Fort Nassau, near

Moree, Ghana Moree (formerly also known as ''Mouri'') is a town with small seaside resort in Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese district, a district in the Central Region of south Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It i ...

, was the first fort that the Dutch established on what would become the

Dutch Gold Coast The Dutch Gold Coast or Dutch Guinea, officially Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea'') was a portion of contemporary Ghana that was gradually colonized by the Dutch (et ...

. Because of its importance during the early European colonial period in West Africa and its testimony to the African gold trade and the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...

, the fort was 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 several other castles and forts in Ghana).

Background

From 1598 onward, Dutch merchants traded on the Gold Coast of Africa. Although the Gold Coast was already settled by Portuguese, there was little effort to evict the Dutch, as the military resources were committed to the war in Europe. This changed after the signing of the Twelve Years' Truce between Portugal-Spain and the Dutch Republic in 1609. The Portuguese now had sufficient resources to protect their trade monopoly, and began attacking the (from the Portuguese viewpoint, illegitimate) Dutch

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

on the coast. The factory at Mouri was burned to the ground in 1610. Dutch traders then petitioned the States-General of the Dutch Republic to build a fort on the coast. The States-General was receptive of their demands, and sent Jacob Clantius, who was to become the first General on the Coast, to the Gold Coast in 1611. In 1612, the Treaty of Asebu was signed between the Dutch and the chief of Asebu, which allowed for the establishment of Fort Nassau at Mouri.

History

In 1612, Clantius built a reinforced fort at Mouri, which, due to the unfamiliarity of the Dutch with building in the tropics, was notorious for its unhealthy conditions. In 1624, the Dutch considerably expanded the fort, after the ownership was transferred from the Admiralty of Amsterdam to the Dutch West India Company.Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Dutch West India Papers, box 2, folder 7, p. 380, note Bontemantel Fort Nassau served as the capital of the Dutch Gold Coast from its establishment until 1637, when the Dutch captured Fort Elmina from the Portuguese. At the end of 1781 Captain Thomas Shirley in the frigate , together with the

sloop-of-war During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all u ...

''Alligator'', sailed for the

with a convoy consisting of a few merchant-vessels and transports. Britain was at war with the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

and Shirley launched an unsuccessful attack on 17 February on the Dutch outpost at Elmina, being repulsed four days later. ''Leander '' and Shirley then went on to capture four small Dutch forts: Fort Nassau (20 guns), Fort Amsterdam (32 guns) at Kormantine (Courmantyne or Apam, Fort Lijdzaamheid or Fort Patience (22 guns)), Fort Goede Hoop (18 guns) at Senya Beraku (Berricoe, Berku, Fort Barracco), and Fort Crèvecœur (32 guns), at

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

. Shirley then garrisoned those facilities with personnel from Cape Coast Castle.

Gallery

File:The National Archives UK - CO 1069-34-29-1-001.jpg, Guard Room, Fort Nassau, 1890s File:The National Archives UK - CO 1069-34-29-2-001.jpg, Quarters once inhabited by Willem Bosman, Fort Nassau, 1890s File:Fort Nassau (3 of 9).jpg, Remains of Fort Nassau File:Fort Nassau (9 of 9).jpg, Ruins of Fort Nassau File:Fort Nassau 3.jpg, Ruins of Fort Nassau File:Fort Nassau 07.jpg, Ruins of Fort Nassau

References

External links

{{Ghana topics Nassau Dutch Gold Coast Castles in Ghana Buildings and structures completed in 1612 1610s establishments in Africa 1612 establishments in the Dutch Empire 17th century in Ghana World Heritage Sites in Ghana