A New Source for English Activities on the Gold Coast, 1681-1699

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Periodical article

Title:	A New Source for English Activities on the Gold Coast, 1681-1699
Author:	Henige, David P.
Year:	1972
Periodical:	Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana
Volume:	13
Issue:	2
Period:	December
Pages:	257-260
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Ghana United Kingdom
Subjects:	international trade historical sources history 1600-1699 Economics and Trade History and Exploration
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/41406408
Abstract:	The sources for the English aspects of the kaleidoscopic commercial activity on the Gold. Coast in the latter part of the 17th century are scattered and fragmentary. The extant records of the Royal African Company (T7O series Public Record Office) consist almost entirely of commercial records and extracts of official correspondence. Only a few files contain materials on local affairs, only for a few scattered posts and time periods. In contrast the Dutch records for the same period are voluminous, and particularly rich in local correspondence and journals. As a result, descriptions of important events have necessarily been based on the Dutch records, Willem Bosman's 'A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea' and sources derived from, them. This note describes and summarizes the contents of three letter books in the Bodleian Library in Oxford - designated Rawlinson C. 745-7 - a source which seems to have escaped the notice of historians who have dealt with European activities on the Gold Coast. Notes, tables.