Concessions Scramble and Land Alienation in British Southern Ghana, 1885-1915

Abstract

A curious state of uncertainty existed, still exists, and may never be wholly removed, as to the extent of land alienated by the chiefs of the Gold Coast during the concessions scramble which occurred during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The degree of uncertainty is at once brought out by the following two views on the matter. On the one hand, it is said (Belfield's Report, 1912: paras. 38-50) that the area of land alienated was only a fractional proportion of the total area of the Gold Coast, amounting to no more than one twenty-seventh of the area. On the other hand, it is said (WALC Draft Report, 1916: paras. 157 and 161) that the chiefs of the Gold Coast alienated an area which actually exceeded the total area of the territory itself. The objects of this article are three: first, to describe the nature and character of the concessions scramble which occurred in the Gold Coast during the period under consideration; secondly, to examine critically the opposing views as to the extent of land alienated and show where the truth is likely to be; and thirdly, to describe the interesting social and economic problems which resulted from indiscriminate alienation of land in the Gold Coast during the period, and the reaction of British officials to such problems. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the Gold Coast received great publicity in Europe as a great producer of gold. Prospectors and concession hunters flocked to the area. They entered negotiations with the chiefs and elders, who were induced by offers of “big money” to execute documents granting mining and other rights over vast territories of stool land, in which all the stool subjects had an interest.