Castle Cormantine, founded in 1632 on the coast of what is now modern Ghana, was England’s first outpost in Africa.  Occupied for little more than three decades before its capture by the Dutch, the fort nonetheless played a key role in shaping African—European interactions and the nascence of the Atlantic slave trade. In time, the name Cormantine or Coromantee became synonymous with slaves from the entire Ghanaian coast throughout the English-speaking colonies of the Americas, and the name resonates down to the present day. Castle Cormantine is an iconic symbol of a trade that brought millions of enslaved Africans to the Americas.  In a well-illustrated lecture, Professor DeCorse will tell the story of Castle Cormantine’s rediscovery, continuing threats to its preservation, and its lasting legacies.

Christopher R. De Corse is Distinguished Professor and Chair of Anthropology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.  His research interests include African archaeology and history, general anthropology, and archaeology in popular culture.  His work in West Africa focuses on the Atlantic period, particularly the impacts of the slave trade, and understanding these transformations in terms of Africa’s pre-Atlantic past.  He currently directs ongoing research projects in coastal Ghana and in Sierra Leone.  His books include An Archaeology of Elmina: Africans and Europeans on the Gold Coast, 1400-1900 (Percheron Press, 2021), Power, Political Economy, and Historical Landscapes of the Modern World (SUNY Press, 2019), British Forts and Their Communities: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives (University Press of Florida, 2018), and West Africa during the Atlantic Slave Trade: Archaeological Perspectives (Bloomsbury Academic, 2016).  Dr. DeCorse has also published several textbooks, including Fringe Archaeology newly released by Cognella, and a new introduction to archaeology and world prehistory forthcoming with Sage Publishing.