Dutch Gold Coast

The Dutch Gold Coast or Dutch Guinea, officially Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea (Dutch: Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea), was a portion of contemporary Ghana known as the Gold Coast (Dutch: Goudkust), that from 1612 was gradually colonised by the DutchWest India Company (WIC) from the Dutch and Batavian Republics (present-day Kingdom of the Netherlands). The Dutch began trading in the area around 1598, joining the Portuguese which had a trading post there since the late 15th century. Eventually, the Dutch Gold Coast became the most important Dutch colony in West Africa after Fort Elmina was captured from the Portuguese in 1637, but fell into disarray after the abolition of the slave trade in the early 19th century. On 6 April 1872, the Dutch Gold Coast was, in accordance with the Anglo-Dutch Treaties of 1870–71, ceded to the United Kingdom.