| Royal Netherlands Embassy in Ghana | |
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| Location | Liberation Road 89, Ako Adjei Interchange, Accra, Ghana |
| Coordinates | 5°34′23″N0°11′27″W / 5.57306°N 0.19083°W Coordinates: 5°34′23″N0°11′27″W / 5.57306°N 0.19083°W |
| Website | ambaccra |
The Kingdom of the Netherlands has an embassy in the Republic of Ghana. It has a role in promoting trade between the countries.
The embassy of the Netherlands in Ghana has a long history, dating back to the period immediately following the cession of the Dutch Gold Coast to the United Kingdom in April 1872. The Dutch government felt it was necessary to keep a Dutch representation in Elmina and appointed the former colonial administrators Willem Le Jeune and Pieter Simon Hamel as agent and assistant agent, respectively. Apart from the regular diplomatic duties, the agents were also responsible for paying pensions to former employees of the colonial administration and to the African veterans of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army. The latter task comprised the bulk of the work, and for this reason the agency was mostly paid for by the Dutch ministry of colonies, rather than the ministry of foreign affairs. [1]
The agent and assistant agent were promoted to consul and vice consul on 1 March 1873. Le Jeune retired in 1874 and was succeeded by Hamel. Gideon van der Meer de Walcheren was appointed as the new vice consul. Toward the end of the 1870s, Hamel, who was promoted to consul-general, went on several missions to neighbouring territories in an effort to recruit indentured labourers for the Dutch West Indies and soldiers for the Dutch East Indies, all to no avail. [1] [2] The consulate general at Elmina was disbanded in February 1880. Hamel subsequently appointed the French merchant Arthur Brun as honorary consul at Elmina and left the Gold Coast. Brun was succeeded by the Dutch merchant Antonie Veldkamp in 1883 and by the local Euro-African Jacob Abraham de Veer in 1887. [3]
De Veer was the last honorary consul based in Elmina. In 1895, the consulate moved to Cape Coast, and in 1923 to Accra. In 1961, after Ghana became an independent country, the consulate was upgraded to an embassy. [4]
Ron Strikker is the current Ambassador, and Caecilia Wijgers is Deputy Head of Mission as well as the head of the Development Cooperation Section and the Trade, Press and Culture Section.
The Netherlands and Ghana have close commercial relations. The Netherlands is one of the top five importers from Ghana; the principal import is cocoa. Oil has been found offshore in 2007 and there has been production of oil since the end of 2010. The Ghanaian economy is still largely dependent on the production and export of two primary goods, cocoa and gold, although the recent discovery of oil should help diversify both activities and sources of revenue. Personal business contact between the two countries is facilitated by daily flights from Amsterdam to Accra and vice versa.
The embassy provides information for companies exploring the Ghanaian market. It works closely together with the Ghanaian Netherlands Chamber of Commerce and Culture (Ghanecc), which itself provides companies with information.
There are programmes that aim to promote trade and development, such as ORIO, Private Sector Investment (PSI), 2xplore, and Matchmaking Facility (MMF).
The Dutch Gold Coast or Dutch Guinea, officially Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea was a portion of contemporary Ghana that was gradually colonized by the Dutch, beginning in 1612. The Dutch began trading in the area around 1598, joining the Portuguese which had a trading post there since the late 1400s. Eventually, the Dutch Gold Coast became the most important Dutch colony in West Africa after Fort Elmina was captured from the Portuguese in 1637, but fell into disarray after the abolition of the slave trade in the early 19th century. On 6 April 1872, the Dutch Gold Coast was, in accordance with the Anglo-Dutch Treaties of 1870–71, ceded to the United Kingdom.
Ghana–United States relations refers to the diplomatic relations between Ghana and United States.
The Treaty of Butre between the Netherlands and Ahanta was signed at Butre, Dutch Gold Coast on 27 August 1656. The treaty regulated the jurisdiction of the Netherlands and the Dutch West India Company over the town of Butre and the surrounding country of Upper Ahanta, creating a Dutch protectorate over the area. The treaty lasted until the Dutch departure from the Gold Coast in April 1872.
The Treaty of Axim was concluded between the Netherlands and the chiefs of Axim in the western region of the Gold Coast and signed at Fort St. Anthony near Axim on 17 February 1642. The treaty regulated the jurisdiction of the Netherlands and the Dutch West India Company in the town and polity of Axim after the Dutch West India Company had successfully attacked the Portuguese who were the occupants of Fort St. Anthony in the town. Over time, the agreement was in part superseded and replaced by new contracts and agreements. The treaty did remain the basis for Dutch jurisdiction and political relations between Axim and the Dutch until the latter left the Gold Coast in 1872.
