Anomansah

Anomansah, later known as Elmina or Edina, grew beside the sheltered Benya lagoon on the Gold Coast. Local tradition remembers a hunter, Kwa Amankwaa, as a founder of the settlement. Before Europeans arrived, coastal people and traders from the interior exchanged salt and gold here. The lagoon lay between the lands of Eguafo and Fetu, two neighbouring kingdoms.

In 1482 the Portuguese built São Jorge da Mina to protect their trade in gold. The castle became a major trading post, and the town developed alongside it. In 1637 Dutch forces placed guns on the hill opposite and bombarded the Portuguese into surrender. They later fortified the hill itself to prevent an enemy using the same advantage. Under Dutch control Elmina became a major centre of the Atlantic slave trade, with captives held in the castle before being shipped to Brazil and the Caribbean.

The later city of Sekondi-Takoradi lies here.