Fante Confederacy - Tensions With The Europeans

Tensions With The Europeans

However, the British soon began to exceed the agreement, and intervened in life along the coast. The Fante leaders were much displeased, and felt the British were only interested in their trade. The most controversial action was an 1868 agreement between the British and Dutch to trade forts along the coast. Previously the entire coast had been a mix of British and Dutch forts. The British and Dutch governments agreed to exchange forts whereby the British would control all the forts east of the River Kakum, and the Dutch would get all the forts to the west, including most of those in the Fante areas. It has also been argued that the local elites were angered by the abolition of the profitable slave trade by the European powers.

These factors greatly annoyed the people throughout the region. Legally the local rulers saw the Europeans as tenants, and they demanded to right to approve the fort exchanges. The local rulers were not even consulted before the agreement was announced. The Fante also worried about the close relations between the Ashanti and the Dutch.