Fort Prinzenstein

Fort Prinzenstein in historical representation (end of the 18th century)

Fort Prinzenstein (Danish: Fort Prindsensteen , Fort Prinsensten ) is a fort in Keta , Ghana , which is located on the spit between the Keta lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean. The name of the fort comes from the fact that two princes laid the foundation stone at the same time.

The fort was a fortress of a square type with four bastions at the respective corner points, which were primarily used as gun emplacements. The main purpose of the fortress construction was to protect a Danish trading post that had existed here since 1745 .

prehistory

The Dutch fort Singelenburgh had already stood in the same place from 1734 to 1737 . Probably in the course of the Accra-Akwamu conflict, which had been going on since 1733, and the Dutch involvement in these disputes, the Dutch were forced to give up the newly established branch in 1737.

In 1745, at the instigation of the Danish governor August Frederick Hackenborg, after an agreement with local authorities, a Danish trading lodge was built here.

Laying of the foundation stone

Although the foundation stone for a Danish fortress was laid here, the solemn ceremony of laying the foundation stone was carried out on June 22, 1784 by Adade, the brother of the King of Big Popo, while Prince Ofoli of Little Popo “painted the lime”, i.e. . H. prepared the mortar and used it to wall the foundation stone. The ceremony was attended by Governor Jens Adolf Kjöge and other representatives of the Danish government. The fort owes its name to the fact that the foundation stone was laid by two African princes.

The construction of the fortress was preceded by a war that had ravaged the entire western Mina coast. Originally it was only a conflict between the Adas and the Anlos, but after an Ada campaign with Danish participation on Fort Kongensteen was decided on February 14, 1784 and started a short time later, other nations had intervened in this conflict. In addition to numerous Ewe nations, for example, the King of Whydah and the British also supported the anti-Danish Anlo party, the latter in connection with the assurance of a permit to continue building on the coast in the event of victory. However, the British refrained from a direct military confrontation with Denmark, not least because of the events in the American colonies at that time and the fear that this would force Denmark on the side of France and its allies. The Danish faction finally emerged victorious from the war.

Determination and use of the fort

The actual purpose of the fort lay in the military protection of the Danish trading post there. Due to the Danish alliance with the Adas, the ketas and others, mainly Ewe peoples of the coastal area and the coastal hinterland, were very anti-Danish and generally anti-European. In the long term, the continued existence of the trading post in Keta and other branches planned east of the mouth of the Volta up to the Kingdom of Whydah would not have been guaranteed without military protection.

The focus of trade in Keta was initially primarily in the slave trade but also in the trade in ivory and other sought-after commodities, such as B. spices or textiles, the latter for other markets in West Africa.

The period in which Fort Prinzenstein served as a slave collection and shipping station was not too long. By decree of May 16, 1792, the Danish king decreed that from the beginning of 1803 all slave trade in all Danish possessions in the West Indies and Africa should cease. Denmark was the first European nation to abolish the slave trade. During the ten-year transition period, conditions should be created to compensate for the financial losses that would result from the abolition of the slave trade.

In addition to its function as a trading post, Fort Prinzenstein was used primarily as a barracks and prison.

In 1850, Fort Prinzenstein, like the rest of the Danish holdings on the Gold Coast, was sold to the British . They also used it as a prison.

Since the 1980s, the fort has been increasingly destroyed from the sea side due to soil erosion . It is now only an attraction for tourists.

gallery

British Haussa soldiers in Keta, 1892
Fort Prinzenstein, 1970
Soil erosion on the lake side in front of Fort Prinzenstein, January 1985
Fort ruins, 2012
Fort ruins, 2012

Footnotes

^ Albert van Dantzig: Forts and Castles of Ghana . Sedco Publ., Accra 1999, ISBN 9964-720-10-6 (introduction and others).
↑ Isert writes to Ofoly. It is very likely that this is Ofoli Bossum, the son of the late King Assiambo von Klein-Popo, who had previously surrendered to the Danes.
↑ The Mina Coast refers to the western “slave coast”, which extended east of the mouth of the Volta to around Whydah .

swell

Paul Erdmann Isert: New trip to Guinea and the Caribbean Islands in America in the years 1783 to 1787 together with news of the negro trade in Africa , Berlin and Leipzig 1790
Johann Ludwig Klüber: Acts of the Vienna Congress in the years 1814 and 1815 , 1st volume, Osnabrück 1815
Johann Ludwig Klüber: Overview of the diplomatic negotiations of the Vienna Congress in general, and in particular about important matters of the German Confederation , First Department, Osnabrück 1816
Jean M. Grove, AM Johansen, The historical geography of the Volta delta, Ghana, during the period of the Danish influence , In: Bulletin de l'Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire , sér. B, 30 (4), 1968, pp. 1374-1421

Web links

Commons : Fort Prinzenstein - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

5.9107027777778 0.99186666666667Coordinates: 5 ° 55 ' N , 1 ° 0' E

[1] Albert van Dantzig: Forts and Castles of Ghana . Sedco Publ., Accra 1999, ISBN 9964-720-10-6 (introduction and others).

[2] Isert writes to Ofoly. It is very likely that this is Ofoli Bossum, the son of the late King Assiambo von Klein-Popo, who had previously surrendered to the Danes.

[3] The Mina Coast refers to the western “slave coast”, which extended east of the mouth of the Volta to around Whydah .