Elmina Castle
Sign in to saveAlso known as Fort São Jorge da Mina, Castle of St. George’s, St. George del Mina, São Jorge da Mina, St. George's Castle, Edina Abankese, Castellum Minae, Dvorac Elmina
fortified colonial trading post in Ghana
Key facts
- Official name
- Elmina Castle (St. George's Castle / Fort St. Jorge)
- Location
- Elmina , Central Region , Ghana
- Part of
- Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions
- Criteria
- Cultural: (vi)
- Reference
- 34-011
- Inscription
- 1979 (3rd Session )
via Wikipedia infobox
~16 min read
Encyclopedic overview
St. George CastleElmina Castle, or Fort St. George, was erected by the Portuguese in 1482 as Castelo de São Jorge da Mina ('St. George of the Mine Castle'), also known as Castelo da Mina or simply Mina (or Feitoria da Mina), in present-day Elmina, Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast. It holds several profound distinctions: it was the first trading post built on the Gulf of Guinea and is the oldest extant European building in Sub-Saharan Africa.
First established as a trade settlement for indigenous people of the region, the castle later became one of the most important stops of the Atlantic slave trade. The Dutch West India Company seized the fort from the Portuguese in 1637, after an unsuccessful attempt in 1596; they took over all of the Portuguese Gold Coast in 1642. The slave trade continued under the Dutch until 1814.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Elmina Castle” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.