Cabo Corso

Cabo Corso, the Portuguese name for the coast at Oguaa, became known in English as Cape Coast. Fishing settlements and markets existed here before European ships arrived, and the people of Oguaa included communities of Guan and Akan origin. The sheltered shore attracted foreign traders, whose competing posts eventually gave way to the great castle overlooking the town.

The Swedish fort of Carolusborg was begun in 1653. Danes, the local Fetu and the Dutch each held it before the English took possession in the 1660s and enlarged it into Cape Coast Castle. Its early commerce included gold and textiles, but the Royal African Company increasingly traded in captive Africans. They were imprisoned in the castle before being carried to ships offshore. A French bombardment damaged the castle in 1757, and the British rebuilt it with stronger defences. After Britain abolished its slave trade in 1807, the castle continued to serve commercial and administrative purposes.