stones at osu are crying for attention

G H A N A A N D U N E S C O

97

GHANA NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR UNESCO

PrefaceIn 2004, a book written

by a Danish author ThorkildHansen, titled “Coast of Slaves”and translated into Englishby Kari Dako, inspired theauthor to undertake a researchproject on the traditionalOsu community.

The research project whichbegan as a private initiativewith encouragement fromthe UNESCO Accra Clusterof offices, focused on thecommunity history of Osu,looking at the community’shistoric places, buildings andgenealogical profiles of fami-lies with Danish ancestry fromthe period 1607 to 2007.

Initially, the findings ofthe research were meant foruse to write a historical nar-rative. However, when thefirst set of findings becameavailable, it became necessaryto present the findings tothe public in two exhibitionsto commemorate the 50th

anniversary of Ghana’s inde-pendence and the bicentenarycelebration of abolishmentof the trans-Atlantic slavetrade in March, 2007. Theexcellent resonance the exhi-bition received encouragedthe author to go ahead withthe project.

Fortuitously, an award in2008 from the Ghana Cultural

Fund, a Danish NGO, becameavailable to the Project toprepare the manuscript forpublication of the book tobe titled: “Stones Tell Storiesat Osu”.

Since then, a number ofrelated activities have emerged.In particular, because of theincreasing interest of theDanish and Norwegian soci-ety in the Ghanaian-Scandi-navian Cultural Heritageand History, a Danish Non-Governmental Organisationby name “Friends of Akwamufiein Denmark”, has commis-sioned a Television documen-tary on the book project forthe Danish viewing public.

Stones at Osu areCrying for Attention

Happenings in the Danish-Osu Cultural Heritage Study Project

By Professor Dr Ing H. Nii-Adziri WellingtonDepartment of Archaeology and Heritage Studies,

University of Ghana, Legon

A Contemporary drawing of the Danish colonial fort, Fort Christiansborg, now Osu Castle.

REVUE GHANA 2 gravure - 224P OK:REVUE GHANA 2 gravure - 224P 12/04/10 8:51 Page 97


98


This article features someaspects of the project that dealwith the sites and stories ofpeople and places that appearin the book to be shown inthe documentary.

IntroductionThe content of the book

is presented in a narrativeform, based on the tradi-tional Ga style of story-tellingwith the objective to educatepeople about how the trans-atlantic slave trade playedout at the local level and theconsequences that have livedwith the people since then.The people that have to ben-efit from the book are firstly,the youth of Osu, and sec-ondly all Ghanaians, theDanish society and all othersthat have had historical con-nection to Osu, where theDanish Castle, Christiansborg,is located.

The tangible and intan-gible cultural heritage createdby the historical forces withinthe traditional communitybecomes the space in whichthe story of the book is set.This historical space is dubbed“Danish-Osu” that comprisesthe four traditional quarters,known, since the Danishperiod, as Osu Kinkawe, OsuAshinte, Osu Alata and OsuAnahor.

The book, through thetechnique of story telling,highlights the value andsignificance of the culturalheritage of the communityand at the same time bringsout lessons that should belearnt concerning the evils ofinhumanity associated withthe trans-Atlantic slave trade,which should never be repeatedin any form whatsoever.

Directed by the researchfindings, the book brings outnarratives that present forreflection, various phasesof life at Danish-Osu duringand after the trans-Atlanticslave trade. By means of fourlocations in the shooting ofthe documentary, some ofthese phases of communitylife at Danish-Osu are high-lighted in the related narra-tions that follow.

Narration at the RichterFort location

The first location is at theearly 19thcentury slave tradingresidential facility known asRichter Fort. The entranceportal of this private fort hasan emblem with the inscrip-tion “HR and CR 1809”. Theentrance portal opens on tothe stone pavement of thecourtyard that leads to thestone hanging-staircase.

The narration that pro-ceeds at this location refers tothe story of Johan EmmanuelRichter, his activities as aDanish merchant and anassistant in the Danish Admin-istration; his involvement inthe slave trade; his buildingof the palatial residence mostlikely at the end of the 18th

Century; his brief period ofGovernorship from March toOctober, 1817 before his death;bequeathing the residenceto his off-springs : Heinrichand Christian Richter, Osu

Mulattos; Heinrich a powerfullocal merchant and slavetrader, used the emblem HRCR 1809 to commemorate theacquisition of the property andbuilding of a stone wall andbastion to make it a Fort tocompete with Christiansborg.

The Fort became a presti-gious citadel which demon-strated a lot of affluence andmilitary power; at one timeit held about 400 Asante slavesready for shipment.

Heinrich Richter devel-oped underground watercisterns inside and outside theFort to provide for the largenumber of people who con-gregated in and outside theFort; the fore ground of theFort served as a slave marketand a boulevard was devel-oped from the fore groundto lead to the beach to conveyenslaved people clandestinelyfrom the slave holdings of theFort to ships awaiting in theroads in the sea on the eastof the Christiansborg.

A local myth asserts thatthere is an undergroundaccess way that links the Fortwith the Christiansborg ( thiscannot be true due to thetopographical and historiccircumstances).

Narration at theNii-Okantey Shikatse Welocation

The next location for thenarration is the west entranceto the Nii-Okantey ShikatseWe, another 19th centuryDanish stone trading house.The location for the narrationincludes the east entrance;the north wall; the southwall; inside the courtyard;the stone pavement; thestone cover over the under-ground water cistern; theslave-holding chamber; theupper residential floor and



99


the lower floor for storage;the route from the east gateto the beach and view towardsChristiansborg.

