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20 | The Lion King
Elmina Castle
Cape Coast Castle
The most famous of Ghana’s slaving castles, sits astride a rocky
promontory at one end of a palm-fringed bay on the coast of
Ghana. It was built by the Portuguese before Columbus discovered
America. Indeed, it is thought that Columbus may himself have
sailed as a deck-hand on one of the ships in the convoy that
carried the building materials for the new castle on what was then
known as the Guinea coast
The strategic location of Cape Coast having a sheltered beach in proximity to Elmina Castle made it a
great attraction to the European nations. The Portuguese built the first trade lodge in 1555 and called the
local settlement Cabo Corso meaning short coast which was later corrupted to Cape Coast. The Swedes
built a permanent fort in 1653 and called it Carolus Burg after King Charles the X of Sweden.
Country Focus
FORTS AND CASTLES
Ghana has the single
largest collection of
medieval forts and castles
in the world built by the
Europeans who traded
initially in gold and later in
slaves in the Gold Coast.
The French, Portuguese,
Danes, Dutch, Germans,
Swedes and British built
approximately 80 trading
forts and castles on the
shores of Ghana between
1383 and 1870 which
for several years had
European masters and
native African servants
living and working in them.
St. George’s Castle, or Elmina Slave Castle, in Elimina, Ghana. Near Cape Coast. Photographer: Dave Ley
Cannons at Cape Coast Castle. PHOTOgrapher: Sandister Tei
SITES
OF
GHANA