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West Africa, Malta and the Balkans in 1999
GHANA
Bec2004-09-18 19:57:26
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interior was not hindered by lagoons and mangrove swamps as it was in other areas of the Guinea coast..
Sekondi
Fort Oranje was built by the Dutch in 1690 on the foundations of a trading post opened in 1642. The British soon build a similar Fort only a few hundred yards away in an effort to draw the gold trade away from the Dutch but nothing is left of it today as it was razed by the French in 1779. In the end, fort Oranje was taken over by the British along with the rest of the coastal area which was declared a crown colony in 1874.
Fort Oranje is now used as a light house and living quarters by the port authorities. It is badly in need of restoration and the people living there visibly resent the intrusion of curious tourists. I was allowed in by a friendly young man but chased out with a loud stream of invective by an angry harridan. It is a pity to let it crumble for it could be turned into an additional tourist attraction for the region.
The majority of southern Ghanaians are Christian as the Animists and Muslims are concentrated in the north. The same applies to the neighbouring countries for the Muslim invasions (8th to 13th centuries), did not reach the coastal areas which were later subjected to European influence. This impressive structure is a Methodist church not far from the fort.
Elmina
The big Elmina Castle we see today evolved over a period of three centuries from the initial Saő Jorge fort built by the Portuguese in 1482 to defend their monopoly on the gold trade from the Spanish. The Spanish threat was eliminated in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI's decree delimiting Portugal's and Spain's zones of influence respectively east and west of an arbitrary longitude.
The other European powers did not feel constrained by the papal order and their ships began to encroach upon Portugal's monopoly. A fort building
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See photographs from:
Ghana Gallery
