Nana Badu Bonsu the Ahanta (Ghana) king who was beheaded by the Dutch

Nana Badu Bonsu II was an Ahanta king who was hanged and beheaded by the Dutch on the 27th of July 1838. The head was discovered by Arthur Japin in 1997 at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands. The head of Badu Bonsu II was returned to Ghana in 2009 to be reburied after a quick rite in The Hague. A delegation from Ahanta made up of chiefs and descendants of Badu Bonsu II, brought the head to Ghana without compensation from the Dutch authorities for the atrocities and heinous crimes they perpetrated in opposition to the people of Ahanta.

The head of Nana Badu Bonsu II in a jar

The Ahanta people are an Akan ethnic group found in the Western Region of Ghana. The Ahanta’s lived near the Dutch Gold coast so they were the first to trade with the Dutch. In 1837, Badu Bonsu II rebelled against the Dutch government when he realized the Europeans were up to no good. They were selling guns to the Wassa people who were located in the Northern part of Ahanta, the guns in return will be used to capture people from the raided areas and sold as slaves to the Dutch. Badu Bonsu II disputed it but the Dutch bribed one of his closest friends, thus the king of Sekondi Nana Etsiroe to convey the guns to the Wassa. This infuriated the king to kill the Dutch generals who were supplying the guns to the Akans.

Nana Badu Bonsu threatened to kill the king of Sekondi for allowing the Dutch to sell guns and gunpowder to him. The king of Sekondi seeks refuge in Elmina in the Dutch stronghold after he realized the Ahanta king wants him dead. Nana Badu Bonsu was so angry that the Dutch had taken matters into their own hands to supply guns and gunpowder for gold, timbers, and some slaves. This compelled the king to march on to Sekondi to put two Dutch generals to death.

When the news reached the governor Tonneboijier that Badu Bonsu II had killed Maasen and Cremer, He mobilized forces. He went to Ahanta to have Badu Bonsu II arrested by himself. In retaliation, Badu Bonsu II also mobilized forces and met Tonneboijier and his forces at Takoradi. In 30 minutes, Badu Bonsu II had Tonneboijier killed and massacred his forces. It is said that Tonneboijier fled to Fort Tacaray (misspelled Takoradi) however Badu Bonsu II pursued and struck him to death at the doorway of the Fort.

In February 1837, news reached Hague, the capital of the Netherlands that Badu Bonsu II had killed Tonneboijier and numerous Dutch officials within the Gold Coast. William I, speedily conveyed meetings and chose Gen. Jan Verveer to lead an expedition of two hundred mercenaries to Ahanta to quell what they described as insurrection.

    Members of Nana Badu Bonsu's family and the Dutch dignitaries at the Hague

The expedition landed in Elmina in May 1838 and within days, Gen. Jan Verveer would cross spherical and mobilize local forces from Fante, Wassa, Sekondi, and Axim and added them to his two hundred mercenaries he brought from Hague in his bid to release an attack on Badu Bonsu II. After a fierce conflict between Badu Bonsu II and his forces, the king was arrested on 26th July 1838.

He was sent to the Dutch stronghold of Elmina to be trialed and convicted. They hanged Badu Bonsu II on 27th July 1838 at the precise spot he killed Maasen and Adrian Cremer. An officer known as Schillet removed the head and positioned it in a Formahyde jar which the Dutch took to Elmina and later sent to the Hague. Several Ahanta royals in particular from Busua township and Takoradi were also taken along and in August 1838, some of them were hanged at Elmina. Afterward, Busua and Takoradi were utterly destroyed and several Ahanta people fled. Many towns went extinct.