Akan Ornaments
West Africa was a major gold-producing area in the 17th and 18th centuries, and European ships were usually able to obtain substantial consignments of gold and gold artifacts in the course of trade with African tribes on the coast.
One such group of related tribes were the Akan peoples in the area of modern-day Ghana and Benin.
Gold ornaments found on the site of the Whydah wreck have been identified as the oldest reliably dated collection of Akan gold jewelry in the world.
We wish to acknowledge, with gratitude, the work of Dr. Martha Ehrlich who extensively studied this collection, and on whose work this section of the online catalog is largely based.
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Akan gold collection
African gold trade
