This chapter ended in a way which gave me the immediate feeling that it stops midway through its intended length? Like, the blog post doesn't actually concludes its own rationale.
Interesting, thanks. It suggests Courland will have a string of noteworthy dukes after Jakob (and the line won’t die out).The first of their noteworthy dukes, Jakob Kettler, had by this point been scaling up the triangle trade for about twenty years.
"Banjul. I tell your man Meller he must better say the name of his little port. Or yours, I suppose. Duke Yakobb."
The history of bringing surplus brainpower south is known: the first permanent observatories in the tropics, with their famous discoveries. The first university in Africa. Or, for the non-nerds, the oldest restaurant still operating in the Southern Hemisphere.
make your readers see this from the other point of view, as well. Maybe tell us about St Helena not from the perspective of the new arrivals from Courland, but from that of one of the twenty young women Peres sold the Courlanders to take there
Teeheeheee. You're not quite wrong. I could chalk it up to tiredness, or that my Economic Historian is as pointless as 90% of bloggers. But instead, I've just added a deliberately unsatisfying final line to tie the post up geometrically, if not rationally.This chapter ended in a way which gave me the immediate feeling that it stops midway through its intended length? Like, the blog post doesn't actually concludes its own rationale.
Different dukes can be noteworthy for different reasons. Jakob was exceptional, clearly. I've set up Martin to be worthy, if different. I have neither set the time for, nor named the timeline's final duke, nor figured out whether another duke comes between Martin and him. But one of those fragments I see clearly has him in it.It suggests Courland will have a string of noteworthy dukes after Jakob (and the line won’t die out).
I was going to give it away right in this reply, but I will instead take the less cowardly route of taking your request and setting a scene in this restaurant, down the line.Cool! Will we get to see the restaurant (and its presumably yummy food)?
German - vaguely, YAH-kob, long "a", "o" somewhere between a long and short "o", depending on who is saying it.Incidentally, what is the correct pronunciation of Jakob?
Pragmatic, trade-first Jakob prioritizes vital trade relationships. Wealthy, somewhat mercenary trader Crispina surely spots that in seconds. But otherwise, her nearest point of comparison would be the occasional European royal cousin privateering down the coast, focusing on other ships more than locals. Jakob is something new, from her perspective, but not all new things end up significant.
I hope you see I don't - but also: I will take it as a promise of future criticism if I miss the mark .=)
The first university in Africa.
One day, I'll try to post an Economic Historian Blog with the blogger quite drunk. Or not.
The timeline is a completely different place than it was. Let's go find some stories. =)
Completely on the mark: I was only saying that the bits Crispina would find most consequential to her own business were normal for her.But those royal cousins don't bring their pink wives and pink children with them, do they? Jakob, and Jakob's goals, are as you say recognizably within the range of normal, but the longer term effects of this whole process may not be. Probably won't be, considering the hints you've dropped.
To be pedantic, the first modern, or first european-style university in Africa -- depending on how you define universities, I think Cairo and maybe even Timbuktu would like a word with you.
I apologize to my nameless narrator for putting him through this. In his story, Courlanders were nearly faceless boogeymen. When we return to Courland's story, this narrator's impact will sadly be one teardrop in the ocean. These viewpoints will absolutely not reconcile any time soon.
