Chateau de Cormantin. / Kasteel van Cormantin.

Title

Chateau de Cormantin. / Kasteel van Cormantin.

Description

View showing Fort Amsterdam with anchored sailing ships and a title cartouche in the sky. The fort was built between 1638 and 1645 by the English near the coastal town of Kormantin in Ghana, and since 1979, the fort has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

ca. 1725

Artist

Aa, van der (1659-1733)

Pieter van der Aa ( 1659 - 1733) was a Dutch publisher best known for preparing maps and atlases, though he also printed pirated editions of foreign bestsellers and illustrated volumes. He also printed many maps that were often out of print, which he reissued. Some of his most popular maps were of the African continent, detailing locations such as Morocco and Madagascar. Many of his later works were printed for the general public in French and Dutch. Pieter van der Aa began his career at Leiden in 1683 as a Latin trade publisher, publishing classical texts pertaining to medicine and science. As he progressed, he began to publish atlases and maps, compiling numerous multi-volume collections of works. His ambition to become Leiden's most famous printer was fulfilled in 1715 with his appointment to head printer for the city and its university. One of Pieter van der Aa's largest compilations relates to the history of Italy and Sicily, an area of immense personal interest. Though he took credit for many of his compilations, several, such as the Dutch collection of travels to the East and West Indies, were admittedly simple improvements to others' works.

Historical Description

The first inhabitants of Ghana were members of the Sango or Sangoan culture - named after the first locations in Sango Bay on the Ugandan side of Lake Victoria. The population strata in Ghana and Togo, which are now considered to be autochthonous, are essentially groups who immigrated in large groups from the north or northeast to the areas south of the savannah belt of Togo and Ghana from the 9th and 10th centuries. This migratory movement was triggered by a change in the climate, which was associated with changes in the vegetation of the savannah areas. The modern state of Ghana takes its name from the ancient Kingdom of Ghana, which was geographically located a few thousand kilometers northwest and has no ethnic or historical connection to the current state of Ghana. In the pre-colonial period there were several large empires or federations on the territory of the present-day state. The first of these states, the empires of Dagomba, Mamprusi or Gonja, arose in the savannah region in northern Ghana and was culturally shaped by the empire of the Mossi further north and by Islam. Around 1600 the Ashanti Empire began to rise in central Ghana to become the dominant power in all of present-day Ghana. On the Gold Coast, the fortified settlements of European powers (Portuguese, English, Dutch, Brandenburgers, Swedes, Danes) have been lined up in a density like in no other area of ​​Africa since the 17th century. Around 1820 the Colonial Office took over the British trading post on the Gold Coast. An agreement was reached between the British and the Fanti to defend themselves against the Ashanti from inland. In 1874 the British declared the coastal strip a crown colony. In 1957 the British crown colony Gold Coast and British Togoland became independent under the name Ghana.