Theologian Slave Trader

Oware Knudsen Christiana

Description

A Personal commentary on Fredericus Svane Africanus' autobiographyThe Theologian Slave Trader explores the life of Fredericus Petersen, a mulatto adopted in 1710 by a Danish Lutheran Priest at Christiansborg Fort in what is now Ghana and who was subsequently brought back to Denmark as a teenager. The Danish king, no less, Frederik IV, was his godfather. Fredericus Petersen wrote a compelling autobiography which for many years has been largerly ignored. In The Theologian Slave Trader, Dr Christiana Oware Knudsen, herself a Ghanaian who for 50 years has lived in Denmark, brings this autobiography, The General Declaration, to life and contemporary relevance by contextualising Africanus' experience within a personal commentary on her personal family history in Ghana. Dr Knudsen approaches this historical material with the lively and engaging approach of an African story-teller, interweaving historical facts with family legends and documented impressions of the period. In so doing, she also poses a number of challenging contemporary questions about aspects of our understanding of slavery and inter-cultural relations.Book reviews online @ www.publishedbestsellers.com

Sujets

• Histoire
• África
• History of Africa
• Africa

Informations

• Publié par: Pneuma Springs Publishing
• Date de parution: 04 octobre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781782282037
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Theologian
Slave Trader




Christiana Oware Knudsen PhD
Copyright
First Published in 2010 by: Pneuma Springs Publishing
The Theologian Slave Trader Copyright © 2010 Christiana Oware Knudsen
Kindle eISBN: 9781907728860 ePub eISBN: 9781782282037 PDF eBook eISBN: 9781782280705 Paperback ISBN: 9781907728006
Pneuma Springs Publishing E: [e-mail] W: www.pneumasprings.co.uk
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Published in the United Kingdom. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written consent of the publisher.
The Theologian
Slave Trader


The Extraordinary Life of the Danish-Ghanaian
Fredericus Petri Svane Africanus (1710-1789)
Dedication

I dedicate this book to my children,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PREFACE

PART I
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 2: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO EUROPEAN SLAVE TRADING ON THE GUINEA COAST
CHAPTER 3: THE DANISH-NORWEGIAN KINGDOM AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE
CHAPTER 4: MY MOTHER’S FAMILY LEGEND CONNECTED TO CHRISTIANSBORG FORT
CHAPTER 5: THE SLAVE MARKET AT CHRISTIANSBORG FORT
CHAPTER 6: MY GRANDFATHER’S CONTACT WITH CHRISTIANSBORG FORT
CHAPTER 7: FREDERIK: THE CHILD SOLDIER
CHAPTER 8: FREDERIK ON THE HAABETS GALLEY TO DENMARK VIA THE WEST INDIES
CHAPTER 9: GODSON OF HIS MAJESTY, KING FREDERIK IV
CHAPTER 10: FREDERIK'S EDUCATION
CHAPTER 11: FREDERICUS THE PIETIST
CHAPTER 12: FREDERICUS THE MISSIONARY
CHAPTER 13: TRINA IS SEDUCED
CHAPTER 14: FREDERICUS THE SLAVE TRADER
CHAPTER 15: THE ASANTE KING, NANA OPOKU WARE INVADES THE COAST
CHAPTER 16: THE IMPRISONMENT OF FREDERICUS
CHAPTER 17: REUNION
CHAPTER 18: THE GENERAL DECLARATION
CHAPTER 19: THE PARISH CLERK AT HAVREBJERG VICARAGE
CHAPTER 20: THE TRAGIC END OF FREDERICUS
PART II
FREDERICUS AUTOBIOGRAPHY: THE GENERAL DECLARATION
INTRODUCTION
THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT HIS LONELINESS AT UNIVERSITY]
[FREDERICUS FINDS REFUGE WITH THE PIETISTS]
[FREDERICUS DECIDES TO LEAVE DENMARK]
[FREDERICUS’S MARRIAGE AND JOURNEY TO THE GUINEA COAST]
[FREDERICUS AND WIFE ARRIVE ON THE GUINEA COAST, 3rd AUGUST, 1735 ]
[FREDERICUS EMBARRASSED AS PREGNANT CATHARINA CONTINUED TO WORK]
[FREDERICUS GIVES UP HIS DREAM OF MISSION WORK AND APPLIES FOR EMPLOYMENT AT CHRISTIANSBORG FORT]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT GOVERNOR SCHIELDERUP]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT GOVERNOR ENEVOLD NIELSEN BORIS]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT THE PASTOR IN CHARGE OF THE FORT]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT GOVERNOR PEDER JURGENSEN]
[FREDERICUS VISITS FREDENSBORG FORT]
[FREDERICUS’S DISTURBING MESSAGE ARRIVES FROM COPENHAGEN]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT PASTOR OLUF DORPH]
[FREDERICUS ATTEMPTS TO MAKE PEACE AMONGST THE OFFICIALS AT CHRISTIANSBORG]
[FREDERICUS PLANS TO BUILD A MANSION FOR HIS WIFE AND SON]
[FREDERICUS ORGANIZES A LAVISH PARTY WITH GOLD ORNAMENTS AS GIFTS]
[FREDERICUS GOES ON BOARD A FRENCH SLAVE SHIP TO SELL SLAVES]
[FREDERICUS STARTS HIS BUILDING PROJECT IN EARNEST]
[FREDERICUS IS ACCUSED OF BEING A TRAITOR]
[FREDERICUS’S FIRST ARREST NOVEMBER 1742]
[FREDERICUS IS ARRESTED AGAIN AND IMPRISONED]
[FREDERICUS DESCRIBES THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOLIC DRINKS FROM CHRISTIANSBORG ON THE LOCAL VILLAGERS]
[FREDERICUS CONTINUES TO DESCRIBE HIS SECOND ARREST]
[FREDERICUS’S BELONGINGS ARE AUCTIONED AND THE FOUNDATION OF HIS BUILDING DESTROYED]
[FREDERICUS IS RELEASED AS GLOB DORPH IS SWORN IN AS THE NEW GOVERNOR]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT THE DISMISSAL OF GOVERNOR DORPH]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT JURGEN BILLSEN’S GOVERNORSHIP]
[FREDERICUS DESCRIBES THE REBELLION AT CHRISTIANSBORG FORTRESS]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT THE SHORT GOVERNORSHIP: “AD INTERIM EXTRAORDINAIRUS” OF SIMON KLEiN]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT GOVERNOR BILLSEN’S DEATH]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT GOVERNORS PLATFOD AND BROCH]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT GOVERNOR JOHANNES WILDERS]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT GOVERNOR AUGUST HACHENBERG]
[FREDERICUS WRITES ABOUT JOOST PLATFOD’S GOVERNORSHIP]
[FREDERICUS CONCLUDES]
POSTCRIPT
Selected Bibliography
About the Author
Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the director of the King’s Library Archives, Copenhagen, Denmark, who, in 1988, allowed me to copy Frederik Petersen Svane’s hand written autobiography from old Gothic script to be translated into Old Danish. He also kindly supplied me with the drawing of Christiansborg Fort by an unknown artist. I would like to thank Kirsten Nielsen, who translated this very difficult document from Old Danish into English. Thanks must go to illustrator, Rikke Kolkur Sørensen, who has produced the illustrations giving an impression of the dress of the period and to Coral Page for the artistic impression of my late grandfather. Thanks must also go to Dr Michael Welch, who proofread and offered criticism of the first draft of this manuscript. My thanks also go to Janet Lack Knudsen, a teacher and film producer, who put final touches to the manuscript. I would like to thank the lecturers at the Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University, Denmark, who, many years ago, encouraged me to write this book. Finally, many family members and friends have also helped with this project and I would like to say a big 'thank you' to you all.
Preface