The narration of the his-tory of this stone house builtby the Danish merchantJacobsen about the end ofthe 18th Century includes thefact that the house, auctionedafter Jacobsen’s death, wasbought by H.C. Truelsen whoraised a family of five daugh-ters with a mulatto woman.It further tells how the housewas auctioned after Truelsen’sdeath and not bequeathedto his mulatto wife; and howthe house was bought byHeinrich Richter and soldlater to Nii Okantey Shikatse,a local Osu merchant.

One of the five daughtersof Truelsen who grew up inthis house, became the grand-mother of Severine Brock.Severine became the wifeof Edward Carstensen, thelast Danish Governor of theGuinea Coast.

The house was a typicalstone-house, located withinthe merchants /cabuseers’quarters; was used to serveas a residence as well as atrading facility. The househad a section for the slaveswho were held in transit forshipment in the holdinglong-room with small highlevel vent holes; upstairs forthe resident family; under-ground water cistern whichwas fed with harvested rain-water from the roof.

This house was furtheradapted by Nii OkanteyShikatse,a local wealthy traderin slaves and gold, to servethe traditional arrangementof having female and malesections. This historic housenow serves as a family housefor the descendants of NiiOkantey Shikatse.

Narration at the OldDanish Slave Routelocation

The next location for thenarration covers the Danishslave route, now named“Salem Road”. It is lined withtamarind trees, coming fromthe north towards the Castle.Linked to this route is the siteof the main local slave marketwith the name “Awusai Atso”,where the two storey familyhouse of Nii Kweinor We isstanding today. From here,one gets a view of AshinteBlohum on the west.

The narration here dealswith the story of the tamarindlined route as the last stretchfrom the faraway interiorto the Christiansborg; theplanting of the tamarind treesin the 19th Century by theDanes to provide shade forthem as they moved betweenthe Christiansborg and theDanish plantations at KukuHill and Fredricksgave at thefeet of the Akwapim Hills.

The narration includes thestory of how Ashinte Blohumcame to be known as suchdue to the Asante traders’

sojourn in this part of Osuwhiles they did business withthe Danes in the Castle; howNii Kweinor’s We came to belocated on this historic site ofmemory: a local slave market.The narration also includeshow Heinrich Richter divertedthe course of the route to avoidcontrol after the abolishmentof the trans-Atlantic trade in1803 by the Danes.

Narration at the OsuSalem School location

The next location for thenarration is at Osu Salem;the building and its details– the timber framing and theinfilling with mud; the stonemasonry plinth and foun-dation in accordance to theDanish traditional stone archi-tecture on the Guinea coast.

Narration brings out thestory of the building as thefirst ever custom-built educa-tional facility in 1865 by theBasel Mission; the School wasthe follow up from the CastleSchool for the Danish-OsuMulattos.

The school was built afterthe original one at Amangfom,



100


had been demolished by theBritish Bombardment in 1854,four years after the Danes hadsold all their establishmentsto the British for 10,000 poundssterling.

The school building hasinteresting details and com-ponents that link Osu toDenmark, Germany andSwitzerland. For example,the pines for the structurewere brought from northernGermany and southern Den-mark; the plinth and foun-dation were based on theDanish building tradition ofuse of stones and the builderswere missionaries from Baselin Switzerland, assisted bylocal craftsmen.

The school is famous forthe training programme offorming the mind, the heartand the hands and emphasison discipline and spirituality;the successful programme isepitomised by the severalfamous Old Boys who attainedgreat heights in the Ghanaiansociety eg. the first GhanaianSpeaker of the national assem-bly was an Osu Old Boy; thefirst Ghanaian Surgeon andDean of the Medical Schoolwas an Old Boy and severalother famous including theResearcher, attained greatheights in their life pursuits.

Message ofthis Article

The various narrations inthe documentary provideinteresting information thatwill certainly increase the greatexcitement and enthusiasmthat the Scandinavians nowshow for their shared commonGhanaian–Danish culturalheritage and history.

Consequently, this willlead to heightened desire toknow more about the other

Danish heritage sites andplaces of memory in Ghana,such as the Osu Castle, whichthe Danes built around 1665and christened “Christians-borg”; the archaeological siteof the redoubt, Provestenlocated on the west of the

Osu Castle; several Danishstone houses at Osu; the oldDanish plantation sites atthe feet of the Akwapim hillsincluding, Fredericksgasve,and the ruined Forts at Ningo,(Frederensborg), and Keta,(Prinsensten), etc. Obviously,the impact the documentarywill make in Denmark andother Scandinavian countries,may lead to considerableflow of tourist traffic fromthere to Ghana.

In light of this, there isneed for all stakeholders,including the local commu-nity at Osu, the Accra Metro-politan Assembly, the GhanaMuseums and MonumentsBoard, the Ghana NationalCommission for UNESCO,the national Commission onCulture, the Ministry of Chief-taincy and Culture to put theiraxe together to pay heed tothe calling of the stones atOsu for attention.

In this regard, the dete-riorating conditions of theseheritage sites at Osu and rela-

ted places must be addressedto conserve what is remaining.To do this is not only to pre-serve the properties and sitesfor education of the youngergeneration about the past;the preserved and the wellmaintained heritage will

provide the means for thelocal community and tourismdevelopment entrepreneursto take advantage of theanticipated tourism benefitsthat will emerge from theincreased interest generatedby the documentary and theother related activities of theDanish-Osu Research Project.

ConclusionSo, in conclusion, it must

be emphasised that the mes-sage of this article on thehappenings in the Danish-Osu Research Project, is to serveas a clarion call to all andsundry involved in admin-istration and managementof cultural heritage propertiesand sites in Osu in particular,and in Ghana generally. Themessage is to get those to situp and strategise to exploitthe opportunities that suchheritage tourism may bringup in the coming years. Thestones are crying for atten-tion; who responds?

■

Danish Fort

Prinsensten,

Keta, Ghana.


stones at osu are crying for attention

Documents