| Fort Amsterdam | |
|---|---|
| Part ofDutch Gold Coast | |
 Fort Amsterdam | |
| Location | |
  Fort Amsterdam | |
| Coordinates | 5°11′32″N1°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) |
| 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 (3rdSession) |
Fort Amsterdam is a formerslave fort inAbandze,Central region,Ghana. It was built by the English between 1638 and 1645 asFort Cormantin or Fort Courmantyne, and was captured by admiralMichiel de Ruyter of theDutch West India Company in 1665,[1] in retaliation for the capture of several Dutch forts by theEnglishAdmiral Holmes in 1664.[2] It was subsequently made part of theDutch Gold Coast, and remained part of it until the fort was traded with the British in 1868. The Fort is located atAbandze, on the north-east of Cape Coast in theMfantsemanDistrict of theCentral Region ofGhana. Because of its testimony to European economic and colonial influence inWest Africa and its historical importance in theAtlantic slave trade, the fort was inscribed on theUNESCOWorld Heritage List in 1979 along with otherforts and castles in Ghana.[3]
Early in 1782, CaptainThomas Shirley in the 50-gun shipLeander and thesloop-of-warAlligator sailed to theDutch Gold Coast. This was during theFourth Anglo-Dutch War in which Britain was at war withThe Netherlands. Shirley captured the small Dutch forts atMoree (Fort Nassau – 20 guns), Kormantin (Courmantyne – 32 guns),Apam (Fort Lijdzaamheid orFort Patience – 22 guns),Senya Beraku (Fort Goede Hoop – 18 guns), andAccra (Fort Crêvecoeur orUssher Fort – 32 guns).[4]
In 1811, the people ofAnomabo, who happened to be allies of the British attacked the fort, leaving it in ruins. It was unoccupied from then until its restoration in 1951 by theGhana Museums and Monuments Board.[5]
The town ofAbandze has grown around the site of the fort today.
It had a rectangular outline with twosquare and two roundbastions at the corners. They were linked bycurtain walls. There was a centralcourtyard. Arranged around it were a one-storeyed building on thewest side, a two-storeyed building along thenorth side and a line of two or three storeyed buildings on thesouth side.
The curtain and bastion on thenorth were solidly built, while the others were constructed with an earth filling between two walls of stone laid inmortar. As a result of cracks and disintegration at the time, it was left unoccupied.
Thebastion on thesoutheast, which was designed to be hollow, had a gratedventilation in the roof, and was in addition used as aslave prison. It is believed to have been the first of its kind in theGold Coast. Slaves taken from this fort were said to have been namedCoromantee.[6]
From 1705 to 1716, trade figures at the fort were given as 481 marks ofgold and 149slaves. There were complaints of little trade at other times as well. This was due to wars and also because the local chief was said to have leased the site to theBritish, and not theDutch. TheDutch had no jurisdiction there, and the Cormantin people blocked their trade routes whenever it suited them, until the former had paid huge sums of money.[7]
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