Fort Amsterdam, Ghana

Fort Amsterdam
Part of Dutch Gold Coast
Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam
Coordinates	5°11′32″N 1°05′35″W / 5.192222°N 1.093056°W / 5.192222; -1.093056
Site history
Built	1638 (1638)
Garrison information
Occupants	English (1631-1665) Netherlands (1665-1868)
UNESCO World Heritage Site in Central Region, Ghana
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Location	Abandze, Central Region, Ghana
Part of	Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions
Criteria	Cultural: (vi)
Reference	34-004
Inscription	1979 (3rd Session)

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 1665,^[1] in retaliation for the capture of several Dutch forts by the English Admiral Holmes in 1664.^[2] It was subsequently made part of the Dutch Gold Coast, and remained part of it until the fort was traded with the British in 1868. The Fort is located at Abandze, on the north-east of Cape Coast in the Mfantseman District of the Central Region of Ghana. Because of its testimony to European economic and colonial influence in West Africa and its historical importance in the Atlantic slave trade, the fort was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 along with other forts and castles in Ghana.^[3]