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In the United Kingdom, debates over involvement and investment in the transatlantic slave trade and slavery often turn to the topic of ancestry, particularly the question of whose ancestors profited from the Atlantic slave system as slave traders, slave owners, or in other ways. Archaeology at Christiansborg Castle in Ghana, however, pre-dates these conversations. Christiansborg Castle can be described as Ghana’s most important heritage site, and an image of it features on the Ghana coat of arms and Ghanaian currency. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as a former 17th-century Danish trading post and seat of administration, the seat of British colonial administration, and, after independence, Office of the President of the Republic of Ghana (currently, it serves as an annexe). As a Ghanaian archaeologist and a direct descendant of Carl Gustav Engmann, a Danish Governor at Christiansborg Castle (1752-1757), I collaborate with other direct descendants of Eurafrican slave traders to study the history and legacies of the Danish transatlantic slave trade at Christiansborg Castle. I call our work ‘autoarchaeology.’
As a child, I grew up with the belief that my family was descended from a Danish Christian missionary stationed in Ghana. This illusion came to an end several years ago when, as a graduate student, I went to visit my aunt. As we shared some spicy plantain fritters called tatale, she told me, ‘Go to “The Castle” and see your name inscribed on a wall’. My aunt said ‘your name’, but she meant our shared surname: Engmann. Slightly bewildered, in part because my aunt has a mischievous sense of humour, I made an appointment to visit the Castle, which was then occupied by offices of the President of the Republic of Ghana. On arrival, I met the President’s special advisor and toured the premises. My aunt was correct: sure enough, in the castle courtyard, I discovered a water cistern inscribed with the name Carl Gustav Engmann. Filled with questions, I went to consult the best person to answer them – our family historian: my granduncle, who had compiled an extensive family tree.
Shortly afterwards, I travelled to the Danish National Archives in Copenhagen, where I examined archival manuscripts related to Christiansborg Castle and the Guinea Coast dating back to the 18th century, including some written by my ancestor. I then returned to Accra to collect oral histories. Archival and oral accounts corroborated that Carl Gustav Engmann was not, as our family had always thought, a missionary. Rather, they revealed that I was the great great great great great granddaughter of a governor of Christiansborg Castle – meaning he supervised the slave trade (he also owned enslaved persons) – and Ashiokai, the daughter of an Osu Chief. Carl was later also a Board Member of the Guinea Company, a Danish slave trading organisation, between 1766 and 1769. It is believed that he returned to the Gold Coast in the 1760s, and survived the wreck of the Fredensborg slave ship off the coast of Norway in 1768. Over the following years, I collected as many sources as I could from Ghana, Denmark, and the UK about this history and the broader contexts in which it took place.
As I worked, archivists, curators, scholars, and others remarked on my personal relationship to the site. I was struck when several suggested that, in addition to the site’s national and international significance, my project was important because I, as a researcher, was a direct descendant. Some of my interlocutors were convinced, too, that there would be significant public interest in my research and the personal connection to the stories I was uncovering. Working through the sources, I repeatedly encountered Danish-Ga family names (the Ga are an ethnic group in Ghana). I knew people with these names. Like me, they belonged to Danish-Ga families who continued to live close to Christiansborg Castle. We are direct descendants of former slave traders and/or people associated to varying degrees with the Danish transatlantic slave trade, but we rarely discuss this aspect of our heritage. We are also mostly absent in the stories told about the transatlantic slave trade and slavery. So, when it came time to conduct excavations at the Castle, I decided to create an archaeology team comprised of Danish-Ga direct descendants.
From trading post to castle
Christiansborg Castle is situated in Osu, Accra, on the West African coast, a region formerly and notoriously known as the ‘White Man’s Grave’. The origins of the Castle can be traced to 1652, when the Swedes built a trading post on the site. Over the next few years, it changed hands several times between the Swedish, Danish, and Dutch. Finally, in 1661, Denmark purchased the site from the local ruler, Nii Okaikoi. The Danes then constructed Fort Christiansborg, which means ‘Christian’s Fortress’ and was named for King Christian IV. Over time, the Danes enlarged the fort and converted it into a castle.
