Akwidaa is a small town and

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

Ahanta West district Ahanta West Municipal District is one of the fourteen districts in Western Region, Ghana. Originally created as an ordinary district assembly in 1988 when it was known as Ahanta West District, which was created from the former Sekondi Takoradi M ...

, Western Region of

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 ...

. It is one of the southernmost places in Ghana.Nzema East Municipal district
/ref> The part of town near the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea (French language, French: ''Golfe de Guinée''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Golfo de Guinea''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Golfo da Guiné'') is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez i ...

, known as Akiwidaa Old Town, suffers from

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant concern in agriculture, civi ...

and

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

as a result of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. This is due to its location in a low-lying area adjacent to a wetland and river mouth. This resulted in most of the residents evacuating inland, which would become Akiwidaa New Town.

Etymology

''Akwidaa'' is a

Twi Twi (; ) is the common name of the Akan literary language of Asante and Akuapem. Effectively, it is a synonym for 'Akan' that is not used by the Fante people. It is not a linguistic grouping, but more of a common name used by inland Akans as ...

word meaning 'old man'. It is believe to be named after a man who transported people over the Ezile River during Dutch colonial times. The town was originally named after the river.

History

The town have been settled for centuries by the

Ahanta people The Ahanta/Ayinda are Akan people who live to the north and east of the Nzema. The Ahanta land has been historically known as one of the richest areas on the coast of what is now Ghana. The Ahanta land spans from Beposo to Ankobra in what is no ...

Fort Dorothea

In the late 17th and early 18th Century, Akwidaa, then known as Fort Dorothea, was the smaller of the

two 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and the only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many ...

forts which constituted a German colony, 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 ...

. After being captured by the Dutch, they occupied the fort from 1687 to 1698 from whom the

Brandenburgers The Brandenburgers () were members of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht special forces unit during World War II. Originally, the unit was formed by and operated as an extension of the military's intelligence and counter-espionage organ, the ''Abwehr''. ...

sold it in 1718. The ruins of the fort were 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 other

forts A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from ...

in the region.

Economy

The economy is primarily based upon

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

, with many fishing boats lining the shoreline.

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

is also a major sector in the town. It is a tourist spot in the region, being the location of many popular

beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

. With the discovery of

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

in the district, Akwidaa have been a point of interest for

investment Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

Beaches

* Ezile-Bay Ecolodge * Akwidaa Inn * Safari beach

References

External links

{{Gold Coast Populated places in Ahanta West Municipal District Fishing communities Fishing communities in Ghana