Fort Amsterdam, Ghana

Fort Amsterdam
Part of Dutch Gold Coast
Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam
Coordinates 5°11′32″N 1°05′35″W / 5.192222°N 1.093056°W / 5.192222; -1.093056
Site history
Built 1638 (1638)
Garrison information
Occupants English (1631-1665)
Netherlands (1665-1868)
UNESCO World Heritage site
Location Abandze, Central Region, Ghana
Part of Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions
Criteria Cultural: (vi)
Reference 34-004
Inscription 1979 (3rd Session)

Fort Amsterdam is a fort in Kormantin, Central region, Ghana. It was built by the English between 1638 and 1645 as Fort Cormantin or Fort Courmantyne, and was captured by admiral Michiel de Ruyter of the Dutch West India Company in 1665. It was subsequently made part of the Dutch Gold Coast, and remained part of it until the fort was traded with the British in 1868. The Fort is located at Abandze on the north-east of Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana.

History

Early in 1782, Captain Thomas Shirley in the 50-gun ship Leander and the sloop-of-war Alligator sailed to the Dutch Gold Coast. Britain was at war with The Netherlands and Shirley captured the small Dutch forts at Moree (Fort Nassau - 20 guns), Kormantin (Courmantyne or - 32 guns), Apam (Fort Lijdzaamheid or Fort Patience - 22 guns), Senya Beraku (Fort Goede Hoop - 18 guns), and Accra (Fort Crêvecoeur or Ussher Fort - 32 guns).[1]

The village of Abandze has grown around the site of the fort today.

References

  1. ↑ Crooks, John Joseph (1973), Records Relating to the Gold Coast Settlements from 1750 to 1874 (London: Taylor & Francis), p. 62. ISBN 978-0-7146-1647-6
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