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Hendrik Vroom | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Elmina, Dutch Gold Coast | 20 May 1850
Died | 13 January 1902 51) Elmina, Gold Coast | (aged
Spouse(s) | Maria Plange Elizabeth Coorengel |
Hendrik Vroom CMG (20 May 1850 – 13 January 1902) was a Gold Coast Euro-African merchant and government official on the Gold Coast. Vroom was known as a strong supporter of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and lived in Bridge House, Elmina, on the corner of Liverpool Street and opposite Elmina Castle, from March 1895 until his death in 1902. [1]
Hendrik Vroom was born in Elmina, Dutch Gold Coast, to Hendrik McCarthy Vroom and Anna Abakoema. Vroom was a pupil of the Dutch government school of Elmina and went on to have a career with the Dutch colonial government. He served as a pharmacy assistant to the Dutch officials in 1865, and was installed as a school teacher between 1866 and 1872. In the latter year, the Dutch left the Gold Coast, ceding their possessions to the British. Vroom easily adapted to the new situation, and served as a customs official in British service between 1872 and 1880. [2]
Vroom was then installed as District Commissioner at Prampram, which was a rare honour for a mulatto man. He served at Prampram until 1888, and went on to serve as District Commissioner in Dixcove and Sekondi (1888 – 1889), Eastern Wassa (1889 – 1893), Elmina (1893 – 1896), and Tarkwa (1896 – 1901). He also was Travelling Commissioner to Asante between 1894 and 1896, where he was instrumental in the subjugation of the Asante during the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War. [3]
Apart from his civil career, Vroom also served in the military. He was an interpreter for the Dutch during the Dutch Gold Coast expedition of 1869–1870 and for the British during the Third Anglo-Ashanti War. [2]
Vroom is not only remembered for his career in public service, but also for his business in Cape Coast, in which he partnered with Willem Essuman Pietersen and Ernest James Hayford. He was involved in gold mining and timber production. [1]
Vroom has been married twice, first to Maria Plange and, after her death, to Elizabeth Coorengel. Vroom had at least two children with Maria Plange and probably seven children with Coorengel. Apart from his two legal wives, Vroom also had children out of wedlock, with Ekua Praba and Araba. Vroom at least had twelve children. [1]
Hendrik Vroom was created Companion in the Order of St Michael and St George in 1896. [1]
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.
The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of five conflicts that took place between 1824 and 1900 between the Ashanti Empire—in the Akan interior of the Gold Coast—and the British Empire and its African allies. The wars were mainly due to Ashanti attempts to maintain and enforce their imperial stronghold over the coastal areas of present-day Ghana, where peoples such as the Fante and the Ga had come under the protection of the British. Although the Ashanti emerged victorious in some of these conflicts, the British ultimately prevailed in the fourth and fifth conflicts, resulting in the complete annexation of the Ashanti Empire by 1900.
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, and permitting the establishment of Fort Batenstein. The treaty lasted until the Dutch departure from the Gold Coast in April 1872.
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.
Carel Hendrik Bartels was the wealthiest and most important Euro-African trader and businessman on the Dutch Gold Coast in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Apart from his entrepreneurial activities, Bartels was also a judge and member of the colonial government in Elmina, making him one of the most important men in town.
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.
Henry van Hien was a Gold Coast merchant, politician, and nationalist leader.
Willem Essuman Pietersen, also known as Willem Edmund Pietersen, was a Gold Coast merchant, politician, and educationist. He is also remembered as a goldsmith and watch repairer. Pietersen was co-founder of Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast, Ghana.
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.
Willem Jan Derx was a vice admiral of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
Pieter Simon Hamel was a Dutch diplomat who served as Consul General at Elmina, Bangkok and Amoy.
Gold Coast Euro-Africans were a historical demographic based in coastal urban settlements in colonial Ghana, that arose from unions between European men and African women from the late 15th century – the decade between 1471 and 1482, until the mid-20th century, circa 1957, when Ghana attained its independence. In this period, different geographic areas of the Gold Coast were politically controlled at various times by the Portuguese, Germans, Swedes, Danes, Dutch and the British. There are also records of merchants of other European nationalities such as the Spaniards, French, Italians and Irish, operating along the coast, in addition to American sailors and traders from New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Euro-Africans were influential in intellectual, technocratic, artisanal, commercial and public life in general, actively participating in multiple fields of scholarly and civic importance. Scholars have referred to this Euro-African population of the Gold Coast as "mulattos", "mulatofoi" and "owulai" among other descriptions. The term, owula conveys contemporary notions of "gentlemanliness, learning and urbanity" or "a salaried big man" in the Ga language. The cross-cultural interactions between Europeans and Africans were mercantile-driven and an avenue to boost social capital for economic and political gain i.e. "wealth and power." The growth and development of Christianity during the colonial period also instituted motifs of modernity vis-à-vis Euro-African identity. This model created a spectrum of practices, ranging from a full celebration of native African customs to a total embrace and acculturation of European culture.
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.
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.
Ghana–United Kingdom relations are the diplomatic, historical and trade relations between Ghana and the United Kingdom. Modern state Ghana-UK relations began when Ghana became independent from the UK in 1957.
During the later years of Dutch colonial rule on the Gold Coast, the Dutch operated a government school in Elmina Castle, primarily aimed at educating Euro-African boys in Elmina. After many false starts, regular education started in the early 1850s with about 50 pupils, rising to more than 150 in the 1860s.
Hubertus Varlet was a Dutch architect and colonial administrator, who served on the Dutch Gold Coast. In his capacity as master of works and stores, he rebuilt Fort Crèvecoeur in Accra in 1839. Following the promotion of Anthony van der Eb to governor of the Dutch Gold Coast, Varlet succeeded him as the second vice governor for the Ahanta protectorate, which the Dutch had proclaimed following the conclusion of the Dutch–Ahanta War.