New Publication on the Writings of Christian Protten, 1715-1769
Members of the IN THE SAME SEA project have contributed with archival research, transcriptions, and translations to a publication of the writings by Christian Protten, titled “Die Schriften Christian Prottens (1715-1769)”. Protten (1715-1769) was born in West Africa as a child of the Danish soldier Jacob Protten and Okiomele, daughter of the Ga king Ofori. He received an academic education in Copenhagen and became a Moravian missionary in his homeland. Protten’s writings are unique in being one of the most extensive written legacies of an African from the eighteenth century. His writings remain essential because he, as someone born in Africa, reported on his homeland through the eyes of a European.
The publication also formed an important part of the exhibition ”Unto the End of the World: The Prottens – A Global Family in the 18th Century” (28.3.2024 – 18.8.2024) at the Liechtenstein National Museum about the lives of Christian Protten and his wife Rebecca Protten (1718-1780), a Moravian missionary and a former enslaved woman.