The Slave Castle Many Don't Know About in Ghana, West Africa

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Fort Good Hope is strategically sited on a promontory near a cove, looking out on a tranquil beach lined with coconut palms in the town of Senya Beraku in the Central Region. The Fort was erected in 1715 by the Dutch, who were looking to tap into the gold, ivory and slave trade in the hinterland kingdom of Akyem.

Fort Good Hope was initially a small triangular fort, shielded by three bastions and a curtain wall. An apartment building is shielded by the south curtain wall. Inter-ethnic wars between the Asante, Akyem and Akwamu ethnic groups, among others, led to such huge increases in prisoners-of-war slaves, that in 1715 the fort was expanded to include large male and female slave prisons. In an official report of 1804, Fort Good Hope was aptly described as “one of the finest and most spacious forts on the coast” .

This was the last fort built in the Gold Coast. Believed to have the potential to bring grand proceeds from gold trade, the fort was christened 'De Goede Hoop', meaning ‘Good Hope’. Ironically, the expected boom never occurred. The British gained possession of the fort during the 1868 exchange of forts.

Fort Good Hope presently serves as a rest house.

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