David Akwasi Mensah Abrampah

Historical and archaeological researches have shown that between 1788 and 1850 the Danes established plantations along the foothills of the Akuapem Mountains and the estuary of the Volta River at south-eastern Ghana and used enslaved Africans to cultivate them. The establishment of these plantations was meant to replace the trans-Atlantic slave trade which Denmark was deeply involved in. In 1803, Denmark abolished the trans-Atlantic slave trade, however, this did not end slavery in Africa. As the Danish plantation economy solidified, increasing numbers of enslaved people were engaged to labour in these plantations. This project seeks to examine the documentary and the archaeological data of one of the earliest Danish plantations (Frederikssted plantation) established in 1794 in Dodowa, in Ghana. The archaeological excavations at Frederikssted plantation and the resultant material culture will be used to examine different occupational episodes such as occupation, abandonment, and reoccupation for the purpose of historical reconstruction.