The Castle was constructed of stone, lime, and timber, and featured walls that depicted the ciphers of Christian VI and Christian VII. It contained residential quarters, storerooms, cells, a chapel, and a school. Danes, Ga, and Danish-Ga lived and worked at the Castle: at any one time, Castle personnel would include a governor, merchants, surgeon, chaplain, and soldiers among many others, including enslaved Africans. These ‘castle slaves’ laboured as remidors (canoemen), domestics, and craftsmen (blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers, and masons). Their responsibilities sometimes involved supervising captive Africans incarcerated in cells and destined for slavery in the New World.
Commerce at the Castle depended on specific strategic political and economic alliances between Ga rulers, Danish officials, as well as Danish, Ga, and Danish-Ga merchants. Transactions generally took place in the castle courtyard where guns, ammunition, liquor, cloth, iron tools, brass objects, smoking pipes, tobacco, cloth, and glass beads were exchanged for gold, ivory, and captive Africans. Between 1660 and 1806, the Danish transported approximately 126,000 captive African men, women, and children to plantations in the Danish West Indies – today the United States Virgin Islands. In 1685, Christiansborg Castle became the Danish administrative headquarters in West Africa. It was so important to the Danish imperial economy that between 1688 and 1747, Danish coinage depicted the Castle’s image and the inscription: ‘Christiansborg’.
The Danish transatlantic slave trade was officially abolished on 16 March 1792, making Denmark the first European country to end the transatlantic slave trade, though this law was not enforced until 1803. In 1849, Denmark sold Christiansborg Castle, along with its other fortifications and plantations on the coast, to the British for £10,000.
Social and familial relations between the Danes and the Ga formed the basis of, and functioned as, important economic, political, and sociocultural units, playing a significant role throughout the era of the transatlantic trade. Denmark did not prohibit Danish women from journeying to the West African coast, but only a few wives of governors or chaplains did so, as there was no financial compensation for Danish spouses. At first, Danish law discouraged sexual relations between Danes and Africans, but those rules came to change over time as the practical and economic advantages of such relationships became apparent.
Danish men cohabited with and/or married Ga women; this was known as cassare (a Portuguese word for ‘marriage’ or ‘to take into one’s house’). Children with mixed heritage were usually given European names and baptised as Christians. In the 1720s, a fund was created that required Danish men stationed on the Gold Coast to contribute the cost of their children’s upbringing and education. In 1722, a school was established at the Castle. As adults, Danish-Ga men entered the Danish administrative and military service. Some became independent merchants, interpreters, and political representatives. Danish-Ga women became traders and housekeepers. Many married Danish and other European men on the coast. Both Danish-Ga men and women participated in the commercial sphere where they could exploit their African and European ancestry and connections, including in the transatlantic slave trade. Danish-Ga individuals and families, as political and commercial elites, often acquired an elevated social status, forming prominent cosmopolitan communities on the coast. Indeed, their social practices and material culture (such as the clothing, furniture, household items, and other goods) signalled their difference as Eurafricans – in order to distinguish themselves from those who could be enslaved.
Autoarchaeology
We are the first researchers granted access to Christiansborg Castle and our project is also the first archaeological excavation at the site. Our work comprises excavation, ethnography, oral histories, photography, and documentary filmmaking. Over the years, the number of team members has grown: last season, the team comprised 30 participants. It includes men and women from the local community, especially direct descendants, ranging in age from 16 to their late 60s. Members of one family frequently recommend others from another family to join the project. Team members have varying levels of literacy and education – only a few have a secondary school education or beyond. We have trained each one in archaeological research and fieldwork. All team members are paid.
In 2006, I first met with officials from the Office of the President, under former President John Kufuor, to discuss possibilities for an excavation. Over the following years, I secured support from Presidents John Atta Mills, John Mahama, Jerry Rawlings, and Nana Akufo-Addo.
In 2014, we conducted a reconnaissance survey of the Castle to gain a better understanding of its nature. I also wanted to determine the site’s structural layout prior to undertaking archival work in Denmark and the UK, which included examining maps and architectural plans.
