G. E. Ferguson

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George Ekem Ferguson (14 July 1864 - 7 April 1897), better known as G. E. Ferguson, was a Fante government official in the British colony Gold Coast (modern Ghana).[1]

Born in Anomabu, Ferguson was educated in Methodist Church-run schools. In 1889, at the suggestion of Brandford Griffith,[2], he was awarded a Gold Coast Government scholarship and went to England, where he studied surveying, mineralogy and geography at the Normal School of Mines. He returned to Gold Coast and was picked by the colonial government for the job of negotiating treaties with rulers in the north of the colony.[1] While there, Ferguson also worked to stop slave raids;[3]. His expeditions into the Gold Coast hinterland were highly influential in creating the boundaries of modern Ghana. His reports on the countryside through which he passed were detailed, and he was able to fix the location of places and provide maps. At the same time, in order to extend the British sphere of influence, he made treaties of protection and freedom of trade with the territories through which he passed. In 1897, he and his expedition reached Danwa, where fighting broke out between the British and the Sofa army over the food supply. In the course of this action, Ferguson, abandoned by his servants, was killed. Ferguson was grateful for the opportunities he had been given and was a staunch champion of British ambitions. The rights and wrongs of Imperialism do not alter the fact that he was a remarkable and extraordinarily able man, whose work in West Africa as a surveyor and cartographer deserve full recognition.

One memorial to him is located in the northern city of Wa,[3] [4] and another is found in his hometown of Anomabu.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Dumett, Raymond E (1975). "Review of The Papers of George Ekem Ferguson: A Fanti Official of the Government of the Gold Coast, 1890-1897 by Kwame Arhin". The International Journal of African Historical Studies 8 (4): 716–718. doi:10.2307/216721. 
  2. ^ a b Asomaning, Hannah (2005-07-24). Understanding Emancipation/PANAFEST. GhanaHomePage. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
  3. ^ a b Upper West Region. Ghanaconsulatenewyork.org. Ghana Consulate-General, New York. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
  4. ^ George Ferguson's Tomb. Ghanatourism.gov.gh. Ministry of Tourism of Ghana. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.

[edit] External links

[edit] Further reading

  • Ferguson, George Ekem (1974). in Kwame Arhin: The Papers of George Ekem Ferguson: A Fanti Official of the Government of the Gold Coast, 1890-1897, African Social Research Documents, Vol. 7. Leiden: African Studies Center, Leiden, 178. 
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