John Cabess

Last updated • 6 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
John Cabess
Born1640s or 1650s
Died1722
Komenda
Other namesJohn Kabes or John Cabes
OccupationProminent merchant in Komenda

John Cabess (also written as John Kabes or John Cabes) (c. 1640s – 1722) was a prominent African trader in the port city of Komenda, part of the Eguafo Kingdom, in modern-day Ghana. He was a major British ally and was a supplier to the British Royal African Company. As a trader, he became a strong economic and political force in the coastal region in the early 1700s, playing an active role in the Komenda Wars, the rise of the Ashanti Empire, the expansion of British involvement in West Africa, and the beginnings of large-scale Atlantic slave trade. Because of his combined economic and political power, historian Kwame Daaku named Cabess one of the "merchant princes" of the Gold Coast in the 1700s. [1] He died in 1722, but his heirs continued to exert economic power in the port for the remainder of the 18th century.

Contents

Background

John Cabess was born sometime in the 1640s or 1650s. It is believed that he was the son of John Cabessa, who had been a prominent African official working for the British at Fort Amsterdam in the 1660s. [2] The older Cabessa was most noted in British reports for committing suicide rather than become a captive while the Dutch were attacking Fort Amsterdam. [3] [4] The city of Komenda, part of the Kingdom of Eguafo, had become a major trade port in the later parts of the 17th century. The British and French wanted to get a foothold in the port in order to break the Dutch monopoly over trade in the Gold Coast. The Dutch, in contrast simply saw it as a secondary port to support its other operations in the area. [5] In this situation, Cabess moved to Komenda in the 1670s to work with the British attempts to establish trade relationships in the port. The primary African merchant to the British in the port was a trader named Captain Bracon in the 1670s; however, by 1686, Cabess had taken over this position. [6]

Merchant Prince at Komenda

By the 1680s, Cabess had established himself as a key merchant in Komenda. Henige speculates that Cabess came to Komenda between 1683 and 1685. [7] A British trader emphasized his control over trade and relations in the port by exclaiming that without Cabess in Komenda "nothing will be done." [8] At this point, he provided shells, food, and manpower for fort and factory construction by the Royal African Company in Komenda and elsewhere along the coast. Eventually, Cabess became a major slave trader out of the port of Komenda supplying thousands of slaves on a continual basis. [8]

His refusal to trade with the Dutch significantly slowed their ability to build facilities and when the French took an interest in developing a factory at Komenda they offered Cabess a significant amount of gold to help them in the project (a deal which was never finalized). [9] Cabess had significant negotiating leverage in his relationship with the British which sometimes resulted in tense relations. In 1687, tensions between Cabess and the Royal African Company representative in the fort, William Cross, resulted in Cross being forcibly removed from the post. [10] Similar situations occurred in 1698 and 1714, both times with the British representative being replaced at the request of Cabess.

In 1688, Cabess was panyarred by the Dutch, a practice common in the area where merchants and traders would be captured by other merchant forces and their goods would be taken. The British merchants secured Cabess' release and according to some accounts this is what precipitated his attack on Dutch miners in 1694 which started the Komenda Wars. [10] [11] In 1690 during a war between the Dutch and French trading companies, the British factory was burnt down and they left the area. Cabess therefore began supplying goods and manpower to the Dutch. [12]

During the Komenda Wars (1694-1700), Cabess provided crucial assistance to the British position and actively supported their return to Komenda. [13] [14] In 1694 and 1695, Cabess attacked the Dutch fort on multiple occasions and during negotiations with the Dutch commander, Willem Bosman, the Dutch commander attempted to shoot Cabess but missed. [15] With the end of the wars after 1700 and the rise of the Ashanti Empire in trade along the coast, Cabess became a crucial middleman in the port city. [12] British traders complained that Cabess would prevent traders from directly entering Komenda and instead intercept them outside of the city trading for their goods and then charging a higher rate to the British, while keeping some of the best goods for himself. [12] Cabess then became a monopsonist and monopolist able to manage contacts with multiple sellers and multiple buyers but keeping them from directly contacting each other and thus centralizing buying and selling within his control. [16]

The economic position of Cabess brought him into conflict with the British in the early 1700s with him and the British commander at the fort, Dalby Thomas, becoming quite hostile to one another by 1705. [17] However, although he traded with the Dutch, he remained a significant British ally for the rest of his life and the tension quickly decreased. This economic position also introduce rivalries with other African powers: a series of hostile activities between Twifo and Cabess in 1714 required the adjudication of Ashanti diplomats. [18]

Economic importance translated into increasing political importance and Cabess became the virtual leader of Komenda, which began to be less a subordinate to the city of Eguafo and gradually became an equal. [19] [20] In addition, Cabess begun owning significant land around Komenda that he directly controlled. Originally, he controlled a few huts around the British fort, but by 1714 this included a sizable area. [21] At the time of his death, he largely held sovereign power along the coast and had become the possessor of his own stool (a symbol of leadership among the Akan people), which would later be passed to his descendants. [22]