Fort Coenraadsburg or Conraadsburg, also Fort São Tiago da Mina, is a small Portuguese chapel built in honor of Saint Jago and it is situated opposite the Elmina Castle in the Central region of Ghana, to protect Fort Elmina from attacks.
Fort Saint Anthony was a fort built by the Portuguese in 1515 near the town of Axim, in what is now Ghana. In 1642, the Dutch captured the fort and subsequently made it part of the Dutch Gold Coast. The Dutch expanded the fort considerably before they turned it over, with the rest of their colony, to the British in 1872. The fort is now the property of the Ghanaian state and is open to the public.
Fort Metal Cross, originally Fort Dixcove, is a military structure in Dixcove, Ghana.
Cornelis Johannes Marius Nagtglas was a Dutch politician and civil servant, who made a career in the administration on the Dutch Gold Coast. After originally beginning his career at the advanced age of 36, he was promoted through the ranks to eventually become Governor of the Dutch Gold Coast in 1858. He retired to the Netherlands in 1862, but returned to the Gold Coast as governor in 1869, to restore order in the embattled colony. In 1871, he left the Gold Coast again, one year before the transfer of the colony to the United Kingdom.
Pieter Woortman was a slave trader and an administrator of the Dutch West India Company. He was one of the longest-serving Director-General of the Dutch Gold Coast, in office between 1767 and 1769 and from 1769 until his death in 1780.
The Dutch–Ahanta War was a conflict between the Netherlands and the Ahanta between 1837 and 1839. Beginning with a mere economic dispute between the Ahanta and the Dutch, who were based at the Dutch Gold Coast, the conflict ended with the hanging of Ahanta king Badu Bonsu II and the reorganization of the Ahanta state, establishing a Dutch protectorate over the Ahanta.
The Treaty of Asebu was concluded in 1612 between the Dutch Republic and the chiefs of Asebu on the Gold Coast of Africa. The treaty was the first among several concluded between the Dutch and the peoples of the Gold Coast, and marked the beginning of a 260-year period of Dutch presence on the Gold Coast.
The Elmina Java Museum is a museum in Elmina, Ghana, dedicated to the history of the so-called Belanda Hitam; soldiers recruited in the 19th century in the Dutch Gold Coast to serve in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army. The museum is funded by the Edward A. Ulzen Memorial Foundation.
George Emil Eminsang was a prominent Euro-African merchant and political leader on the Gold Coast, who played a prominent role in the last years of Dutch colonial rule on the Gold Coast. After the Dutch Gold Coast was transferred to the United Kingdom, Eminsang became a diplomat for the Netherlands and later for the United States and the Congo Free State. Together with James Bannerman Hyde and James Hutton Brew, Eminsang was one of the first so-called "country lawyers" on the Gold Coast.
Anthony van der Eb was a Dutch civil servant, who made a career in the administration on the Dutch Gold Coast.
Willem George Frederik Derx was a Dutch civil servant, who made a career in the administration on the Dutch Gold Coast.
Jan Helenus Ferguson was a Dutch colonial government official and diplomat, who made a career in the administration of the Dutch West Indies and the Dutch Gold Coast, before becoming consul general of the Netherlands to China. Ferguson also authored several works on international law, sociology and philosophy.
Pieter Simon Hamel was a Dutch diplomat who served as Consul General at Elmina, Bangkok and Amoy.
Willem Pieter Antonie Le Jeune, born as Willem Pieter Antonie Tenwinkel, was a Dutch colonial administrator and diplomat, who made a career in the administration on the Dutch Gold Coast and who was interim governor between 28 October 1871 and 15 November 1871. After the Netherlands sold its possessions on the Gold Coast to the United Kingdom in 1872, Le Jeune became the first Dutch consul in Elmina.
Johannes Marinus Ludovicus Adrianus Petrus Wirix was a Dutch naval officer, who had been commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy on the Dutch Gold Coast since 26 July 1871, and who was appointed interim governor by the previous interim governor Jan Albert Hendrik Hugenholz on 17 September 1871. His appointment proved highly controversial with the other colonial administrators on the Gold Coast, who felt passed by. Wirix resigned on 28 October 1871, leaving the interim governorship to the long-time Gold Coast administrator Willem Le Jeune.
Kobina Gyan was king or ohin of Elmina (Edinahene) between 1868 and 1873 and between 1894 and his death in 1896. Between 1873 and 1894, Kobina Gyan was exiled by the British colonial authorities for his pro-Dutch and anti-British position.
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