We conducted a surface survey, too, focused on the Castle building and an exterior area comprising a bank running down to the beach. This steep bank was first cleared with cutlasses, upon which we discovered a winding stairway leading down to the beach. An abundance of materials was retrieved, mostly glassware that dates to the site’s post-independence period. Currently, the Castle has eight cannons on a five-step platform facing out to sea. But standing on the Castle balcony, we observed two large cannons had fallen on to the beach below. The smaller cannon was only partially visible, as it was mostly submerged in sand. With the assistance of local fishermen, we recovered the smaller cannon. This was no minor achievement. It was not possible to retrieve the second, larger cannon manually, and so it was left in situ, with the intention of acquiring motorised equipment to remove it later. What was initially thought to be part of a stairway covered in aquatic moss was also identified as a cannon support. Under the Castle, we found the entrance to an underground tunnel that led to a nearby house, formerly owned by a successful Danish-Ga trader. This tunnel meant captive Africans could be transported from the house directly on to slave ships in a way that prevented escape and unwelcome attention. This was an important discovery because the family and several community members had told us the story of the tunnel, and pointed out that private trading could continue even after abolition.
Within the Castle walls, we selected specific areas in a garden within the presidential residential area for test-pit excavations. On a practical level, this involved minimal disturbance to those working at the Castle. I felt that it was critical to demonstrate that fieldwork could be undertaken without disrupting the government’s work. On reaching natural soil, all units were backfilled. All recovered materials were washed, recorded, labelled, and re-bagged on site, ready for analysis.
Two years later, in 2016, we met with Chiefs, Queen Mothers, elders, and the community living in the area surrounding the Castle to discuss the long-term research project. Following the meeting with Osu traditional leaders, they assigned ritual specialists to perform the necessary rituals to ensure success. Spatial data collection of the site was conducted using GPS. Our data included the main archaeological features, Castle, official residence, and gardens. This survey gave us a better idea of the site geology and geomorphology. Surface finds included faunal remains, namely goat and cow – including cow horns – along with European ceramics and glassware. Excavations continued at several test-pits as well.
To date, the research team has excavated within the Castle walls remains of an extensive settlement with an artefact collection that dates back to the era of the Danish transatlantic slave trade (excavations are ongoing). The remains include house foundations and what is probably a kitchen because it contains three large stones, in keeping with a local cooking design (still used today). Charcoal was removed to conduct dating analysis. The walls are made of stone and limestone, made from burning shells for mortar, with traces of whitewashed lime plastering. Wall measurements conform to Danish architectural designs of that era and are comparable to the walls found at the sites of Danish plantations in the Akuapem region, outside Accra.
We retrieved a large and varied collection of local and foreign manufactured objects. This includes what are called ‘African trade beads’ that were, in fact, made in Italy and Holland, as well as European and Chinese ceramics. Large quantities of unburnished local pottery ranging from fine to coarse fabric were recorded. Most of these pieces are plain, though a few have decorative designs. Some have not been seen or excavated anywhere else in Ghana. These vessels can be categorised into tableware (for serving and drinking), culinary ware, transport, storage, and special-purpose objects, such as those used for rituals and the preparation and administration of medicines. Pottery was not widely manufactured in Danish-Osu, which lacks high-quality clays, although some oral histories claim that a few families engaged in making pottery on a very small scale.
An abundance of European clay smoking-pipe bowl and stem fragments, largely Dutch, as well as British and Danish in origin, have been retrieved. Smoking pipes afford detailed information in terms of design and manufacture, so can be accurately dated. A small collection of African terracotta smoking pipes has also been recovered. European glassware ranges from items for everyday use to refined, luxury ware. Most noteworthy are slate fragments that were typically used in an educational context, suggesting a learning environment, and/or possibly the presence of children in the Castle. We know that a school existed, but it is unclear if these slates are connected with that or a family residence.
Other small finds include faunal remains, seeds, metals, stone, daub, charcoal, plaster, and shells. Of these, cowrie shells are closely tied to the transatlantic slave trade since, as a medium of exchange (along with gold dust, silver coins, beads, and other items), cowries were used to pay for captive African men, women, and children. The overall assemblage includes artefacts from the transatlantic slave trade, colonial, and post-colonial periods.
We inventoried objects from the Castle kitchen, pantry, and chef’s living quarters that date to as recently as President Mills, a former Ghana president, who was also the last holder of that office to inhabit the Castle. These artefacts comprise numerous ‘Western-style’ objects such as ceramic tea and coffee cups, saucers, plates, teapot, soup tureens, serving dishes, crystal glassware (champagne flutes, brandy, wine, and water glasses), and silver cutlery. For instance, ceramics by British manufacturers Wedgewood and Royal Doulton are predominantly featured. Ceramics and glassware dating to Ghana’s post-independence period are inscribed with the Ghana coat of arms, designed by Ghanaian artist Amon Kotei.
