Fort Metal Cross
| Fort Metal Cross | |
|---|---|
| Part of British Gold Coast | |
|
Fort Metal Cross in 1727. | |
  Fort Metal Cross | |
| Coordinates | 4°48′N 1°57′W / 4.8°N 1.95°W |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1683 |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants |
Britain (1683-1868) Netherlands (1868-1872) |
Fort Metal Cross, originally Fort Dixcove, is a military structure in Dixcove, Ghana. It was built commencing in 1683[1] by the English Royal African Company as a trading post for the gold and the slave trade, though construction didn't finish until 1698 due to ongoing hostilities with the local people.[2] Brandenburg-Prussia started building Fort Groß Friedrichsburg about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) west of Dixcove in 1683, (now Princes Town) in the colony of Brandenburger Gold Coast but it was not completed until the 1690s.
Fort Metal Cross was besieged twice in 1712 by John Kanu, a local ally of the Prussians, but the fort was defended successfully.
The fort was transferred to the Dutch as part of a large trade of forts between Britain and the Netherlands in 1868 under the Anglo-Dutch Gold Coast Treaty.[3] It was renamed Fort Metal Kruiz. Four years later, however, on 6 April 1872, the fort was, with the entire Dutch Gold Coast, again transferred to the United Kingdom, as per the Gold Coast treaty of 1871. The Dutch name stuck, however, translated as Fort Metal Cross.[4]
The Fort was included as one of the Forts and Castles of Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions that became a World Heritage Site in 1979.[5]
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fort Metal Cross. |
- ↑ Akuamoa, Geoffrey. KWAME, THE LAST SLAVE FROM WEST AFRICA. Lulu.com. p. 58. ISBN 9781291357462.
- ↑ Jones, Phillip. Mariners, Merchants And The Military Too. Lulu.com. p. 75. ISBN 9780956554949.
- ↑ Doortmont, Michel René; Smit, Jinna (2007). Sources for the Mutual History of Ghana and the Netherlands: An Annotated Guide to the Dutch Archives Relating to Ghana and West Africa in the Nationaal Archief, 1593-1960s (in Dutch). BRILL. p. 325. ISBN 9004158502.
- ↑ Briggs, Philip; Connolly, Sean (2016-12-05). Ghana. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 247. ISBN 9781784770341.
- ↑ Journals, IU Press (2015-02-20). Transition 114: Transition: The Magazine of Africa and the Diaspora. Indiana University Press. p. 91. ISBN 9780253018588.