{"id":3526,"date":"2017-08-07T11:29:35","date_gmt":"2017-08-07T15:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/preserving\/?p=3526"},"modified":"2017-08-07T11:29:35","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T15:29:35","slug":"godefroy-loyer-in-west-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/2017\/08\/07\/godefroy-loyer-in-west-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Godefroy Loyer in West Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This book provides an early and valuable account of West Africa’s “Gold Coast” before it was completely transfigured by slavery and colonialism.\u00a0Godefroy Loyer (1660-1715), a French missionary, was one of the earliest Europeans to explore and settle in this region. He gained a deep understanding of the language, culture, politics and economy of the Kingdom of Issini, which is in modern day Ghana.<\/p>\n

According to Loyer, who visited the Kingdom of\u00a0Issini\u00a0<\/span>in 1701,<\/p>\n

“we meet with kingdoms whose monarchs are peasants, towns that are built\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>nothing but reeds, sailing vessels formed out\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>a single tree: \u2014where we meet with nations who live without care, speak without rule, transact business without writing, and walk about without clothes :\u2014people, who live partly in the water like fish, and partly in the holes\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>the earth like worms, which they resemble in nakedness and insensibility.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Osei Kofi Tutu took the throne of the Ashanti Empire in 1701. Under Tutu, the Ashanti conquered other neighboring states\u00a0making his realm the most powerful African empire\u00a0along the coastline. The Ashanti were willing trading partners with the British, Dutch, and Danes.\u00a0By this time, the most valuable commodity for export was no longer\u00a0gold, but slaves. The Ashanti were willing to trade slaves for commodities, especially muskets, to secure their seat of power in the region.<\/p>\n

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Description:<\/dt>\n
Loyer, Godefroy. Relation du voyage du royaume d’Issyny, C\u00f4te d’Or, pa\u00efs de Guin\u00e9e, en Afrique :la description du pa\u00efs, les inclinations, les moeurs, & la religion des habitans : avec ce qui s’y est pass\u00e9 de plus remarquable dans l’\u00e9tablissement que les Fran\u00e7ois y ont fait. A Paris, A. Seneuze, 1714.<\/span><\/dd>\n
Persistent Link:<\/dt>\n
http:\/\/nrs.harvard.edu\/urn-3:FHCL:10996778<\/a><\/dd>\n
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Repository:<\/dt>\n
Widener Library<\/dd>\n
Institution:<\/dt>\n
Harvard University<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This book provides an early and valuable account of West Africa’s “Gold Coast” before it was completely transfigured by slavery and colonialism.\u00a0Godefroy Loyer (1660-1715), a French missionary, was one of the earliest Europeans to explore and settle in this region. He gained a deep understanding of the language, culture, politics and economy of the Kingdom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2559,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3526"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4419,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526\/revisions\/4419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}