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Under Duke Jacob Kettler (1642-1682), the small Baltic German Duchy of
Courland (Kurland in German) took part in European colonial expansion in
West Africa and the Caribbean.
In 1651, the Duchy gained a
colony in Africa on St. Andrews Island at the Gambia River and established Fort Jacob there. The Duchy also took
other local land including St. Mary Island (modern
day Banjul) and Fort Jillifree. These
colonies exported sugar, tobacco, coffee, cotton, ginger, indigo, rum, cocoa,
tortoise shells, tropical birds and their feathers.
The Courlanders
retained control of all these lands for less than a decade. They were lost
to England and Netherlands when neighbouring
nations took advantage of Courland during
the Northern Wars and Duke Jacob himself was held captive by the
Swedish army (1658-60).
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By the year 1650, Kettler established one of the largest merchant fleets
in Europe, with its main harbours in Windau (today Ventspils), and
Libau (today Liepaja). His fleet took voyages to the
West Indies as early as 1637 when the settlers on the ship established the
first colony on Tobago. The first colony
was a failure, but was refounded in 1639.
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By the year1664, all the
colonies were formally lost. A year later, Tobago was returned to
Courland, but the duchy abandoned it in
1666. In 1668, a ship under the flag of Courland attempted to reoccupy Fort Jacob but was driven off by the
Dutch. The Courland Monument near Courland Bay
commemorates the Duchy's settlements.
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