During Ghana’s provincial time, at that point, it was termed Gold Coast, and the European-style fortresses and castles were set up. This was built by the Portuguese, British and Dutch. The list of castles in Ghana is an insightful piece to give better clarity about the colonial era in Ghana.
As Chinua Achebe says;
“Until the lions have their historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
There are enormous castles in Ghana and the list is given below;
Fort Good Hope (Fort Goedehoop)
Cape Coast Castle
Fort Patience (Fort Leysaemhyt)
Fort Amsterdam
Fort St. Jago (Fort Conraadsburg)
Fort Batenstein
Fort San Sebastian
Fort Metal Cross
English Fort (Fort Vredenburg)
Fort Saint Antony
Elmina Castle (St. George’s Castle / Fort St. Jorge)
Cape Coast at Cape Coast
St. George’s d’Elmina at Elmina
Christiansborg at Osu, Accra
Good Hope at Senya Beraku
Patience at Apam
Amsterdam at Abandze
St. Jago at Elmina
San Sebastian at Shama
Metal Cross at Dixcove
St. Anthony at Axim
Orange at Sekondi
William (Lighthouse) at Cape Coast
William at Anomabu
Victoria at Cape Coast
Ussher at Usshertown, Accra
James at Jamestown, Accra
Apollonia at Beyin
Amsterdam at Abandze
English Fort at British Komenda
Batenstein at Butre;
Prinzensten at Keta
Some of these castles are World Heritage Sites, and they were proclaimed World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. These are castles of Volta, Greater Accra, Central, and Western Regions.
Ghana has the best grouping of Colonial-era castles and World Heritage destinations in Africa.
What is the oldest castle in Ghana?
Elmina Castle is the oldest and biggest in Ghana, West Africa. Along the West and East Coast of Ghana, there are clusters of Forts and Castles elegantly erected.
Which Castle did the British form in Ghana?
The British built the Cape Coast Castle. Cape Coast Castle is a European-erected stronghold arranged on the focal shoreline of Ghana. After its underlying development in 1652, the Castle filled in as a trading centre for European countries and as the central command of the British Provincial Organization for the Gold Coast Colony.
Is Cape Coast Castle equivalent to Elmina Castle?
Built in 1482 by Portuguese dealers, Elmina [formerly Saint Georges] Castle was the principal European slave-general store in all of sub-Saharan Africa.
Elmina and its kin, the cape coast castle has pretty much everything, from their plans, design, history and raison d’etre to similar concepts. The Cape Coast Castle is unique in relation to the Elmina Castle.
Why are the castles in Ghana important?
It is obvious that Ghana has the “greatest categories of colonial-era castles of any country in Africa. Nevertheless, the most visited centres are the colonial castles at Cape Coast and Elmina! which were once major parcel focuses for a huge number of slaves on their way to the new world.
Furthermore, there are more modest castles that may be visited as well, Some are in a state of ruin while others are maintained and given basic tours.
However, there are far fewer guests to these more modest centres which makes for an interesting disparity to the experience at Cape Coast or Elmina.
In the light of the foregoing, many endeavours have been made to answer the question of how significant are the Castles and other archaeological monuments in Ghana’s tourist castles.
Consequently, over 15000 foreign tourists enter Ghana consistently for some tourism-related exercises, for example, business, education, sport, occasion and conferencing and site seeing.
Apparently, this makes tourism be viewed as the fourth highest foreign exchange source for Ghana in 2014 after Gold, Cocoa and oil contributed an expected 2.1 billion USD to the country’s GDP.
Ghana’s castles offer real validation to the display of human history/antiquity and calm eyewitness to one of the world’s most heart-wrenching events -the slave Trade.
Why was the European castle built on the coast?
Numerous European countries rushed to Cape Coast to get traction in the slave exchange. The business was exceptionally serious, which prompted struggle and thus, the castle at Cape Coast changed hands drastically throughout its business history.
The legacy behind the existence of castles in Ghana.
The castles of Ghana constitute treasures second to none, a legacy of the memorable past as much to current Ghana and Africa with regards to the world at large.
However, though established on African soil, their creators came from Europe – Portuguese, Dutch, French, Britons, Brandenburg-Prussians, Danes and Swedes. For a long time, European bosses and local African workers lived and worked in them.
In addition, the stockrooms overflowed with gold and ivory trade items as well as African slaves bound available to be purchased in the New World, there to become progenitors to people in the future of dark populaces.
Without a doubt, these historic structures were no respecter for people and exceptional history was made once when one castle, Elmina, held a prisoner Asante King in the entirety of his quality during the primary phase of his constrained outcast from Ghana.
Subsequently, present-day Ghanaians, yet additionally a huge number in nations on the Western side of the equator and somewhere else comprise partners with an interest in guaranteeing the conservation of these historic castles.
Perceiving their novel spot in world history, the World Heritage Convention of UNESCO has assigned Ghana’s castles as World Heritage Monuments.
Why was Elmina castle established?
The rationale behind Elmina Castle, as well as the future outpost, was to give backing to skippers by furnishing their vessels with a safe harbour. The stations were vigorously equipped against attack from the ocean. Curiously, the strongholds were not so vigorously equipped against assault from inland.
In conclusion, the castles were constructed and involved at various times by merchants from Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Germany and Britain.
They served the gold exchange of European organizations. Also, they had a huge influence in creating slave exchange, and subsequently in the nineteenth century, contributed to the suspension of the trade. The history of the castle construction in Ghana is a remarkable ancient part of Ghana which needs to be learnt and known by heart.
