English Castle at Anamabou
This engraving depicts an English fort at Anomabu in the Voltaic region. Thomas Astley (d. 1759) was a British bookseller and publisher who never went to Africa. His imagined localities and illustrations of Africa were informed by a library of travel books at his disposal. In 1698, the Royal African Company described the facilities at Anomabo, which included "twelve great guns. . . a large tank or cistern. . . and a Negroe-house for one hundred and fifty Negroes. This fort. . . opens a trade . . . for gold, corn, palm-oyl and oyster-shells; also a very great trade for slaves." See Royal Africa Company, A Particular of the Royal African Company's Forts and Castles in Africa (London, ca. 1698). By the 1770s, it was reported that "almost every room in the fort is in a rotten, ruinous condition. . . very little slave trade at present." See John Roberts, Extracts from an account of the state of the British forts, on the Gold Coast of Africa [London: Printed for J. Bew, 1778).
Image Title
English Castle at Anamabou
RegID
SI-OB-818
Date
1745-1747
Title
English Castle at Anamabou
Source
"Plate LXIV" in Thomas Astley (ed.), A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. 2 (London, 1745-1747), facing p. 608.
Language
English
Item sets
European Forts & Trading Posts in Africa
Spatial Coverage
Africa--Voltaic--Anomabu
Reproduced In
Derived from a larger engraving based on the late seventeenth century voyages of Jean Barbot and published in Awnsham Churchill and John Churchill, Collection of Voyages, (London: Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill, 1732).
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
9-Aug-10; 21-Aug-19
Identifier
Astley013