Fort de Goede Hoop or Fort Good Hope was a fort on the

Dutch Gold Coast The Dutch Gold Coast or Dutch Guinea, officially Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea (Dutch: ''Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea'') was a portion of contemporary Ghana that was gradually colonized by the Dutch, beginning in 1612. ...

, established in 1667 near

Senya Beraku Senya Beraku is a residential area in the Awutu Senya District of the Central Region of Ghana. Senya Beraku is the site of Fort Good Hope Fort Good Hope (formerly ''Fort Hope'', ''Fort Charles'', also now known as the ''Charter Community of K ...

. The Dutch had already had a lodge in Senya Beraku in the 1660s, but that was abandoned when the British built their fort at nearby

Winneba Winneba is a town and the capital of Effutu Municipal District in Central Region of South Ghana. Winneba has a population of 55,331. Winneba, traditionally known as ''Simpa'', is a historic fishing port in south Ghana, lying on the south coa ...

. In 1704, the Dutch asked the Queen of Agona for permission to build a fort at Senya Beraku. It was to serve the gold trade with Akim, which is north of Agona. At first, the Dutch built a small triangular fort, that they called Fort de Goede Hoop (or Good Hope in English). The gold trade was not very prosperous, but later on slaves were sold at the fort. By 1715, the fort had become too small and the Dutch decided to double it in size by breaking away the diagonal and making it square-shaped. A slave prison was made in the southwest bastion of the fort. In the second half of the 18th century, the fort was surrounded by an outer wall. Because of its testimony to the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

and European colonial exploitation, Fort Good Hope was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 along with several other castles in Ghana. Early in 1782, Captain Thomas Shirley in the 50-gun ship ''Leander'' and the

sloop-of-war In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

''Alligator'' sailed to the

. Britain was at war with The Netherlands and Shirley captured the small Dutch forts at Moree ( Fort Nassau - 20 guns),

Kormantin Fort Amsterdam, is a former slave fort in Abandze, Central region, Ghana. It was built by the English between 1638 and 1645 as Fort Cormantin or Fort Courmantyne, and was captured by admiral Michiel de Ruyter of the Dutch West India Company in 1 ...

(Courmantyne or - 32 guns), Apam (

Fort Lijdzaamheid Fort Patience (Dutch: ''Fort Lijdzaamheid'', or, in 17th-century spelling, ''Fort Leydsaemheyt'') is a Dutch-built fort located in the township of Apam, in the Central Region of Ghana. Originally built in 1697, it served as a defensive fortificati ...

or Fort Patience - 22 guns), Senya Beraku (Fort Goede Hoop - 18 guns), and

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

(

Fort Crêvecoeur Ussher Fort is a fort in Accra, Ghana. It was built by the Dutch in 1649 as Fort Crèvecœur, and is a day's march from Elmina and to the east of Accra on a rocky point between two lagoons. It was one of three forts that Europeans built in the regi ...

Ussher Fort Ussher Fort is a fort in Accra, Ghana. It was built by the Dutch in 1649 as Fort Crèvecœur, and is a day's march from Elmina and to the east of Accra on a rocky point between two lagoons. It was one of three forts that Europeans built in the regi ...

- 32 guns). The fort was occupied between 1782 and 1785 by Britain, 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. This is the last fort that was built in the Gold Coast.

Physical Features

Initially, the Dutch built a small triangular fort on the promontory that is located near a cove because of the proximity to a good landing beach. The triangular fort has three bastions located at the northeast, southwest and southeast corners. In the year 1724, due to the limited size of the fort that could not cope with the increasing number of slaves, it was rebuilt into its present rectangular shape. It had four bastions with curtain walls, garrisons and halls for officers, kitchens, a female and male prison, stores, granary and powder magazine room. An outer wall was also built later on but the wall has almost disappeared. The fort presently serves as a rest house and also a tourist attraction site.

Gallery

Fort de Goede Hoop, entrance.jpg, The entrance to Fort de Goede Hoop (Good Hope) Fort de Goede Hoop, front and side.jpg, The front and side view of Fort de Goede Hoop (Good Hope) Fort Goede Hoop, Ghana.webm, Video: rooftop area view

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1667 History of Ghana Castles in Ghana Dutch Gold Coast 1667 establishments in the Dutch Empire Goede Hoop