Fort Amsterdam (Ghana)

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Historical representation of Fort Amsterdam

Fort Amsterdam (also called "Fort Cormantine") was built between 1638 and 1645 by the English near the coastal town of Kormantin (or "Cormantin") in the Central Region of Ghana. The fort has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979 .

In 1598 the Dutch had a trading post in the same place, which they later left. Allegedly in 1631 a renegade employee of the Dutch West India Company named Arent Groote, on behalf of the " English Company of Adventurers Trading to Guynney and Binney ", concluded an agreement with the chief of Kormantse, through which a nearby hill came into the company's possession, who had a house built there in the same year. After this house was destroyed by fire, the English built a fort here and named it Fort Cormantin after the place. In 1661 this fort became the property of the Royal African Company , a company that at the time had the English monopoly on the slave trade and established bases on the Gold Coast with the help of the British Navy . Fort Cormantin temporarily became the headquarters of the English possessions on the Gold Coast.

In 1665 the Dutch, competing with the English , conquered the fort under Admiral Engel de Ruyter and renamed it Fort Amsterdam. In 1681/82 the Dutch expanded their fort considerably. In 1782–85 the fort was again in British hands, and in 1785 the Dutch got it back by treaty. In 1806, the troops of the Ashanti Empire conquered the town of Kormantin in the course of a military conflict with the Fante and their allies, the British. They asked the crew of the fort (i.e. the Dutch actually allied with them) to surrender, which they did without a fight. The Ashanti plundered the fortress. In 1811 the local Anomabus attacked the fort and partially destroyed it. The Dutch occupied it again, gave it up temporarily and occupied it again. In 1868 Fort Amsterdam came into the possession of the English under a contract with the British for the mutual exchange of various forts on the Gold Coast .

Photo gallery

  • Fort Amsterdam front view

  • Main gate

  • Fort Amsterdam

  • Entrance to the slave dungeon

  • Sunset at Fort Amsterdam

  • Cannons in Fort Amsterdam

  • Open skies in Fort Amsterdam

Web links

  • Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).

See also

Coordinates: 5 ° 12 '9 "  N , 1 ° 5' 25"  W.