I'm assuming Kumaseman here is referring to what IOTL became the Ashanti, from Kumasi? Because if so, in that case, there are a few problems with the terminology: It's very likely that Kumasi/Kumase isn't politically relevant yet (it's rise is tied to its position as the meeting place of the early Ashanti confederacy), and thus "Kumaseman" would instead be "Oyokoman" (the land ruled by the Oyokohene, Oyoko being the same clan that later would found the Ashanti Empire), but beyond that, the context is hard to get behind here: You see, in Akan, "man" means roughly "nation/country/tribe", that's why the Ashanti Empire was called Asanteman (lit. "Ashanti Nation") natively, maybe that's over-awareness bias, but i don't think the phrase "There has already been too much trouble with the Kumaseman north of us" is talking geographically at all (well, at least literarily it would be kinda jarring for it to be, since the narrator's thought process are entirely explained through a person-people view throughout the chapter), and in these circumstances, even correcting it to Oyokoman would sound kinda wrong, and it'd be rather something like "Oyokonom" (the plural of Oyoko, in the same way you could call the subjects of the Robinson royal family as "the Robinsons") or "Oyokonnipa" (lit. "Oyoko-people"). Looking back at this thought-process, this might be one of the pettiest nitpicks ever, but i'm justifying it with the fact that you've specifically requested it!We march down 200 men from Dunkwa. The Dunkwahene sent us under Komi, his nephew. We know he tests Komi. Komi is one of his better nephews. We are sent with three purposes. Komi is first to watch that no one who is not a friend to the Dunkwahene comes to our side of the Offin or Pra rivers. We are to strike fear in the hearts of men who do. There has already been too much trouble with the Kumaseman north of us. Komi is second to impress the new white boat people at the place they call Carolusborg. Komi has practiced words to say in their language. We do not know how these words came to Dunkwa. Komi is third to give respect and tribute to the Denkyirahene at Jukwaa.
I appreciate that you wrote this -- it was tragic and horrible as it should be.
The podcast from which I heard that point addressed it very well. It’s evil, it’s abhorrent. But on a guilty, horrible level, one has to so very grudgingly respect the brutal creativity. I may have taken events that happened decades or a century later to place them in this episode, but they felt they could fit in any decade, so I did not worry much on it.Particularly in the more horrific details, like mutilating the dead to discourage suicide.
They have to be special and different, to survive enough to be worth telling a story about. But like any boogeyman, there are perspectives from which they are interchangeable with any other boogeyman.It's easy for us to see the Courlanders as special and different, because within their own context they are.
I am glad to read those words. For myself (and my girlfriend, to whom I read this chapter out loud), I felt I lost my grasp on the narrator's tone somewhat. To some extent, we might charitably credit that to an exhausted man moving from factual event-based telling to aimless, thoughts-elsewhere emotional rambling. Had I kept his sentences shorter even toward the end, I'd have felt a touch better, purely as a writer.by the end you pretty much feels that you'd feel like him, in his position, that's good writing.
Because if so, in that case, there are a few problems with the terminology: It's very likely that Kumasi/Kumase isn't politically relevant yet
become "There has already been too much trouble toward Kumasi." instead, to keep things geographic?"There has already been too much trouble with the Kumaseman north of us"
I had fleetingly thought to shackle them up in the hull of a Swedish-built slave ship and have a Courland crew sail them home to ransom them, writing you all another episode from inside the hull of a ship and revealing at the end that the shackled people are Swedish (or more likely from across Protestant Europe and working for the Swedish) and the port they were arriving at was Flekkerøy. It felt like bad fantasy with a seed of honesty, and I have a little work to do before answering in the story. My best guess is that most if not all non-Swedes would take up service with other Europeans at their forts (even Sweden’s point man, Hendrik Carloff, was a disgruntled former VOC man). I do think the Swedes would be shipped home - Courland does have extra shipping capacity just now anyway. But I have to validate that a bit.Casual cruelty and karma seems to be omnipresent here. Sometimes it's crossing over to ranked competitive cruelty.
What happened to the captured Swedish in those forts?
So, that's the thing, pre-Ashanti Ashanti (lol) history is complicated due to expected sourcing issues, because we know that before Asante there was a short interval where the state was Kumase, and before Kumase it was Kwaaman. The problem is, when Kumasi was founded and became politically relevant is totally up to debate – We know that by the late 17th Century (aka Osei Tutu I) it was relevant and the centre of Kumaseman, but tradition conflicts on whether it was established by Tutu itself, Oti Akenten or Obiri Yeboa (if you don't know, the "Nana" in every name is a title, it's basically "Lord"), by what i've read, it's most likely that traditional mentions of Kumasi regarding Akenten's reign are actually referring to Kwaaman (well, it's basically the same place), and Tutu's tradition of founding Kumasi seems to recall earlier ones, so the most likely conclusion is that Kumasi as the political centre rose with Yeboa, and it fits with his recorded political activities. And yes, it is correct for subsidiary areas to have -henes (not only a few smaller ones! Denkyira most likely rules over a separate omanhene for each town and sometimes a town has paramount status within a tribe and rules all of it – due to that kingdoms like Akyem are around by Ashanti's time).Love the nitpick - and I'm not yet sure what the right edit is, so I'll have to question you back a bit, @Talus I of Dixie - my general grasp is that Kumasi, though young, was already growing here, and was subordinate to the Denkyira at this point. Wikipedia gave me a list of rulers of Ashanti and its precursors, of which the first people with the title Kumasehene were contemporary here - Ashantehene/Asantehene is one or two generations away. I entirely made up Dunkwa having a Dunwkahene at this point (fun fact, there is a Dunkwahene even today), assuming it was correct to have -henes for a few smaller areas tributary to Denkyira here (and later OTL, Ashanti).
