Ghana · 19th century
Fort De Veer ranks #9,034 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #35 of the 35 mapped in Ghana. Founded 1817, it is older than 11% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 705 atlas entries founded in the 19th century. 8 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Cape Coast, 12 km away. See how Ghana compares in the castle statistics.
Fort De Veer – or, in the Dutch original, Veersche Schans – was a fortification which the Dutch built in Elmina, Ghana, between 1817 and 1829, about 800 metres west of Fort São Jorge da Mina, at a narrow, elevated point of the Elmina peninsula in the present-day town quarter of Bantoma. The fortification was named after Jakobus de Veer, the then Dutch director-general of Elmina. Today only traces of the works survive; six corroded cannons and some iron parts of gun mountings are preserved.
The Veersche Schans replaced the earlier fortification Waakzamheid ("Vigilance"), which was to protect Elmina from attacks from this side. The Veersche Schans was, as the Dutch name says, a square stone earthwork reached by ladders, with gun openings for muskets and artillery.
Machine-translated from “Fort de Veer” on the German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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