Fort Good Hope, Senya Beraku (1667)
Fort Goede Hoop or Fort Good Hope was a fort on the Dutch Gold Coast, established in 1667 near Senya Beraku.
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 [pictured] (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). * See also all Forts and Castle of Ghana |
The fort was occupied between 1782 and 1785 by the British, as well as by the local Akim population between 1811 and 1816. In 1868, the fort was ceded to the United Kingdom in a large trade of forts between the Netherlands and Britain.
Fort Good Hope is strategically sited on a promontory near a cove, looking out on a tranquil beach lined with coconut palms in the town of Senya Beraku in the Central Region. The Fort was erected by the Dutch, who were looking to tap into the gold, ivory and slave trade in the hinterland kingdom of Akyem.
Fort Good Hope was initially a small triangular fort, shielded by three bastions and a curtain wall. An apartment building is shielded by the south curtain wall. Inter-ethnic wars between the Asante, Akyem and Akwamu ethnic groups, among others, led to such huge increases in prisoners-of-war slaves, that in 1715 the fort was expanded to include large male and female slave prisons. In an official report of 1804, Fort Good Hope was aptly described as “one of the finest and most spacious forts on the coast” .
This was the last Dutch fort built in the Gold Coast. Believed to have the potential to bring grand proceeds from gold and Slave Trade, the fort was christened 'De Goede Hoop', meaning ‘Good Hope’. Ironically, the expected boom never occurred. The British gained final possession of the fort during the 1868 exchange of forts.
Fort Good Hope presently serves as a rest house. The fort’s opening hours are 9:00am to 4:30pm.
Fort Good Hope was initially a small triangular fort, shielded by three bastions and a curtain wall. An apartment building is shielded by the south curtain wall. Inter-ethnic wars between the Asante, Akyem and Akwamu ethnic groups, among others, led to such huge increases in prisoners-of-war slaves, that in 1715 the fort was expanded to include large male and female slave prisons. In an official report of 1804, Fort Good Hope was aptly described as “one of the finest and most spacious forts on the coast” .
This was the last Dutch fort built in the Gold Coast. Believed to have the potential to bring grand proceeds from gold and Slave Trade, the fort was christened 'De Goede Hoop', meaning ‘Good Hope’. Ironically, the expected boom never occurred. The British gained final possession of the fort during the 1868 exchange of forts.
Fort Good Hope presently serves as a rest house. The fort’s opening hours are 9:00am to 4:30pm.
Entrance fees are as follows:
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Source: Anquandah, Kwesi J., Castles and Forts of Ghana, 1999, page 33., part of the text by Wikipedia, edited.
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