I might have missed the call a bit on Oyokohene — The title does exist, and referred to the senior non-Asantehene ruler of the Oyoko clan, and was the second most important lineage in Asante. But re-checking things, it doesn't seem to have been used as reference to the pre-Asante paramount rulers, even though they were, technically, the holders of the Oyokohene (King of the Oyoko tribe) title in spirit, since they were leaders and members of the tribe, although the title might be used by foreigners anyway due to amalgamation. The express correct title would be Kwaamanhene (referring to Kwaaman, which is basically Kumasi Prologue Version), although Oyokohene would not be improper (as of, if you say it people will know what you're talking about, almost like if you say "King of the Franks" to refer to the King of France in more recent centuries you might get some eyebrows, but people will be understanding what you say). Kumasehene (and that would be the proper way to write, Kumase is Kumasi in Twi) will (well technically it can be butterflied but it's literally a "you can but why should you?") pick up as title in the next decades as Kumasi replaces Kwaaman.I used Kumaseman with much less confidence than Kumasehene. Should Nana Oti Akenten have been titled Oyokohene at this point instead? It feels to me like this is pretty much exactly the decade in which Kumasi and therefore Kumasihene would be picking up steam as titles. I expect you're deeper in this knowledge than I am - what would you recommend?
I think it would be proper, although Kwaaman in place of Kumasi, you might just go all the way back and say "too much trouble towards Oyokoman" since now the text structure is supporting a geographic reference. What you think fits best, honestly.become "There has already been too much trouble toward Kumasi." instead, to keep things geographic?
In the end, I kept it simplest. The name-dropping isn't important to this (already peripheral) story. So the edit is:I think it would be proper, although Kwaaman in place of Kumasi, you might just go all the way back and say "too much trouble towards Oyokoman" since now the text structure is supporting a geographic reference. What you think fits best, honestly.
I thought to say "the upstarts to our North"... but again, peripheral. The language geek in me is acutely distracted by the fact I can't fairly call Jakob Kurhene, as he is a Baltic German and not a Kur, people-wise. Kurlandhene has its own compelling awkwardness. Maybe I'll save that for a bit of future diplomacy.There has already been too much trouble with the people to our north.
But one must ask if the Fante, or in fact any Akan speakers interacting with Courland, know the difference between a Baltic German from Courland and a native Courlander, specially considering that the main demographic of interaction are mariners. Usually the -hene is suffixed to cities or tribal groupings, so Kurhene would imply an interpretation of the Duke as the "King of the Kur tribe", while something more awkward like Kurlandhene would be uncharacteristic. I'm amused by the flag association: Crayfish-people-hene!The language geek in me is acutely distracted by the fact I can't fairly call Jakob Kurhene, as he is a Baltic German and not a Kur
Modern kingships (and chiefdoms, the difference between the two are very blurry) in Ghana are interesting, but i wouldn't say apolitical. It's more that in some traditions your position as the leader of a community is seen as not-agreeable with political office in a system outside the community (i.e, country politics), and this is certainly political in its own way. It also gives an insight into the (at least perceived) nature of the omanhene position.One thing I rather like that I stumbled upon: in the last decade or two, one person who had been a hoped-for successor to the title of Dunkwahene removed himself from the running by opting to pursue a career in politics. So a modern -hene is a purely apolitical role - he is to care for his people, especially as an advocate.