Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The municipal system and local administration at Cape Coast: 1858-1957

2002; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

0855-3246

S.S. Quarcoopome,

Local Economic Development and Planning

Introduction Cape Coast is one of the maritime towns of this country that established an early and intimate relationship with the Europeans who began to settle in the town from about the last decades of the 15th century. From this time up to 1877, Cape Coast developed into one of the major commercial towns of the Gold Coast, centred around its' famous castle, becoming the headquarters of the British possessions. During this period, the infiltration of European, particularly British values and attitudes into Cape Coast Society, was perhaps the most extensive in the whole of the Gold Coast. A significant consequence of this development was the weakening of effective traditional authority in the town. A reflection of this was the inability of the traditional authority to assume responsibility for the hygiene and sanitation for the town, notwithstanding the active encouragement repeatedly given it by the British. In the words of Kimble: