Fort Amsterdam, Abandzi
Fort Amsterdam, Kormantin-Abandze (1638)
Overlooking a coconut palm beach, the originally-British fort, Fort Amsterdam, sits on a hill in Kormantin-Abandze in the Central Region. The leasing of the site for the fort was engineered in 1631 by Arent Groote, a disgruntled former employee of the Dutch West India Company, on behalf of the English company, ‘The Governor and Company of Adventurers of London Trading to Guynney and Binney’ . Arent Groote persuaded the Ambro Braffo (Chief of the Fanti state) to sign exclusive trading rights to the British, who then proceeded to construct a lodge to coagulate their claim to the area. |
In 1640, the lodge was destroyed by fire. Believing the Dutch to be the arsons, a charge fervently denied, the British built a heavily fortified fort. The new fort had four bastions linked by thick walls, and a three storey apartment. In 1661, the Royal African Company obtained ownership of the fort, and it became the headquarters of English Gold Coast activities.
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 Engel 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.
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 Mouri (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).
The village of Abandze has grown around the site of the fort today.
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 Mouri (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).
The village of Abandze has grown around the site of the fort today.
The fort’s opening hours are 9:00am to 4:30pm.
Entrance fees are as follows:
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Dutch Admiral Michiel Adriaensz De Ruyter captured the fort in 1665 reconstructed the fort and named it Fort Amsterdam. In 1811, the people of Anomabu, who were English allies, attacked and destroyed the fort. It is believed that the first slave prison on the Gold Coast was in its hollow southeast bastion. The name Kormantin was synonymous on the Caribbean Islands for hard to subdue slaves, especially those originating from the Gold Coast.
Never reoccupied, Fort Amsterdam remained as a ruin until its 1951 restoration by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board. It is presently open to the public.
Source: van Dantzig, Albert, Forts and Castles of Ghana, pg 35. & (c) Wikipedia / Fort Amsterdam - Front (c) Akonuatta
Never reoccupied, Fort Amsterdam remained as a ruin until its 1951 restoration by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board. It is presently open to the public.
Source: van Dantzig, Albert, Forts and Castles of Ghana, pg 35. & (c) Wikipedia / Fort Amsterdam - Front (c) Akonuatta
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