Death

Cabess died in June 1722 in Komenda. The British and Dutch feared a large succession struggle by the many heirs of Cabess. The RAC administrators dispatched an officer to provide gifts to those members most likely to take the place of Cabess. His body was buried at the British fort in Komenda after a public viewing of his body. [23] His son Ahenaqua took over much of the trade and political power of Cabess, without a recorded succession struggle, and until the chiefs at Cape Coast became predominant over Komenda in the mid-1700s, [7] the main official at Komenda, the Caboceer, governed on what was known as "the stool of the late John Cabess." [24]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Daaku 1970, p. 115.
  2. ↑ Henige 1977, p. 5-6.
  3. ↑ Henige 1977, p. 4.
  4. ↑ Canizares-Esguerra 2018, p. 50.
  5. ↑ Henige 1977, p. 7.
  6. ↑ Law 2001, p. 75.
  7. 1 2 Henige 1974, p. 242.
  8. 1 2 Rediker 2007, p. 84.
  9. ↑ Henige 1977, p. 8.
  10. 1 2 Henige 1977, p. 15.
  11. ↑ Law 2007, p. 148.
  12. 1 2 3 Henige 1977, p. 9.
  13. ↑ Law 2007, p. 145.
  14. ↑ Henige 1977, p. 11.
  15. ↑ Law 2007, p. 150.
  16. ↑ Henige 1977, p. 10.
  17. ↑ Henige 1977, p. 16.
  18. ↑ Smith 1976, p. 8.
  19. ↑ Henige 1977, p. 13.
  20. ↑ Henige 1974, p. 241.
  21. ↑ Henige 1977, p. 12.
  22. ↑ Rediker 2007, p. 85.
  23. ↑ Henige 1977, p. 5.
  24. ↑ Henige 1977, p. 14.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutch West India Company</span> Dutch chartered company responsible for trade and colonization in the New World (1621–1792)

The Dutch West India Company or WICDutch pronunciation:[ʋɛstˈɪndisəkɔmpɑˈɲi] was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors, formally known as GWC. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647) and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was granted a charter for a trade monopoly in the Dutch West Indies by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and given jurisdiction over Dutch participation in the Atlantic slave trade, Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gold Coast (British colony)</span> British colony from 1821 to 1957

The Gold Coast was a British Crown colony on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa from 1821 until its independence in 1957 as Ghana. The term Gold Coast is also often used to describe all of the four separate jurisdictions that were under the administration of the Governor of the Gold Coast. These were the Gold Coast itself, Ashanti, the Northern Territories protectorate and the British Togoland trust territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal African Company</span> English trading company

The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English trading company established in 1660 by the House of Stuart and City of London merchants to trade along the West African coast. It was overseen by the Duke of York, the brother of Charles II of England; the RAC was founded after Charles II ascended to the English throne in the 1660 Stuart Restoration, and he granted it a monopoly on all English trade with Africa. While the company's original purpose was to trade for gold in the Gambia River, as Prince Rupert of the Rhine had identified gold deposits in the region during the Interregnum, the RAC quickly began trading in slaves, which became its largest commodity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elmina Castle</span> Fort and former trading post in Elmina, Ghana

Elmina Castle was erected by the Portuguese in 1482 as Castelo de São Jorge da Mina, also known as Castelo da Mina or simply Mina, in present-day Elmina, Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast. It was the first trading post built on the Gulf of Guinea, and the oldest European building in existence south of the Sahara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Coast Castle</span> Former fortified colonial trading post in Ghana

Cape Coast Castle is one of about forty "slave castles", or large commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast of West Africa by European traders. It was originally a Portuguese "feitoria" or trading post, established in 1555, which they named Cabo Corso.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elmina</span> Town in Central Region, Ghana

Elmina, also known as Edina by the local Fante, is a town and the capital of the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region, situated on a bay on the Atlantic Ocean, 12 kilometres west of Cape Coast. Elmina was the first European settlement in West Africa and it has a population of 33,576 people.

