Dr. Amo's Lonely Planet

This is the melodramatic reconstruction of a true lifestory of an African child from the "Gold Coast" Ghana, who came in the year 1706 as a "gift" to the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel to Germany. The slave boy soon impresses with his extraordinary intelligence and sponsored by his patrons, he studies philosophy, medicine and law at the Universities of Wittenberg and Halle. But in spite of his doctorate degrees he feels always like living on a lonely planet...



Jojo Cobbinah, teacher, translator, author and journalist, was born in Tarkwa, Ghana. After schooling and graduating in Ghana, he made Germany his home and worked there in several fields for the good part of three decades. He now lives in Accra, Ghana, where he is a full-time author. His travel guide book of Ghana (in German language) is the most famous one, because Peter Meyer Travel Guides combine practical tips with useful information on cultures. Jojo Cobbinah also doubles up as a Senior Contributing Editor of the The African Courier, Germany's only English-language magazine on Africa. »Dr. Amo's Lonely Planet« is his first novel. For more information look at www.PeterMeyerVerlag.de.



Dr. Anton Wilhelm Amo was a real person.

He was born in the year 1703 near Axim in what is now Ghana. The circumstances of his arrival in Europe are controversial. One legend says he was presented as a "gift" to the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel by the Dutch West India Company. Another says he was taken as a personal slave to the Region of Brunswick by a North German soldier, who died shortly after arrival.

What is certain is that he spent his early life at the court of the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel and later in other German states, such as Brandenburg-Prussia and Saxony, at the said time and in the places described. Undisputed is also the fact that he studied philosophy and law in the mentioned cities, was mentored by the named lecturers, wrote on the quoted subjects, acquired a doctorate degree, lectured at the venues stated and finally returned to the Gold Coast to live for many more years around the time stated.

Though parallel to him another African, Abram Petrovich Hannibal, also reached great heights of achievement in Russia, Dr. Anton Wilhelm Amo is known to have been the very first African ever to go through such an academic biography of excellence.

In the same measure, Nana Yankey of Pokesu, Jan Konneh of Prisi and Kaku Akaa of Jomoro were all real people who did what have been attributed to them. King Yankey paid an official visit to Berlin, Jan Konneh was a constant headache to the Dutch and Kaku Akaa was notorious for his brutality. Lastly, and though modern Germany (formal successor to erstwhile Prussia), does not like to admit it openly, Brandenburg-Prussia did indeed participate in the slave trade, even if at a comparatively subordinate volume, and constructed forts Gross-Friedrichsburg, Dorothea, Sophie-Luise and Takarary to promote the human trade. Traces of these edifices are still extant in the Western Region of Ghana.

For want of accurate details on the private life of our hero, the story, as presented here, is completely fictitious, especially the things put into the mouths of all characters. Nevertheless, the novel is closely related to the real life of Dr. A.W. Amo.