Controlling the Coast: Law, Conflict, and Sovereignty in the Littoral Zone in Pre-colonial and Colonial Ghana

Focusing on coastal Ghana, this chapter charts the disputes that arose in the littoral zone following the expansion of competing African and European interests between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries. Prior to the nineteenth century, European attempts to control maritime traffic and dictate the terms of trade were contested not only by African leaders and mercantile elites but also by African canoemen who controlled coastal transportation and communication networks. To resolve disputes, Europeans were absorbed into established coastal dispute resolution practices, regularly submitting to the demands of coastal populaces. In the nineteenth century, this situation shifted with the gradual imposition of British jurisdiction over the coastal region. This juridical encroachment, particularly after colonisation in 1874, prompted disputes between colonial officials and fishing communities surrounding the control of beach areas. These disputes were never fully addressed; instead, they were entrenched in the colonial legal order as the dominant arbiter over questions of access and use of coastal spaces. Investigating the changing nature and outcomes of these conflicts, this chapter considers how sovereignty over littoral zones was imagined, constructed, and contested in sites of intense inter-societal interaction and colonisation.