John Canoe, also known as January Conny, was the European name given to an Akan warrior from Axim, Ghana. He was a chief of the Ahanta people in the early 18th century, who established a stronghold in the defunct Fort Fredericksburg and fought multiple wars with European traders for twenty years. The stronghold finally fell in 1725, though Canoe's fate is unknown. He is commemorated in the Junkanoo festival held in the Caribbean each December.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutch Gold Coast</span> Dutch possession in Western Africa between 1598-1872

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese Gold Coast</span> Portuguese colony in west Africa (1482–1642)

The Portuguese Gold Coast was a Portuguese colony on the West African Gold Coast along the Gulf of Guinea. Established in 1482, the colony was officially incorporated into Dutch territory in 1642. From their seat of power at the fortress of São Jorge da Mina, the Portuguese commanded a vast internal slave trade, creating a slave network that would expand after the end of Portuguese colonialism in the region. The primary export of the colony was gold, which was obtained through barter with the local population. Portuguese presence along the Gold Coast increased seamanship and trade in the Gulf, introduced American crops into the African agricultural landscape, and made Portuguese an enduring language of trade in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglo-Ashanti wars</span> Series of five conflicts between the British Empire and the Ashanti Empire between 1824 and 1900

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 control 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anomabu</span> Town in Central Region, Ghana

Anomabu, also spelled Anomabo and formerly as Annamaboe, is a town on the coast of the Mfantsiman Municipal District of the Central Region of South Ghana. Anomabu has a settlement population of 14,389 people.

The African Company of Merchants or Company of Merchants Trading to Africa was a British chartered company operating from 1752 to 1821 in the Gold Coast area of modern Ghana, engaged in the Atlantic slave trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Vredenburgh</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Central Region, Ghana

Fort Vredenburgh was a Dutch fort on the Gold Coast, established on the left bank of the Komenda River. The fort exists as preserved ruins. Because of its testimony to European economic and colonial influence in West Africa, the fort was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, along with other nearby forts and castles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Komenda</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site

Fort Komenda was a British fort on the Gold Coast, currently preserved as a ruin. Because of its testimony to the Atlantic slave trade and European economic and colonial influence in West Africa, the fort was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, along with several other castles and forts in Ghana.

Jan Niezer (1756–1822) was a famous and influential Euro-African trader in the Dutch Gold Coast. In his day and age, he was the richest Mulatto trader on the Gold Coast. Furthermore, Niezer was an important political figure during the Ashanti wars of the early 19th century. His most important trade interest was the Atlantic slave trade, until it was abolished by the Netherlands in 1814.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Komenda Wars</span>

The Komenda Wars were a series of wars from 1694 until 1700 largely between the Dutch West India Company and the English Royal African Company in the Eguafo Kingdom in the present day state of Ghana, over trade rights. The Dutch were trying to keep the English out of the region to maintain a trade monopoly, while the English were attempting to re-establish a fort in the city of Komenda. The fighting included forces of the Dutch West India Company, the Royal African Company, the Eguafo Kingdom, a prince of the kingdom attempting to rise to the throne, the forces of a powerful merchant named John Cabess, other Akan tribes and kingdoms like Twifo and Denkyira. There were four separate periods of warfare, including a civil war in the Eguafo Kingdom, and the wars ended with the English placing Takyi Kuma into power in Eguafo. Because of the rapidly shifting alliances between European and African powers, historian John Thornton has found that "there is no finer example of [the] complicated combination of European rivalry merging with African rivalry than the Komenda Wars."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panyarring</span>

Panyarring was the practice of seizing and holding persons until the repayment of debt or resolution of a dispute which became a common activity along the Atlantic coast of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries. The practice developed from pawnship, a common practice in West Africa where members of a family borrowing money would be pledged as collateral to the family providing credit until the repayment of the debt. Panyarring though is different from this practice as it involves the forced seizure of persons when a debt was not repaid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghana–United Kingdom relations</span> Bilateral relations

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of the Ashanti Empire</span>

The Economy of the Ashanti Empire was largely a pre-industrial and agrarian economy. The Ashanti established different procedures for mobilizing state revenue and utilizing public finance. Ashanti trade extended upon two main trade routes; one at the North and the other at the South. The Northern trade route was dominated by the trade in Kola nuts and at the South, the Ashanti engaged in the Atlantic Slave Trade. A variety of economic industries such as cloth-weaving and metal working industries existed. The Ashanti originally farmed in subsistence until agriculture became extensive during the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Elmina</span> History of the district capital

The documented history of Elmina begins in 1482 with an agreement between the Portuguese navigator Diogo de Azambuja and the ruler of Elmina, called Caramansa by the Portuguese. In it, the Portuguese were allowed to build the first European fortress in sub-Saharan Africa. For the next 150 years until the conquest by the Dutch in 1637, Elmina was the capital of the Portuguese bases on the Gold Coast, then for about 250 years the capital of the Dutch Empire in West Africa. Since the capture of the lease for the two fortresses of Elmina by the Ashanti in 1701, the city was also important to the Ashanti Empire. Until the 19th century, Elmina was one of the most populous cities in the Gold Coast, surpassing Accra and Kumasi. The trade in gold, slaves and palm oil brought the city into direct contact with Europe, North America, Brazil and, through the recruitment of soldiers, also with Southeast Asia. It was not until the takeover and destruction of the city by the British in 1873 that Elmina lost its prominent position in the Gold Coast.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.