Portuguese Gold Coast
Portuguese Gold Coast Costa do Ouro | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1482–1642 | |||||||
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |||||||
| Status | Colony of the Portuguese Empire | ||||||
| Capital | São Jorge da Mina | ||||||
| Common languages | Portuguese | ||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||
| Head of state | |||||||
• King 1482–1495 (first) | John II of Portugal | ||||||
• King 1640–1642 (last) | John IV of Portugal | ||||||
| Captain-major | |||||||
• 1482–1484 (first) | Diogo de Azambuja | ||||||
• 1634–1642 (last) | António da Rocha Magalhães | ||||||
| History | |||||||
• Established | 21 January 1482 | ||||||
• Disestablished | 9 January 1642 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Gold Coast |
|---|
 |
|
The Portuguese Gold Coast was a Portuguese colony on the West African Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) on the Gulf of Guinea.
History[]
The Portuguese established the following settlements on the Gold Coast from 21 January 1482:
- Fort São Jorge da Mina de Ouro, modern Elmina: 21 January 1482 – 28–9 August 1637; this became the capital
- Fort Santo António de Axim, modern Axim: 1486 – 1642
- Fort São Francisco Xavier, modern Osu, district of Accra: 1640–1642
- Fort São Sebastião, modern Shama: 1526–1637.
In 1419, attracted by the stories that linked the region to the gold deposits, the Portuguese arrived in the area of present-day Ghana, which became known as the Gold Coast. There, in 1482, they created the São Jorge da Mina fort. —Which later became known as Elmina— and little by little they specialized in the slave trade, which were sent as labor to the plantations of America. Soon after, however, their involvement in trafficking declined due to competition from other European countries that also established forts there. In 1642, the Portuguese lost the colony to the Dutch during the Portuguese-Dutch War. The Dutch would incorporate the territories acquired during the war to the Dutch Gold Coast.[1]
Captains-major[]
The Portuguese governors, going by this modest, military style, were:
- 1482 – 1485 - Diogo de Azambuja
- 1485 – 1486 - Álvaro Vaz Pestano
- 148? – Álvaro Mascarenhas
- c.1487 – João Fogaça
- 1495 – 1499 - Lopo Soares de Albergaria
- 1499? – 1503? - Fernão Lopes Correia
- 1503? – 1506? - Diogo Lopes de Sequeira
- 1506? – 1509? - António de Bobadilha
- c.1510 – Manuel de Góis[2]
- 1513 – Afonso Caldeira
- c.1513 – António Fróis[2]
- 1514 – 1516? - Nuno Vaz de Castelo Branco
- 1516? – 1519 - Fernão Lopes Correia
- 1519 – 1522 - Duarte Pacheco Pereira
- 1522 – 1524 - Afonso de Albuquerque
- 1524 – 1525 - João de Barros[2]: 26
- 1526 – 1529 - João Vaz de Almada
- 1529 – 1532 - Estêvão da Gama
- 1536 – 1537 - Manuel de Albuquerque
- 1537 – 1540? - ....
- 1540 – 1543 - António de Miranda de Azevedo
- 1541 – 1545? - Lopo de Sousa Coutinho
- 1545 – Diogo Soares de Albergaria (1st time)
- 1545 – 1548 - António de Brito
- 1548 – 1550 - Lopo de Sousa Coutinho[2]: 30
- 1550? – Martim de Castro
- 1550? – 1552? - Diogo Soares de Albergaria (2nd time)
- 1552? – Filipe Lobo
- 1552? – 1556? - Rui de Melo
- 1556 – 155? - Afonso Gonçalves de Botafogo
- 155? – 1559 - António de Melo
- 1559 – Manuel da Fonseca
- 1559 – 1562 - Rui Gomes de Azevedo
- 1562 – 15.. - Manuel de Mesquita Perestrelo
- c.1562 – João Vaz de Almada Falcão
- 156? – Francisco de Barros de Paiva
- 1564 – 15.. - Fernando Cardoso
- 15.. – 1570 - ....
- 1570 – 1573 - António de Sá
- c.1573 – Martim Afonso
- c.1574 – c.15.. - Mendio da Mota
- 15.. – c.1579 - ....
- 1579 – c.1583 - Vasco Fernandes Pimentel
- 1583 – 1586 - João Rodrigues Pessanha
- 1586 – 15.. - Bernardinho Ribeiro Pacheco
- 15.. – 1586 - ...
- 1586 – 1594 - João Róis Coutinho
- c.1595 – c.1596 - Duarte Lôbo da Gama
- 1596 – 1608 - Cristóvão de Melo
- 1608 – 1610 - Duarte de Lima
- 1610 – 1613 - João de Castro
- 1613 – 1616 - Pedro da Silva
- 1616/17 – 1624 - Manuel da Cunha de Teive
- 1624 – c.1625 - Francisco de Souto-Maior
- 162? – 162? - Luís Tomé de Castro
- 162? – 1629 - João da Serra de Morais
- 1629 – c.1632 - ....
- 1632 – 1634 - Pedro de Mascarenhas
- 1634 – 1634 - Duarte Borges (acting)
- 1634 – 1642 - André da Rocha Magalhães (acting)
- 1642 – 1642 - Francisco de Sotte
References[]
- ^ Newitt, Malyn (2010-06-28). The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415–1670: A Documentary History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-49129-7.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Wilks, Ivor. Wangara, Akan, and Portuguese in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (1997). Bakewell, Peter (ed.). Mines of Silver and Gold in the Americas. Aldershot: Variorum, Ashgate Publishing Limited. p. 24.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
External links[]
  | This African history–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by . |
  | This article about Portuguese history is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by . |
- Portuguese Gold Coast
- History of Ghana
- Former colonies in Africa
- Former Portuguese colonies
- Portuguese colonisation in Africa
- History of West Africa
- 15th century in Ghana
- 16th century in Ghana
- 17th century in Ghana
- 15th century in the Portuguese Empire
- 16th century in the Portuguese Empire
- 17th century in the Portuguese Empire
- 15th-century establishments in Africa
- 1642 disestablishments in Africa
- 1482 establishments in the Portuguese Empire
- 1642 disestablishments in the Portuguese Empire
- African history stubs
- Portuguese history stubs