Cape Coast Castle

Ghana Museums and Monuments Board , The arrival of Europeans along the Gold Coast in West Africa led to the establishment of fortifications at various locations to facilitate gold and slave trades. The fortifications were designed to serve both commercial and defensive purposes. Their defense systems were determined by functions of the fort (trade, storage, residence, etc.). The forts and castles have evolved from their original design and function throughout history. Today, these forts are sites of great remembrance value., In 1653, following Sweden’s conquest of the Cape Coast, the Swedish Africa Company constructed a permanent wooden fortress for trade in timber and gold on the site of a Portuguese trading lodge of 1555 naming it Carolusborg. A decade later, the fort was reconstructed in stone when the Danes seized power from the Swedish. The fort then passed through the hands of the Dutch and even a local Fetu Chief at some point. The British, who conquered it in 1664, rebuilt it on a much larger scale, in stone., In 1979, Cape Coast Castle together with 27 other fortifications were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List under criteria VI as a significant and emotive symbol of European-African encounters and of the starting point of the African Diaspora., Welcome to Cape Coast Castle , The fortified castle continued to serve as a timber and gold trading centre until the 18th century, when it became the starting point of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Its dungeons housed huge numbers of African captives destined for transportation to North America. By 1700, the fort had been transformed into a castle and also served as the headquarters of the British Colonial Governor., The castle’s involvement with slavery eventually stopped as a result of Britain’s ban on the slave trade. Cape Coast castle went back to its previous function as an essential site for non-human commodity trade, after which it was turned into an army training facility for the West Indian (Jamaican) colonial regiment to help the British fight the Asante. The castle underwent considerable restoration work in the early 1990’s with donor funds , This signage has been done with the support of the Embassy of France in Ghana. , Francais ,