MY INTEREST IN FREDERICUS’ LIFE STORY
My interest in writing the story of Fredericus Petri Svane Africanus came about because, having lived in Denmark for over forty years, I felt I had many things in common with him. When I first visited Denmark in 1957 from Ghana, West Africa, with my Danish husband, Dr Peder K. Knudsen, I was shocked by two things: as a freshly qualified Basel Mission school teacher, who had been taught by her Swiss missionaries that all Christians, no matter their skin colour, culture, social status or ethnicity, were equal before God, I quickly found out, to my great disappointment, that this was not true in “Christian” Denmark. I found out that there were different types of Christian world-views amongst Danes. For example, some Danes I came across in the late 1950s, firmly believed that African Christians did not pray to the same European Jesus Christ and that European souls and African souls did not go and rest in the same heaven after death.
My next shock came on the day my husband and I visited Copenhagen, the beautiful capital city of Denmark. Beautiful well preserved historical buildings, a well-established parliamentary system, operating side by side with schools, colleges, hospitals, beautiful churches (some dating back to the 12th century). There were also bishops and their priests, and most importantly, the centuries old, University of Copenhagen with its knowledgeable professors. I wrote back home to my family, saying that how could a civilised country like Denmark, only one hundred and seven years before, buy and sell slaves from the Guinea coast? How could they treat the slaves as animals on the ships to St Thomas in the West Indies? As a young Christian woman, I wondered why some of the poor slaves were not sent to Denmark to work there and perhaps enjoy the civilisation later introduced to ordinary Danes? As time went on, I came to realise that the word ‘civilisation’, often used throughout history, does not necessarily mean that those societies who boast and call themselves ‘civilised’ live up to the claim.
Many years later, when I recovered from my shock, and when my husband and I with our three children came from Ghana to settle in Denmark, I went to study Anthropology at Aarhus University where I became interested in a story of one of the Mulatto figures at Christiansborg Fort, during the slave trade era on the Guinea coast. My interest in writing this biography of Fredericus Petri Svane Africanus is that the two of us have certain things in common. Fredericus´ mother, just like me, was born and brought up on the coast of Ghana. His father was a Dane; so was my husband. Fredericus was a Mulatto; so are my three children. Fredericus had a university education; so have all my children. All of us have lived large parts of our adult lives in Denmark. Finally, my interest in Fredericus’ life story does not end here. As destiny would have it, both my mother’s family and my father’s family were involved, in different ways, with the Danish fort in Accra in the 17th and 19th centuries. So I feel that it is not just by coincidence that I became interested in the life story of this remarkable, Mulatto man.
PART I
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Between 1451 and 1600, thousands of slaves, black ivory, were shipped from Africa to the Americas. They worked in gold and silver mines, on sugar cane plantations, even in the North American fur trade. In that part of modern Ghana - the Gold Coast - where the bulk of the slaves were drawn from, the European trading aggravated and triggered a series of upheavals and conflict between rival African kingdoms. Competition grew among these kingdoms for a greater share of the European goods, particularly, firearms and alcohol. These were traded in exchange for gold, ivory and in the end, of course, human beings. Eventually, the European traders laid more emphasis on the slaves, as a so-called, c hattel commodity, than the gold.
The Portuguese, the Spanish, the French, the British, the Dutch, the Swedish and the Prussians were already operating on the Guinea coast when King Frederik III of the Danish-Norwegian Kingdom, in the early 1650s, introduced his state to this West African trade. Companies in Copenhagen received concessions from the government to trade on the Guinea coast. The most important of these Danish companies was to become Det Vestindiske–Guineiske Kompagni (henceforth: The West Indian-Guinean Company) .
After the Danes had seized the Swedish trading posts on the Guinea Coast in 165