History of the Central Volta region (Ghana) 1870-1914: european merchants, christian missions and features of colonial German government

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the history of the central part of the Volta (Ghana) of the second half of the 19th-early 20th centuries: the trading operations of European entrepreneurs, Christian missions, and the peculiarities of colonial rule. The trade in slaves, cotton, ivory, palm oil and other goods made a significant contribution to the economy of the Volta basin. On the one hand, Europeans perceived it as a territory with valuable resources, and saw the potential in it for economic development and transformation into an economically self-sufficient and profitable zone under colonial rule; on the other hand, it is possible that Europeans used the routes through the central part of the Volta region only to get to the most important slave markets in the Slave Trade Era. From the middle of the XIX century the territory of modern Eastern Ghana was under the influence of various European countries (Denmark, Great Britain, France) and then the colonial governments (Germany, Great Britain). However, it was the German colonial rule (although relatively short) and most importantly the activities of the Bremen Mission largely determined the historical trajectory of the central part of the Volta region in the pre-colonial and colonial periods. The author's own results of research also point to a more "utilitarian" attitude to Avatime under the British regime (in the perception of the Avatime themselves) compared to the attitude of the Bremen missionaries acting "for a good cause" and laying the foundations of the school system and professional education.