Pawns on the Gold Coast

In the seventeenth century, Europeans on the Gold Coast took gold pawns as security for debt, but from the early eighteenth century, they turned increasingly toward the use of human pawns. This shift was the result of a transformation in levels of demand for gold amongst African sellers, most notably the Asante, who began to secure control over local gold sources from c . 1700. The change in demand for gold was accompanied by a rise in slave prices on the West African coast, but it was the indigenous system of debt recovery that proved crucial to the success of European trade

Archaeology · Business · Debt · Economic history · Gold coast · Indigenous · Political science · African history and culture studies · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Finance · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History

• Desecrating Ancestral Spaces of Rest

  Hermann W Von Hesse•Radical History Review•2026

  Incluir item

• Intra-European Trade in Atlantic Africa and the African Atlantic

  Ruderman, Ruderman Ruderman•The William and Mary Quarterly•2020

  Incluir item

• Interest-bearing loans and unpayable debts in slow-growing economies

  Open Access•Tilman Hartley, G Kallis•Ecological Economics•2021

  Incluir item

• O outro lado da moeda

  Open Access•Leonardo Marques, Gustavo Acioli Lopes•Clio•2019

  Incluir item

• All the baubles that they needed”

  Bronwen Everill•Early American studies•2017

  Incluir item

• Contested enslavement

  Open Access•Judith Spicksley•Itinerario•2015

  Incluir item

• The jailhouse divergence

  Open Access•Sarah Balakrishnan•Punishment & Society•2022

  Incluir item

• Prison of the Womb

  Open Access•Sarah Balakrishnan•Comparative Studies in Society…•2023

  Incluir item

• State and society in pre-colonial Asante

  T C Mccaskie•State and society in pre-colonial…•1995

  Incluir item

• Description and historical account of the Gold Kingdom of Guinea (1602)

  Pieter De Marees•Description and historical…•1987

  Incluir item

• Trade and politics on the Gold Coast, 1600-1720

  K Y Daaku•Trade and politics on the Gold…•1970

  Incluir item

• Forests of gold

  Ivor Wilks•Forests of gold•1993

  Incluir item

• A history of the Upper Guinea Coast, 1545-1800.

  Walter Rodney•A history of the Upper Guinea…•1970

  Incluir item

• The Portuguese seaborne empire, 1415-1825

  Charles Ralph Boxer•The Portuguese seaborne empire,…•1977

  Incluir item

• The British Empire and the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1660–1807

  David Richardson•The Eighteenth century•1998

  Incluir item

• Slavery in Africa

  Igor Kopytoff, Suzanne Miers•Slavery in Africa•1977

  Incluir item

• Corpus of early Arabic sources for West African history

  J F P Hopkins, Nehemia Levtzion•Corpus of early Arabic sources…•1981

  Incluir item

• Settlement, trade and polities in the seventeenth century Gold Coast

  Ray A Kea•Settlement, trade and polities in…•1982

  Incluir item

• Royal African Company

  K G Davies•Royal African Company•1970

  Incluir item

• A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea

  Open Access•William Bosman•New and Accurate Description of…•2011

  Incluir item

• Ouidah

  Robin Law, Robin C Law•Ouidah•2004

  Incluir item

• The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600–1815

  Open Access•Johannes Postma•Dutch in the Atlantic Slave…•1990

  Incluir item

• An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species

  Open Access•Thomas Clarkson, John Newton•Essay on the Slavery and Commerce…•2013

  Incluir item

• The Rise of African Slavery in the Americas

  Open Access•David Eltis•Rise of African Slavery in the…•1999

  Incluir item

• Fly with a duck in thy mouth’

  Judith Spicksley, Judith M Spicksley•Social History•2007

  Incluir item

• The Portugal Trade

  C R Boxer, H E S Fisher•The American Historical Review•1971

  Incluir item

• Esmeraldo de situ orbis

  Malyn Newitt•Christian-Muslim Relations 1500 -…•2015

  Incluir item

• Trust, Pawnship, and Atlantic History

  P E Lovejoy, David Richardson•The American Historical Review•1999

  Incluir item

• Trust, Pawnship, and Atlantic History

  P E Lovejoy, David Richardson•The American Historical Review•1999

  Incluir item

• Child Slaves in Pre-colonial Nigeria, c .1725–1860

  Olatunji Ojo•Slavery and Abolition•2012

  Incluir item

• A Reliable Account of the Coast of Guinea (1760)

  Silke Strickrodt•The English Historical Review•2002

  Incluir item

• The Fante and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

  Open Access•Rebecca Shumway•Fante and the Transatlantic Slave…•2011

  Incluir item

• Prices of Slaves in West and West‐central Africa

  Open Access•David Richardson•Bulletin of Economic Research•1991

  Incluir item

• A History of West Africa. An Introductory Survey

  Daniel F Mccall, J D Fage•African Historical Studies•1970

  Incluir item

• The Ounce in Eighteenth-Century West African Trade

  Open Access•Marion Johnson•The Journal of African History•1966

  Incluir item

• A note on the relative importance of slaves and gold in West African exports

  Open Access•Richard Bean, Richard N Bean•The Journal of African History•1974

  Incluir item

• This Horrid Hole’

  Open Access•P E Lovejoy, David Richardson•The Journal of African History•2004

  Incluir item

• The Relative Importance of Slaves and Commodities in the Atlantic Trade of Seventeenth-Century Africa

  Open Access•David Eltis•The Journal of African History•1994

  Incluir item

• The Trade between Western Africa and the Atlantic World, 1600–90

  Open Access•Ernst van den Boogaart•The Journal of African History•1992

  Incluir item

• The English in West Africa, 1681-1683

  David Killingray•African Affairs•1999

  Incluir item

• Akan-Ashanti Folk-Tales

  Abebe Woldesenbet Aseffa•African Affairs•1930

  Incluir item

• The British Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade 1650-1775

  Open Access•Richard Nelson Bean•The Journal of Economic History•1972

  Incluir item

• Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis

  Duarte Pacheco Pereira, George H T Kimble•Geographical Journal•1937

  Incluir item

• The Financing of the Ashanti Expansion (1700-1820)

  Open Access•Kwame Arhin•Africa•1967

  Incluir item