Fort San Sebastian

Ghana, Ghana

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Fort San Sebastian, also known as Fort São Sebastião de Xama, is located in Shama, a coastal fishing village in Ghana’s Western Region about 20 kilometers east of Sekondi-Takoradi, and is Ghana’s third oldest fortification, built by the Portuguese from 1520 to 1526 as one of the earliest European trading forts in sub-Saharan Africa.

Its original purpose was to serve as a deterrent to English sailors interfering with Portuguese trade in Shama and to protect Portuguese interests while overseeing trade in gold, ivory, and other valuable commodities. The Dutch West India Company captured the fort in 1642 after it had fallen into disrepair, substantially expanded and renovated it between 1640 and 1643, and used it as a base for their trading activities in gold and slaves, though by 1705 the Dutch considered it non-productive for trade except as a source of fuel wood and water.

During the African Slave Trade, kidnapped Africans were imprisoned at Fort San Sebastian while awaiting transport to North America, making it a site linked to the transatlantic slave trade. The fort was ceded with the entire Dutch Gold Coast to Britain in 1872, and its architecture reflects distinctive Portuguese and Dutch sculpturing styles, being described as a small-scale copy of St. George’s Castle (Elmina Castle) and appearing in Di Castaldi’s Venetian map of 1564.