Fort James was built by the Royal African Company of England in 1673 as a trading post for gold and slaves. Located along the coast of the Gold Coast, it joined the Dutch Fort Crêvecœur and the Danish Fort Christiansborg as a significant colonial structure. In 1979, the fort was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List due to its importance during the European colonial period.
The fort was likely named after James, then Duke of York, who was Governor of the Royal African Company at the time it was built. The adjacent town of Jamestown in Accra is also named after him. From the colonial era until 2008, the structure served as a prison and currently stands next to the Jamestown Lighthouse.
Today, Fort James is an historic castle and a tourist site in Accra. It remains in fairly good condition as a memorial to Ghana's history. During the period from 1950 to 1951, Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, was imprisoned within the fort's walls alongside common criminals.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Mutabor
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