Where a monastery once stood, the Gelderland Mint was established in 1584, from which the apartment complex derives its name. Subsequently, it served as the Colonial Shipyard Depot from 1814 to 1909. Until 1992, the building complex was called the Oranje Nassau Barracks.
The soldiers from the Colonial Shipyard Depot departed from Harderwijk via Rotterdam or Den Helder to the then Dutch East Indies, where, after a long sea voyage, they were deployed to maintain order and security. There is therefore a link between Harderwijk and the 'Emerald Belt'.
After completing their training, the soldiers marched along Stationslaan to the train accompanied by music. Military marches also took place in the Harderwijk city center, again accompanied by brass and drummers.
The background to the recruitment of people from Ghana is that, in the mid-nineteenth century, the Dutch government assumed that Black people would be better able to withstand the climatic conditions in the Indies than whites. From Fort Elmina, a former settlement of the Dutch West India Company on the Gold Coast – present-day Ghana – 'volunteers' were recruited for military duties in the Indies in consultation with local tribal chiefs; they came to Harderwijk after their service in the Indies.
