| Fort Prinzenstein | |
|---|---|
 Fort Prinzestein in 1970 | |
 | |
| Location | Keta,Ghana |
| Built | 1784 |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | vi |
| Designated | 1979 |
| Part of | Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions |
| Reference no. | 34 |
Fort Prinzenstein (Danish:Fort Prinsensten) is afort located atKeta,Ghana, which was used in theslave trade.[1] Many such forts were built in Africa, but Prinzenstein is one of the few that lie east of theVolta River.[1] Keta served as an open port until theTema Harbour commenced its operation to the west in 1962.[2] The fort has been designated aWorld Heritage Site (along with severalother castles and forts in Ghana) because of its historical importance and testimony to theAtlantic slave trade.[3][4]
It was built byDanish traders in 1784 for defensive purposes after theSagbadre War against theAnlo Ewe and to keep the area safe from othercolonial powers.[5] The majority of the materials, especially the stone used for the building of the fort, came fromAccra.[3] The fort is among the four major structures that were built by theDanish.[6] The fort significantly played an important part in the slave trade, which involved Europeans inWest Africa.[7] Aside from the slave trade, the fort served an active purpose in the trade of imported and exported goods such as gold and ivory in a give-and-take formuskets, brandy, iron rods, textiles, cowries shells etc.[3]
TheDutch West India Company had builtFort Singelenburgh at the site of the current fort in 1734, but the Dutch abandoned the fort in 1737, probably because of the Dutch siding with the defeatedAkwamu in theAkyem-Akwamu conflict.[8] The Danish had developed a presence in Keta, the commercial capital of the Anlo people. However, in 1783 when the Anlo people pillaged the local Danish agent, the Governor ofChristiansborg raised an army drawn from people with a tradition of antipathy towards the Anlo: theAda,Akwapim,Ga andKrobo. The Danes were thus able to defeat the Anlo and impose a treaty in 1784 which allowed them to build Fort Prinzenstein and obliged the Anlo to trade only with them.
Up until 1803, the fort was used as a dungeon for slaves awaiting transportation to theCaribbean. In 1850 the fort, along with the rest of theDanish Gold Coast was sold toBritain.[9] This was when Keta became a British colony.[2] The fort was used as a prison for a period before it was partially destroyed by the sea in 1980.[5] In an effort to protect the remains of the fort, theICOMOS Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana Museum and Monuments Board and the Danish Embassy in 1991 made some effort towards preserving it, however the impact of the sea on the fort continued.[3] The remains of the fort are now visited by tourists.[10] The fort is visited by tourists from different parts of the world such as the United Kingdom, United States, Germany,Benin, France, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.[3]
The remains of the fort (September, 2012)
5°55′18″N0°59′37″E / 5.92167°N 0.99361°E /5.92167; 0.99361
.svg)
