Akwidaa is a small town and

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 m ...

Ahanta West district Ahanta West Municipal District is one of the fourteen districts in Western Region, Ghana. Originally created as an ordinary district assembly in 1988 when it was known as Ahanta West District, which was created from the former Sekondi Takoradi Me ...

, a district in the Western Region of south-west

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, and is one of the southernmost places in Ghana.Nzema East Municipal district
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Economy

The economy is primarily based upon

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, with many fishing boats lining the beach. The town and

has Ezile bay village and the Green Turtle Lodge with eight thatched

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...

ed huts facing the beach alongside a bar and dining annex. It is named after the many

green turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. It is the only species In biology, a spec ...

s that lay their eggs on Akwidaa beach. Most business is conducted in the village without legal paperwork and many of the surrounding village chiefs own the land and the coconut trees and all purchases must be transacted through them. Business deals are based on trust and spoken words. A new landowner can buy a tree from the village chiefs and has the options of felling it, or keeping the trees standing and harvesting the coconuts on a farm. The recent oil discovery in Ghana also has made Akwidaa a new place for investment due to its oil reserved (Block) near Cape Three Point.

History

Akwidaa is a

Twi Twi () is a dialect of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly of the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. Twi has about 17-18 million speakers in total, includ ...

word meaning old man, who during Dutch colonial times, used to ferry people across the river. In the late 17th and early 18th Century (April 1684 – 1687, 1698–1711, April 1712 – 1717) Akwidaa, then known as Fort Dorothea, was the smaller of two forts which constituted a German colony, the

Brandenburger Gold Coast The Brandenburger Gold Coast, later Prussian Gold Coast, was a part of the Gold Coast. The Brandenburg colony existed from 1682 to 1721, when King Frederick William I of Prussia sold it for 7200 ducats to the Dutch Republic. Brandenburger Gol ...

. It was the focus of a struggle with the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

, who occupied it in 1687–1698 and to whom the Brandenburgers finally sold it. The ruins of Fort Dorothea were inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...

in 1979 along with several other forts and castles in Ghana because of its testimony to European colonial influence and exploitation in West Africa.

References

External links

Populated places in the Western Region (Ghana) Fishing communities Fishing communities in Ghana {{WesternRegionGH-geo-stub