Dano-Dutch War | |||||||
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Part of the prelude to Second Anglo-Dutch War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Tobias Pensade [1] Henning Albrecht [1] Robert Holmes | Jan Valckenburgh Michiel de Ruyter | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
England: 6-7 ships Denmark-Norway: Unknown | 13 warships | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Denmark-Norway: 2 ships [2] | Unknown |
The Dano-Dutch War (Danish: Dansk-Hollandske krig, Dutch: Deens-Nederlandse Oorlog) was a colonial conflict between the Danes and Dutch over the control of European fortifications on the Gold Coast. Denmark-Norway, assisted by England, defeated the Dutch in various places, although Michiel de Ruyter retaliated against the English by recapturing all forts but Cape Coast. [lower-alpha 1] This forced the Royal African Company into bankruptcy, which started the Second Anglo-Dutch War. [3]
Since 1655, the Swedish Empire had waged war against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Eager to regain Denmark's lost territories in 1648, Frederick III declared war on Sweden. [4] In response Charles X Gustav surprisingly turned his army towards Jutland. [5] The Harsh winter of 1657/1658 led to the freezing of the Belts, and the Swedish army exploited this by marching across them. [5] Completely unexpected for Frederick, he was compelled to sign the Treaty of Roskilde. [5]
The Danes stalled and prolonged the fulfillment of some of the provisions of the Treaty signed at Roskilde, and Charles could thus use this as an excuse for planning to vanquish Denmark as a sovereign state, and declared war on Denmark [5]
Denmark and the Dutch Republic had previously signed a defensive alliance, and the Dutch Republic was hesitant to establish peace in the Baltic Sea. [5] The warfare quickly spread to the European colonies. The Danes had two years earlier in 1658, conquered the newly established Swedish fort of Carolusborg [6] [7] and now the Dutch and local tribes were interested in Carolusborg too. [1] In the following years the castle switched hands multiple times. In 1659 the Danes under Immanuel Schmid, gave the Castle of Cape Corso, as well as the castles in Anamabo and Osu to the Dutch. [6] [2] [1] After this, the natives of Fetu (also known as Afutu) besieged Cape Corso and successfully took it in 1660. [6] [1] However, the Swedes were able to regain control and held the castle from 1660 to 1663. [6] [1] [8] In a surprising turn of events, the Fetus retook the castle from the Swedes in 1663, through treachery. [6] [1] However the Fetus handed over the fort to the Dutch the same year. [6] [2] [1]
When two Danish vessels in late 1659 showed up off the coast of Ghana, they were received with the news that the Danes no longer controlled Cape Corso. [2] The crew negotiated with the local fetus for other possible forts. They came to the conclusion that for c. 1500 Danish rigsdaler, they were ceded the previous Prussian fort of Friedrichsburg (Danish: Frederiksborg) and a small trade outpost between Frederiksborg and Cape Corso. In the same year they also were given a small Dutch trading post near Cong. [2] [9] As a result, Denmark had three strongholds in Ghana. The following year, 1660, the English established the Royal African Company [10] [11] with the goal of competing against the Dutch control of the Atlantic slave trade. [10] The Dutch feared that the English might cease control of the weaker Danish outposts and thereby participate in the lucrative slave trade. [2] [9] They therefore launched small scale raids on Danish bases and ships in Africa. The Dutch claimed that the Danes had forcefully driven them away from their lodge at Cong and on April 24, 1661, they attacked the Danish lodge at Cong and burned it down. [2] The personnel present were taken to the Dutch Fort Nassau located further east in Sabu.
The Dutch raids against Danish vessels in the area continued and in 1662, [2] two Danish ships were attacked and captured. Several other ships were also targeted, but in many instances, the Danes managed to repel the Dutch attacks. [2] [8]
In December 1662, a Dutch force led by Commander Valkenburgh attacked a new Danish lodge at Bagos, near the Sierra Leone River. Two ships bombarded the Danish lodge, and later the crew went ashore and captured the lodge and valuable goods. [2] [8] More significant attacks to the Danish forts came in 1664, in response to the recent confrontation with England. [2] [1]
On March 23, 1664, the Dutch launched an attack on the small trading post located between Capo Corso and Fredriksberg. [2] [1] [9] Additionally, they bombarded Fredriksberg (which only lay a cannon shot away from cape corso) by the sea for several days and initiated a siege of the fort. [2] [9] The fort's garrison defended themselves with the assistance of local Fetu warriors who were affiliated with the fort. [2] The English who were recently at constant competition with the Dutch, [11] were quick to help. On 14 April, the English admiral, Robert Holmes was sent with 6-7 vessels to assist the besieged Danes. [1] [2] [11] At the arrival of the English on the coast of Frederiksborg, the Danes now faced the cannons towards Cape Corso and with English help bombarded the fortress. [1]
8 days in a row, Cape corso was bombarded by the sea side and from Frederiksborg. [1] [9] A combined Anglo-Danish army had landed nearby Cape Corso and had too, started bombarding the castle. [2] The bombardments were to weaken the garrison at the castle, for the troops to eventually launch an assault on the fort. [2] [9] [8] This was not needed though, and the Dutch capitulated the fort to the English, who named it Cape Coast Castle. [2] [1] [8] [10]
The Danish presence at the Gold coast was saved by the English [2] [1] and would go on until 1850. [12] In retaliation for the bombardment of Cape Corso, the Dutch admiral, Michiel de Ruyter tried to recapture the lost possessions by 13 men-of-war. [6] This confrontation escalated to the Second Anglo-Dutch War [10] and as a result of a delay in receiving orders, the Norwegian commanders sided with the Dutch at Vågen, [13] despite a secret agreement by Frederick III and Charles II. Denmark was thus forced to join the Netherlands and peace was concluded in 1667 at Breda. [14]
Frederick III was King of Denmark and Norway from 1648 until his death in 1670. He also governed under the name Frederick II as diocesan administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Verden, and the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (1635–45).
