Haas (Hrsg.), ChristaAntiquariat.de
Nordwestliche Aussicht von Cap Corse.
réf. 56432Leipzig: Arkstee und Merkus 1749. A copper engraved view on laid paper uncoloured from Volume 4 of Schwabe's Allgemeine Historie der Reisen 1747 - 1774. Image size is 28cm x 19cm. Text in German. Verso blank. At upper right: "No. 10." At lower right: "F. de Bakker fecit 1748". Original folds clean very good condition trimmed very slightly into the plate area on the lower right side. This view possibly by Bellin engraved by de Bakker first appeared in Prevost's Histoire Generale des Voyages. A view of Cape Coast Castle Swedish name: Carolusborg at Cabo Corso "Short Cape" in Portuguese later "Cape Coast" in English on the coast of Ghana West Africa. Built in 1653 by the Swedish Africa Company later occupied by the Dutch and taken by England in 1664 this fort was a key element of the British possessions on the Gold Coast of Africa. Now a designated UNESCO site this fort was one of the notorious "slave castles" of Ghana which were used in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Following the construction of large subterranean dungeons the fort was used to hold slaves before they were loaded onto ships and sent to the Americas and the Caribbean. This last stop before crossing the Atlantic was known as the gate of no return. This is a view of the fort from the Northwest based on one by William Smith "A Prospect of Cape Coast-Castle" as printed in John Green & Thomas Astley's "A New General Collection of Voyages." London: Astley 1745 Volume 2. Leipzig: Arkstee und Merkus, 1749. unknown
