The Anglo-Asante Treaty of 1817

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Between the 15th and 19th centuries, the Gold Coast- modern-day Ghana- was the scene of conflict between rival African and European powers. The first Europeans to reach the Gold Coast were the Portuguese, who arrived in the 1400s. They built a coastal fort called Elmina, meaning “the Mine”. The name of the Portuguese fort, and the name “Gold Coast” provides an indication of the most valuable commodity of the region- gold. Gold had been mined in the interior by Akan-speaking people for centuries. Before the 15th century, most of the Akan gold was exported northward, to the great Sahelian kingdoms of Old Ghana , Mali, and Songhai, and then northward through the trans-Saharan trade. In medieval times, what is now Ghana, and other parts of West Africa, were the primary source of gold for Europe. This West African gold reached Europe through Arab middlemen.

In the 1400s, Portuguese maritime exploration brought Europe into direct contact with West Africa, and its gold miners. Once Europeans established themselves on the West African coast, the gold trade was diverted away from the Sahara and towards the European trading posts on the coast.

As Europeans began to colonize the New World after 1492, they discovered new sources of gold in the Americas. At the same time, the growth of mines and plantations in the Americas led to a growing demand for labor. This, in turn, fuelled the growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade, bringing millions of African captives across the ocean to the New World. On the Gold Coast, the slave trade replaced the gold trade as the major economic activity between European and African traders. Wars between rival Akan states provided a steady stream of captives to be sold to Europeans. Meanwhile, rival European powers- Portuguese, Dutch, Danes, Swedes, French, and English- fought for control of the coastal castles that handled the slave trade.

By the early 18th century, two major powers had begun to dominate the region- the Asante kingdom and the British Empire. The Asante kingdom emerged around the beginning of the 18th century, conquering its Akan-speaking neighbors. The British began asserting their dominance over the coast in the 17th century, capturing the Gold Coast trading forts of other European nations. The British made the Cape Castle fort the capital of their possessions on the Gold Coast, and appointed a Governor.

Over the course of the 19th century, tensions grew between the Asante and British grew. The British abolition of the Slave Trade in 1807 was a source of tension, since slave trading was a lucrative activity for the Asante. There were a series of Anglo-Asante wars in that century, culminating in the British conquest of the Asante Empire.

In 1817 Thomas Edward Bowdich , an English traveller, writer, and diplomat, led a diplomatic mission to the Asante capital of Kumasi. There he met with the Asantehene Osei Bonsu , and secured this treaty with the Asante monarch on behalf of the British government. At the time of this treaty, the British Governor of the Gold Coast was John Hope Smith .

Soon afterward, however, peace between the Asante and British broke down, and the First Anglo-Asante War broke out. In that war the Asante inflicted series defeats on the British and their African allies. British commander Sir Charles MacCarthy was killed in battle. But the Asante were unable to penetrate British defences on the coast, and the 1831 treaty that ended the war recognized British control of the coast and Asante control of the interior.