Plancius, Petrus, 1552-1622. Haec tabella hydrographice oras maritimas Africae … promontorio dicto Capo de Cantin, Angloam usque ob oculos ponit, cum situ insularum Hesperidum, vel Promo[n]torij viridis, vulgò del Capo Verde … [Amsterdam, Cornelis Claesz, 1592]
This Dutch map was engraved many years before Danish involvement in Africa, but is included here to highlight Europe's longtime interest in West African affairs.
Romer, Ludvig Ferdinand. Nachrichten von der Kuste Guinea. Copenhagen, F.C. Pelt, 1769.
This is a German translation of Romer's Tilforladelig efterretning
om kysten Guinea, first published in Danish in 1756. Romer
is almost exclusively interested in Denmark's involvement in the
African slave trade and his book is an excellent source for
contemporary information on that trade. Included in this edition
are illustrations of the Danish West African coast forts Christiansborg
and Fredensborg, displayed here.
Isert, Paul Erdmann, 1756-1789. Reize van Koppenhagen naar Guinea, en van daar naar de Westindindien de Caribische eilanden in Amerika. Amsterdam, V.D. Burgh [etc.] 1797.
Isert arrived in Christiansborg, the center of Danish activity in West Africa, in November 1783. Though officially the chief surgeon, Isert was more interested in natural history. He became frustrated when he was prevented from completing a scientific expedition into the interior and was so anxious to leave that he boarded a slave ship bound for the West Indies in October 1786. Two days into the voyage the slaves revolted and Isert found himself under attack, the slaves mistakenly believing he was the owner of the ship. He survived the voyage and witnessed the cruelty of the slave auction and the further mistreatment of slaves. The experience left him determined to end the slave trade. He decided to found a colony in West Africa establishing plantation crops, thereby making the Atlantic slave trade obsolete. Back in Denmark, Isert found the necessary financial backing and, now married, arrived in Africa with other settlers in November 1788. The colony did not flourish, receiving no support from Christiansborg. Isert, his wife and infant daughter all died in 1789. Isert's book is an important contemporary account of West Africa and the slave trade. He was sympathetic toward Africans, going out of his way to dispel myths and commenting quite favorably toward their manners and customs. He had harsh words for European actions in Africa.
Denmark. Sovereign (1746-1766 : Frederick V). Forordning, angaaende det oprettede West Indiske og Guinaeiske rente-samt General-Told-Cammer. Christiansborg-Slot, den 7 de januarii ao. 1760. Copenhagen, N.C. Hopffner [1760]
One of the many laws regulating the Danish West Indian and Guinea Company and its commerce between Denmark, Africa and the West Indies. The Company followed the classic model of shipping European goods to Africa in exchange for slaves who were shipped to Denmark's Caribbean possessions. Sugar, rum and molasses were then shipped to Denmark and the triangle route began again.