BONUS: Kwasi Boachi, a 19th century Ashanti Prince in the Netherlands with Andrea-Vicky Amankwaa-Birago
About this episode
The episode features an interview with historian Andrea-Vicky Amankwaa-Birago discussing the life of Kwasi Boachi, an Ashanti prince educated in the Netherlands.
Earlier this year we interviewed Andrea-Vicky Amankwaa-Birago, a German historian of Ghanaian descent. Hang on, I hear you say, isn’t this podcast about Dutch history? Well, yes, of course it is, so here is a tidy little link. Besides giving us a great insight into her life, having been born and raised in Europe as a member of the Ghanaian diaspora, Vicky’s current focus of study is the life of Kwasi Boachi, a prince of the Ashanti Empire who was born in 1827. The Ashanti empire covered most of what is today Ghana, as well as parts of Togo and the Ivory Coast. When Kwasi Boachi was 10 years old he, alongside his cousin Kwame Poku, was sent all the way from his home in West Africa to the Netherlands to be educated. This was a part of an arrangement made between Kwasi’s father, the Ashanti king Otumfuo Kwaku Dua I, and another king, William I, the King of the Netherlands. The Dutch had a need of soldiers in the colonies, primarily in what is now Indonesia where many had been lost in a recent war of independence waged by natives against the Dutch governance of the East Indies. West African fighters appealed to the Dutch king and a deal was struck on his behalf that would allow the…
Keywords
- education
- colonial history
- West Africa
- Dutch colonialism
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