Thu 8th Jan 2009
- Elmina Travel Guide & City Information
Elmina is a small fishing village with a fort and a castle. It is a great place to relax, especially in the beginning of July, when the Bakatue festival is held.
As well as all the other forts and castles at the costline of Ghana, Fort St Jago and Elmina Castle have their origin in the colonial past of the country:
The fort was buildt by the Portuguese to protect the village they concured from Dutch and English invasders. At that time, the Dutch owned Cape Cost castle and tryed to concure the whole coastline there.
Elmina Castle was buildt for extra protection and as transport/stockage for slaves. The Dutch were not able to concure Elmina from the sea, but by cooperation with the local inhabitants, they found a way over land to invade the fort from th back and succeded. The Fort was renamed: Fort Coenraedsburg, and the castle was partly rebuildt. For more information, you might consider taking a guided tour trough the castle. It's really worth it. And if you have time enough, it would be great to combine this visit with one in Cape coast Castle and/ or Kakum National Park Which are really not far away...