Archaeologically, our discoveries highlight how Christiansborg Castle was firmly situated within a vast global trade network. Many of the objects we unearthed distinguish between enslavers and slave traders who profited from the Danish transatlantic slave trade and those who could be enslaved by it. Through these excavated artefacts, we can gain a better understanding of social and material life of those whose lives were intertwined with the trafficking of captive African men, women, and children. However, artefacts alone will not tell the whole story, since some goods and commodities do not survive, for instance, cloth and tobacco. Hence the need to include multiple sources, namely archival accounts and oral histories. The presence of other trade items at the Castle can be identified only indirectly, such as alcohol. Bottles associated with this suggests the presence of – and perhaps the trade in – alcohol, but it is important to keep in mind that such objects were often reused for religious and ritual purposes.
Excavating personal pasts
Danish-Ga descendant team members are knowledgeable about Christiansborg Castle’s multiple histories. Conversations take place on site during fieldwork, but also continue afterwards. After excavations, family oral histories were collected in the ‘family houses’ close to the Castle. Conversations extended to those who no longer live in the family houses, too. Danish-Ga family genealogies and histories are mainly passed down through the generations via oral histories. Many people are able to recount the highly complex networks between parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on. They are able to connect branches on Danish-Ga family trees that I could only mentally grasp when I wrote them down.
During these discussions, team members and their families frequently explain that through our project they are gaining an understanding of their heritage that until now they did not know. Most speak about the ridicule they received at school, in the workplace, and at social events for their surnames. They are often asked ‘What kind of name is that?’, suggesting that they are ‘not really Ghanaians’. For these team members and their families, our project is about reclaiming their own heritage, even though it has at the same time raised sometimes uncomfortable questions about their identity and the lives and choices of their ancestors. For example, Danish-Gas participated in varying degrees in the Danish transatlantic slave trade, which many descendants would prefer to forget. Many, though not all, are historically privileged families in Ghanaian society. For other team members, family history and heritage is of secondary importance: some rely on the project mainly for employment.
Autoarchaeology focuses on the history and legacies of Christiansborg Castle, the Danish transatlantic slave trade, and the Danish-Ga families who sold captive Africans into slavery. It is not just the story of my family. It is also the story of many other families who lived along the West African coast. Today, our project includes excavations as well as the community education outreach programme ‘Excavated Knowledge’. As we continue our work, our approach to collective reckoning and responsibility will continue to strive to keep alive the memory of those who suffered during the transatlantic slave trade and slavery, and to attempt to offer possibilities for social and restorative justice on both sides of the Atlantic.
Grateful acknowledgement is necessary to many people who made the Christiansborg Archaeological Heritage Project possible (see https://christiansborgarchaeologicalheritageproject.org and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vzlBjb4ZHg). Special thanks to His Excellencies, the Presidents of Ghana: President Jerry John Rawlings, President John Agyekum Kufuor, President John Atta Mills, President John Dramani Mahama, and President Nana Akufo-Addo. My gratitude also to the Osu Traditional Council. I owe thanks to Raymond Atuguba, Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, Julius Debrah, Yaw Donkor, Ebenezer Mantey, Mark Alo, Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, Nana Asante Bediatuo, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, Samuel Abu Jinapor, and Henry Wood. Thanks are also due to Kofi Amekudi, William Barnor, Edward Nyarko, Daniel Kumah, Ernest Fiador, Gideon Agyare, Raymond Agbo, George Anorchie, Samuel Nobah, and those who requested not to be named. Thanks of course to the entire team. My deepest appreciation to the people of Osu. This project was made possible thanks to grants from the Stanford Archaeology Center, Stanford Anthropology Department, Joukowsky Institute, Whiting Foundation, Rappaport Foundation, Martha Joukowsky Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Danish American Heritage Society, British High Commission, Embassy of France, Egality Law, Shell, Total Energies, and other anonymous donors. Thanks are due to the Danish Maritime Museum, Danish National Archives, and British National Archives.
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