This is a list of possessions of Sweden held outside of Sweden proper during the early modern period.
Danish overseas colonies and Dano-Norwegian colonies were the colonies that Denmark–Norway possessed from 1536 until 1953. At its apex, the colonies spanned four continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.
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.
Frederiksborg Castle is a palatial complex in Hillerød, Denmark. It was built as a royal residence for King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway in the early 17th century, replacing an older castle acquired by Frederick II and becoming the largest Renaissance residence in Scandinavia. On three islets in the Slotssøen, it is adjoined by a large formal garden in the Baroque style.
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 was named Cabo Corso.
Swedish overseas colonies consisted of the overseas colonies controlled by Sweden. Sweden possessed overseas colonies from 1638 to 1663, in 1733 and from 1784 to 1878. Sweden possessed five colonies, four of which were short lived. The colonies spanned three continents: Africa, Asia and North America.
The Danish Gold Coast comprised the colonies that Denmark–Norway controlled in Africa as a part of the Gold Coast, which is on the Gulf of Guinea. It was colonized by the Dano-Norwegian fleet, first under indirect rule by the Danish West India Company, later as a crown colony of the kingdom of Denmark-Norway. The area under Danish influence was over 10,000 square kilometres.
The Swedish Gold Coast was a colony of the Swedish Africa Company founded in 1650 by Hendrik Carloff on the Gulf of Guinea in present-day Ghana in Africa. Under foreign occupation for much of its existence, it disappeared for good in April 1663 when it became part of the Dutch Gold Coast.
Osu Castle is a castle located in Osu, Ghana, on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in Africa.
The Gold Coast was the name for a region on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa that was rich in gold, petroleum, sweet crude oil and natural gas. This former region is now known as the country Ghana.
The Assault on Copenhagen also known as the Battle of Copenhagen on 11 February 1659 was a major engagement during the Second Northern War, taking place during the Swedish siege of Copenhagen.
The Dano-Swedish War of 1658–1660 was a war between Denmark–Norway and Sweden, with the former backed by the Dutch Republic and Poland. It is known in Denmark as the Second Karl Gustav War, in Norway as Bjelkes Feud in Sweden as Karl Gustav's Second Danish War, and in the Netherlands as the Swedish-Dutch War.
Ussher Fort is a fort in Accra, Ghana. It was built by the Dutch in 1649 as Fort Crèvecœur, and is two days' march from Elmina and to the east of Accra on a rocky point between two lagoons. It was one of three forts that Europeans built in the region during the middle of the 17th century. Fort Crèvecœur was part of the Dutch Gold Coast. The Anglo-Dutch Gold Coast Treaty (1867), which defined areas of influence on the Gold Coast, transferred it to the British in 1868. Because of its significance in the history of European colonial trade and exploitation in Africa, the fort was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.
Hendrik Carloff, Caerloff or Caarlof was an adventurer and slave trader active in the 17th century. Carloff began his career as a cabin boy but rose to become a commander and governor appointed by the Dutch West India Company and Danish or the Swedish Africa Company on the Gold Coast. Between 1676 and 1677, he was Governor of Tobago.
Fort William is a fort in Anomabu, Central Region, Ghana, originally known as Fort Anomabo and renamed Fort William in the 1830s by its then-commander, Brodie Cruickshank, who added one storey to the main building, and renamed the fort after King William IV.
The Swedish Africa Company was a Swedish trading company, founded in 1649 on the initiative of the Walloon-Dutch merchant Louis De Geer and his son Laurens, for whom Sweden had become a second home. The primary interest of the company was the trade on the Swedish Gold Coast, notably the trade of human beings to be sold into slavery in the Americas.
Fort Frederiksborg, later Fort Royal, was a Danish and later English fort on the Gold Coast in contemporary Ghana. It was built in 1661, with the approval of the King of Fetu, a few hundred yards from Cape Coast Castle, which was at that time in Swedish hands, on Amanfro Hill. Along with several other castles and forts nearby, Fort Frederiksborg was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1979 because of its testimony to European economic influence on West Africa and the Atlantic slave trade.
The Assault on Osu was an assault on the coastal village of Osu Castle by the Kingdom of Akwamu against local Accrans, who received support from the Danes at Fort Christiansborg. The assault resulted in military failure for the Akwamu, mainly due to Danish artillery, and the Akwamu were forced to retreat.
The Capture of Carolusborg (1658) was a capture by the newly recruited Hendrik Carloff on the Swedish fort of Carolusborg on the Gold Coast.