| This dissertation analyzes images of Africans and the accounts of African-European relations in Wilhelm Johann Muller's seventeenth-century travel writing, Die Africanische auf der Guineischen Gold-Cust gelegene Landschafft Fetu. First published in 1673 Muller's work provides the first detailed account of seventeenth-century West Africa by a traveler who lived on the Gold Coast for an extended period of time.; Muller contributes to a more comprehensive and sophisticated appreciation of West Africa and West Africans than had been previously available to European readers by validating the Africans as human beings and by describing the complexity of the European and West African relations he observed during his eight-year stay on the African Gold Coast. Through a detailed description of the Fetu people and their way of life, including the organization of their towns, their social and judicial structure, their religious practices, the construction and organization of their dwellings, their various forms of dress and their economic system, Mueller dispels stereotypes of the primitive nature of Africans and African society. He demonstrates that African kingdoms wielded significant influence over European activities and portrays the dynamic in this precolonial period of African-European relations as an interwoven and constantly shifting set of relationships.; Through his careful and systematic observation, Muller provides a new model for cultural exploration and understanding. During this time Europe was engaged in rapid maritime expansion combined with an increased need for information about foreign destinations. Muller's work provides an important example of the evolving scientific method of inquiry in revealing new worlds to a growing European readership. |
