Fort William

Fort William is a fort in Anomabu, Central Region, Ghana, originally known as Fort Anomabo and renamed Fort William in the 1830s by its then-commander, Brodie Cruickshank, who added one storey to the main building, and renamed the fort after King William IV.

It was built in 1753 by the British after they thwarted a French attempt to establish a fort at the same place. Two earlier forts had been established at the same site, one in 1640 by the Dutch, another in 1674 (Fort Charles) by the English. Fort Charles was abandoned in 1730 and destroyed. Along with several other castles and forts in Ghana, Fort William was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 because of its importance during and testimony to the Atlantic slave trade.

Text adapted from “Fort William, Ghana” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fort William ranks #2,303 of 3,691 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #16 of the 20 mapped in Ghana. Founded 1640, it is older than 31% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 259 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. See how Ghana compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