Religion Dutch Reformed | Name Cornelis Nagtglas Role Politician | |
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Preceded by Georg Pieter Willem Boers Succeeded by Jan Albert Hendrik Hugenholz Preceded by Jules Felicine Romain Stanislas van den Bossche Born May 16, 1814
Utrecht, Netherlands ( 1814-05-16 ) Spouse(s) Anna Smith (1856-1862)
Wilhelmina Michell (1862-1897) Died January 19, 1897, Harderwijk, Netherlands | ||
Succeeded by Henry Alexander Elias | ||
Cornelis Johannes Marius Nagtglas (16 May 1814 – 19 January 1897) was a Dutch politician and civil servant, who made a career in the administration on the Dutch Gold Coast. After originally beginning his career at the rather advanced age of 36, he was promoted through the ranks to eventually become Governor of the Dutch Gold Coast in 1858. He retired to the Netherlands in 1862, but returned to the Gold Coast as governor in 1869, to restore order in the embattled colony. In 1871, he left the Gold Coast again, one year before the transfer of the colony to the United Kingdom.
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Biography
Cornelis Nagtglas was born in Utrecht on 16 May 1814 to Cornelis Nagtglas, sr. and Maria Ruyghart.
Nagtglas started his career as civil servant on the Gold Coast in 1851. After having been installed as an "assistant" by royal decree on 9 January, he arrived in Elmina on 28 May, and started working as an assistant judge from 28 July onward. On 10 January 1852, he was promoted to Commander of Fort Crêvecoeur in Accra. Nagtglas returned to Elmina in 1853, where he was installed as "resident" on 7 December. After a leave to the Netherlands, he returned to Elmina to become accountant of the Gold Coast (1 May 1857), before being installed in the highest office of Governor of the Dutch Gold Coast on 8 May 1858.
After eleven years of service on the Gold Coast, Nagtglas was, at his own instigation, relieved of his duties on 23 June 1862, retiring to the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, he wrote a small pamphlet named A word concerning the question: "What should the Netherlands do with its possessions on the coast of Guinea?" (1863), in which he first elaborated on the dilapidated state of affairs of the colony, before arguing for increased salary for the administrators, for better education of the local people, for an interchange of territory with the British, for equal tariffs, and for the installation of qualified people on the Gold Coast. If all this were to turn out impossible, Nagtglas posits it would be better to sell the forts to Britain, like Denmark did in 1850.
Nagtglas was then installed as an advisor to the Dutch government, and negotiated with fellow-advisors Henri Alexander Elias and Bentinck the Convention between Great Britain and the Netherlands for an Interchange of Territory on the Gold Coast of Africa with the United Kingdom. After this trade of forts proved a failure, and the Dutch Gold Coast came at the brink of being run-over by revolting local peoples, Nagtglas was again installed as Governor of the Gold Coast on 20 March 1869. Nagtglas commanded several Dutch military interventions in an effort to subject the revolting locals. Due to illness, he quit his job as Governor on 8 June 1871, left for the Netherlands two days later, and was discharged with honour on 20 October.
Reputation
Cornelis Nagtglas is often portrayed in literature as an enlightened colonial ruler, with a good feel towards local customs and politics, and with a sense of realism in terms of the limited Dutch influence on the Gold Coast in the 19th century. Michel Doortmont of the University of Groningen questions this reputation, however, in an investigation of Nagtglas' handling of a dispute between a local chief and the Dutch commander of Fort St Anthony at Axim concerning hammock-bearers. Not understanding the lack of power of the chief towards his subjects in this respect, Doortmont argues that "Nagtglas was perhaps not the big colonial thinker many have held him to be".