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An Archaeology of Elmina. Africans and Europeans on the Gold Coast, 1400-1900 . By Christopher R. DeCorse , Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London, 2001, 286 pp., ISBN 1-56098-971-8. Price US$ 45.00.

An Archaeology of Elmina. Africans and Europeans on the Gold Coast, 1400-1900 . By Christopher R.... BOOK REVIEW The book under review is an engaging and engaged archaeological and historical study of a famous Gold Coast (Ghanaian) port known as Elmina. From the fifteenth to the nineteenth century Elmina was one of the largest if not the largest port on the Gold Coast. In the fifteenth century Portuguese merchant-officials built a fortress (Castelo de São Jorge da Mina) there in 1482 and in 1637 agents of the Dutch West Indies Company were able to seize control of the fortress. The Dutch ceded the fort to the British in 1872. The author, Dr. Christopher DeCorse of Syracuse University, has made imaginative and judicious use of archaeological, documentary, and oral sources of information in his reconstruction of Elmina's past. An archaeologist by training, the author employs a complex (i.e., multi-disciplinary) methodology that facilitates a reading of the book from different perspectives. That is, the book was not aimed at archaeologists only but was evidently written with non-archaeologist scholars in mind (like the reviewer who is a historian). The book can be read as an informed and informative archaeology-based study of Elmina's material culture over a period of 500 years. It can be read too as a http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of African Archaeology Brill

An Archaeology of Elmina. Africans and Europeans on the Gold Coast, 1400-1900 . By Christopher R. DeCorse , Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London, 2001, 286 pp., ISBN 1-56098-971-8. Price US$ 45.00.

Journal of African Archaeology , Volume 4 (1): 187 – Oct 25, 2006

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Copyright 2006 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1612-1651
eISSN
2191-5784
DOI
10.3213/1612-1651-10071
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

BOOK REVIEW The book under review is an engaging and engaged archaeological and historical study of a famous Gold Coast (Ghanaian) port known as Elmina. From the fifteenth to the nineteenth century Elmina was one of the largest if not the largest port on the Gold Coast. In the fifteenth century Portuguese merchant-officials built a fortress (Castelo de São Jorge da Mina) there in 1482 and in 1637 agents of the Dutch West Indies Company were able to seize control of the fortress. The Dutch ceded the fort to the British in 1872. The author, Dr. Christopher DeCorse of Syracuse University, has made imaginative and judicious use of archaeological, documentary, and oral sources of information in his reconstruction of Elmina's past. An archaeologist by training, the author employs a complex (i.e., multi-disciplinary) methodology that facilitates a reading of the book from different perspectives. That is, the book was not aimed at archaeologists only but was evidently written with non-archaeologist scholars in mind (like the reviewer who is a historian). The book can be read as an informed and informative archaeology-based study of Elmina's material culture over a period of 500 years. It can be read too as a

Journal

Journal of African ArchaeologyBrill

Published: Oct 25, 2006

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