Princes Town or Pokesu is located 5 km east of Fort St. Antonio on Manfro Hill in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region of south

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, Africa. It lies between

Axim Axim is a coastal town and the capital of Nzema East Municipal district, a district in Western Region of South Ghana. Axim lies 64 kilometers west of the port city of Sekondi-Takoradi in the Western Region, west of Cape Three Points. Axim ha ...

to the west and

Sekondi-Takoradi Sekondi-Takoradi ( ) is a city in Ghana comprising the Twin cities (geographical proximity), twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi. It is the capital of Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan District and the Weste ...

to the east. On 1 January 1681, a Brandenburger expedition of two ships commanded by Otto Friedrich von der Groeben arrived in the Gold Coast and began to build a strong fort between Axim and the Cape of Three Points. The fort was completed in 1683 and was named Fort Fredericksburg (German: ''Groß Friedrichsburg, Groß-Friedrichsburg, Großfriedrichsburg'') in honour of Prince

Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg Frederick William (; 16 February 1620 – 29 April 1688) was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as "th ...

. Because the fort was named after a Prince, it has been referred to as Princes Town. The fort was to be the headquarters of the Brandenburgers in Africa. Fort Fredericksburg was a part of the

Brandenburger Gold Coast The Brandenburger Gold Coast, later Prussian Gold Coast, was a colony of Brandenburg-Prussia, later the Kingdom of Prussia, on the Gold Coast. The Brandenburg colony existed from 1682 to 1701, after which it became a Prussian colony from 1701 ...

colony during the colony's existence from 1682-1721.

History

By 1717, an

Akan Akan may refer to: People and languages *Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire *Akan languages, a language group within the wider Central Tano languages *Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan *Central Tano language ...

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

John Canoe John Canoe, also known as January Conny, (died circa 1725) was the European name given to an Akan warrior from Axim, Ghana. He was a chief of the Ahanta people in the early 18th century, who established a stronghold in the defunct Fort Frederi ...

, learned that the Prussians were going to sell the fort, part of the

colony, to the Dutch. In protest, he began a resistance that managed to stave off fleets of

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as b ...

s for approximately seven years. The fort was eventually captured in 1724 by the Dutch and renamed "Hollandia". Because John Canoe was successful in retaining control of the fort, inhabitants looked upon him as a hero. In 1872, the Dutch ceded the fort to Britain and in 1957, the fort became part of the newly independent country of Ghana.Princes Town-Ghana West Coast
''ghanawestcoast.com''. "

Junkanoo Junkanoo (also Jonkonnu) is a festival that originated during the period of African chattel slavery in British American colonies. It is practiced most notably in The Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize, and historically in North Carolina and Miami, w ...

" festivals, named after John Canoe, such as

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ; also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being ...

are held annually in the coastal outlines of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

and the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

Fort Fredericksburg

Fort Fredericksburg was built of stone transported by sea between 1681 and 1683 from

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

and is one of two German forts built in Ghana, the other being

Fort Dorothea Akwidaa is a small town and fishing village in Ahanta West district, Western Region of Ghana. It is one of the southernmost places in Ghana. The part of town near the Gulf of Guinea, known as Akiwidaa Old Town, suffers from flooding and eros ...

. It is estimated that some 300,000 Africans were transported through this fort. The remains of John Canoe are a mystery. Some have said he was captured after having lost the battle of the fort while others have said his remains are in the Tafo Cemetery in

Kumasi Kumasi is a city and the capital of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It is the second largest city in the country, with a population of 443,981 as of the 2021 census. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region ...

. Because of its testimony to the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...

and the history of European colonial trade and exploitation, the fort was inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

in 1979 along with several other castles and forts in Ghana.

Gallery

File:Fort Gross Fredericksburg 2.jpg, Fort Gross Fredericksburg at Princes town in the Western Region of Ghana File:Fort Gross Fredericksburg 14.jpg, Fort Gross Fredericksburg at Princes town in the Western Region of Ghana File:Fort Gross Fredericksburg 4.jpg, Fort Gross Fredericksburg at Princes town in the Western Region of Ghana File:Fort Gross Fredericksburg 3.jpg, Fort Gross Fredericksburg at Princes town in the Western Region of Ghana File:Fort Gross Fredericksburg 8.jpg, Cannon in Fort Gross Fredericksburg at Princes town in the Western Region of Ghana File:Fort Gross Fredericksburg 21.jpg, Part of the Fort Gross Fredericksburg at Princes town was damage as a result of battle in the fort. File:Fort Gross Fredericksburg 11.jpg, Fort Gross Fredericksburg at Princes town in the Western Region of Ghana File:Fort Gross Fredericksburg 19.jpg, Fort Gross Fredericksburg at Princes town in the Western Region of Ghana File:Fort Gross Fredericksburg.jpg, Fort Gross Fredericksburg at Princes town in the Western Region of Ghana File:Fort Gross Fredericksburg 15.jpg, Fort Gross Fredericksburg at Princes town in the Western Region of Ghana File:Fort Gross Fredericksburg 17.jpg, Top of prison cell at Fort Gross Fredericksburg at Princes town in the Western Region of Ghana

Sister cities

List of

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there ar ...

of Princes Town, designated by

Sister Cities International Sister Cities International (SCI) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the goal of facilitating partnerships between communities within the United States and other countries by establishing sister cities. Sister cities are agreements of ...

References

External links

Fredericksburg-Princes Town Sister City Association, Inc.
{{Authority control Populated places in Ahanta West Municipal District