Swedish Africa Company with Carloff suddenly claiming birth in Finland, then a Swedish Dutchy. The Swedish King played along and even Knighted Carloff under the name Carloffer. Carloff set up the castle on the Gold Coast as a rival to the Dutch. The trade was mostly gold but also timber and such curiosities as elephants teeth. There was a relationship developed with the King of the Fetu people. It was them who came to trade at the castle and offer their wares. Yes this included slaves that the Fetu captured from rivals.
Unfortunately, the Fetu had also signed a deal with the British and under the terms of the deal they had the right to seize Carloff’s “Swedish” ships. Carloff stormed off, discovered Danish heritage, and founded the Danish Africa Company. The British then paid off the Swedes and the Dutch and took over now Cape Coast Castle and Dungeon. The elaborate underground dungeon was built to safely store gold and yes slaves. Deals with the Fetu did not mean there was not trouble with other tribes. In 1824, Governor Sir Charles MacCarthy lead an expedition against the Ashanti tribe that ended in defeat. MacCarthy killed himself to avoid capture but they got his corpse. The skull was taken back to the Ashanti capital Kumasi where leaders used it as a drinking cup. I suppose we should be impressed by the Ashanti water sealing technology if not their hygiene. It became the duty of the next British Governor to finally stamp out the slave trade.
The Cape Coast Castle and Dungeon was restored by the British Department of Public Works in the 1920s for use as an administrative center. Post independence for now Ghana, the castle deteriorated. USA/UN aid came in to restore the castle in the 1990s under the auspices of the Smithsonian with the view of creating an interactive display from the point of view of the slave passing through the castle on the way to the New World in bondage. No doubt a powerful display. A more realistic and happened much longer true interactive display would be of Fetu tribesman coming to the Castle to sell gold dust their women had panned for and then drinking and whoring their way through the profits. I would pay to see that. I know, it doesn’t fit the approved narrative required by big business grievance porn.
Well my drink is empty. The Fetu sure seem shifty and the Ashanti scary so I think I will pass on travel to Ghana. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.