James Fort & Jamestown: Where the Atlantic Tide Remembered Every Footstep
A Settlement Shaped by Waves and Wars
Long before Jamestown became one of the oldest districts of Accra, the place the Ga people called Gã Mashi was a vibrant fishing and trading community along the Gulf of Guinea. When the British arrived on the coast in the 17th century, they saw in the Ga settlement a strategic vantage point: a deep natural shore, bustling markets, and an organized local society capable of large-scale trade.
In 1673, the English constructed James Fort, named after King James II of England. The fort soon grew into one of the British Empire’s most important outposts on the West African coast—not only for commerce, but for the rapidly expanding transatlantic slave trade.
James Fort: Gateway of Captivity
By the early 1700s, James Fort had transformed from a coastal military post into a central holding and shipping point for enslaved Africans. Captives from the interior of present-day Ghana, including Akan, Ga, Guan, Ewe, and other ethnic groups, were marched to the coast and confined inside the fort.
The dungeons beneath James Fort were dark, crowded, and suffocating. Prisoners waited days or weeks before being herded into canoes and ferried to ships anchored offshore—Europe-bound vessels that would carry them toward forced labour in the Caribbean and the Americas.
The Ga people, whose territory the British occupied, lived around these operations and were deeply entangled in its economy, governance, and political consequences.
The Ga and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
The Ga were not passive observers. Their strategic coastal position placed them at the crossroads of trade. Ga aristocrats, merchants, and some clan leaders engaged in:
intermediary trade between inland sellers and European buyers
supplying labour, food, and services to the forts
acting as brokers between Europeans and African political powers
At the same time, entire Ga communities suffered from:
raids carried out by inland states
forced incorporation of Ga captives into slave caravans
loss of land as European forts like James Fort expanded
The involvement of Ga elites did not shield ordinary Ga people from enslavement; the trade consumed everyone it touched.
Jamestown’s Hidden Underworld: Tunnels, Escape Routes & Underground Corridors
While the stone walls of the fort still stand today, one of the least-known aspects of Jamestown’s history lies beneath its streets: the underground slave tunnels.
These tunnels, now largely collapsed or sealed, were part of a subterranean network connecting homes, warehouses, and coastal buildings.
Hansen House
The Hansen House, one of the oldest Danish- and British-era residential structures in Jamestown, is often cited in local histories and oral tradition as containing underground passages linked to the fort.
These tunnels were used for:
secret transfer of enslaved people
movement of goods without passing through public streets
private access for European traders and Ga middlemen
Though not all tunnels survive today, foundations and remnants still exist beneath parts of Jamestown.
Just beside Fort james, you find
The Sagrenti War Memorial: A Colonial Pillar of "Victory" (c) Remo Kurka
The Sea View Hotel: Elegance Built on Buried Memory
The Sea View Hotel, once a famous landmark on High Street until its demolition in the 20th century, sat atop land historically tied to the slave corridors. Oral history from Ga elders and urban archaeologists suggests that beneath the hotel’s foundations were remnants of old tunnels and storage chambers dating to the 18th and 19th centuries.
These substructures were believed to connect:
Sea View area
Hansen House
James Fort
old warehouses along High Street
While the hotel itself was a symbol of colonial luxury in the 1900s, beneath it lay the architecture of an earlier and darker economy.
Fort James (background) and
The Sagrenti War Memorial: A Colonial Pillar of "Victory"
Jamestown Today: Echoes and Footprints
Walking through Jamestown today—past the lighthouse, fishing boats, and the crowded alleys—you are stepping on layers of history:
colonial stonework
Ga royal compounds
British, Dutch, and Danish trading houses
and beneath all these, the silent tunnels that once held the footsteps of thousands of enslaved Africans.
James Fort remains a UNESCO-listed monument and a reminder of how deeply Accra’s oldest communities were shaped by global forces far beyond their shores.
Historical Notes and Research Sources (non-URL citations)
Below are commonly recognized academic sources that document these histories:
Ray Kea – Settlements, Trade, and Politics in the Seventeenth-Century Gold Coast
John K. Fynn – Asante and Its Neighbors, 1700–1807
Kwame Arhin – Articles in Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana
Hendrik van der Linde – Studies on Danish and British forts
Basil Davidson – Black Mother (sections on coastal forts)
Heritage Conservation Ghana Reports, on Jamestown underground structures & colonial archaeology
Ga oral histories recorded by Accra cultural institutions and Ga Mantse’s palace archives