Fort Schomerus
Fort Schomerus , also known as Fort Scomarus, was a so-called Redute, i.e. a small, square ski jump that was built in the then Dutch town of Elmina on the coast of present-day Ghana in the 1820s. It was located on a hill about 250 meters northwest of Fort Sao Jago da Mina , which the Dutch called "Coebergh" (cow hill) and later known as Schomerus Hill and today as St. Joseph's Hill. The fort is named after the former governor of Elmina, Schomerus. The statement sometimes found on the Internet that Fort Schomerus is another name for Fort Sao Jago in Elmina is not correct.
It can be seen as a rectangular complex on a plan from 1829. In 1843 it was rebuilt and probably also expanded. In 1873, after the acquisition of Elmina by Great Britain and the overcoming of local resistance to it, it was described as a rectangular "fort" that was reached via a movable ladder with a stone gun platform and a recessed magazine.
Today there are no remains of Fort Schomerus to be seen. In 1882 the Catholic Church received permission to use the facility, which had become militarily redundant, as a quarry for the oldest existing Catholic Church in Ghana on St. Joseph's Hill and a seminary. Allegedly, parts of the old fort were integrated directly into the church and the original building blocks of the fort can still be recognized today.
A plaque with the name Schomerus from this fort is now immured in the fortress Elmina.
See also
literature
- Christopher R. DeCorse: An Archeology of Elmina. Africans and Europeans on the Gold Coast, 1400-1900 . Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC 2001, ISBN 1-56098-971-8 .
Web links
- Notes on Fort Schomerus in Ghanadistricts.com
Coordinates: 5 ° 5 ′ N , 1 ° 21 ′ W