Cornelis Nagtglas

After originally beginning his career at the advanced age of 36, he was promoted through the ranks to eventually become Governor of the Dutch Gold Coast in 1858.

[3][4][5] By royal decree of 8 May 1858, Nagtglas was appointed full governor, and upon receiving this news, he was installed by the Colonial Council in Elmina on 21 June 1858.

[8] Nagtglas was then installed as an advisor to the Dutch government, and negotiated with fellow-advisors Henri Alexander Elias and Bentinck the Convention between Great Britain and the Netherlands for an Interchange of Territory on the Gold Coast of Africa with the United Kingdom.

[16] Cornelis Nagtglas is often portrayed in literature as an enlightened colonial ruler, with a good feel towards local customs and politics, and with a sense of realism in terms of the limited Dutch influence on the Gold Coast in the 19th century.

Michel Doortmont of the University of Groningen questions this reputation, however, in an investigation of Nagtglas' handling of a dispute between a local chief and the Dutch commander of Fort St Anthony at Axim concerning hammock-bearers.

Not understanding the lack of power of the chief towards his subjects in this respect, Doortmont argues that "Nagtglas was perhaps not the big colonial thinker many have held him to be".

[17] During his time on the Gold Coast, Nagtglas collected 236 bird specimens together with zoologist Hendrik Pel, which he donated in 1862 to the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, which is now Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

Golden palmtree awarded to Nagtglas by the colonial administrators of the Gold Coast on 8 June 1871. [ 9 ]
The last stone of the Nagtglas Redoubt built in 1868 on the coast east of Elmina, laid by Cornelis Nagtglas on 28 September 1869 upon his return to the Gold Coast. The stone was later transferred to Elmina Castle, where it can still be seen today. The stone does not commemorate, as is sometimes believed, the departure of the Dutch from the Gold Coast. [ 10 ]