Fort Frederiksborg

For other uses, see Frederiksborg.
Fort Frederiksborg
Part of Danish Gold Coast
Illustration from A Collection of Voyages and Travels
Site history
Built1661 (1661)
Garrison information
OccupantsDenmark (1661-1679)
England (1679-1700)

Fort Frederiksborg, later Fort Royal, was a Danish and later English fort on the Gold Coast in contemporary Ghana. It was built in 1661, with the approval of the King of Fetu, a few hundred yards from Cape Coast Castle, which was at that time in Swedish hands, on Amanfro Hill.[1] Along with several other castles and forts nearby, Fort Frederiksborg was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1979 because of its testimony to European economic influence on West Africa and the Atlantic slave trade.[2]

History

Frederiksborg was a small fort from which Cape Coast Castle could easily be bombarded. It functioned for a short time as the headquarters of the Danish West India Company on the Danish Gold Coast, before it was moved to Christiansborg Castle in Osu.[3]

In 1665 the English Royal African Company took over Cape Coast Castle and reinforced it to use it as their new headquarters. The Danes had little use of their fort. The fort was first pawned to the English in 1679 before it was finally sold to them in 1685.[4]

The English reconstructed the fort in 1699 and renamed it Fort Royal. They soon abandoned it again, however.[4]

References

  1. ^ Van Dantzig 1999, pp. x, 29.
  2. ^ "Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions". UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Retrieved 9 Oct 2022.
  3. ^ Van Dantzig 1999, pp. 29.
  4. ^ a b Van Dantzig 1999, pp. 31.

Sources