Fort Metal Cross
| Fort Metal Cross | |
|---|---|
| Part of British Gold Coast | |
|
Fort Metal Cross in 1727. | |
  Fort Metal Cross | |
| Coordinates | 4°48′N 1°57′W / 4.8°N 1.95°W |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1683 |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants |
Britain (1683-1868) Netherlands (1868-1872) |
Fort Metal Cross is a military structure in Dixcove, Ghana. It was built in 1683 by the English Royal African Company as a trading post for the gold and slave trade. Brandenburg-Prussia started building Fort Groß Friedrichsburg about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) west of Dixcove in 1683, (now Princes Town) in the colony of Brandenburger Gold Coast but it was not completed until the 1690s.
Fort Metal Cross was besieged twice in 1712 by John Kanu, a local ally of the Prussians, but the fort was defended successfully.
The fort was transferred to the Dutch as part of a large trade of forts between Britain and the Netherlands in 1868 under the Anglo-Dutch Gold Coast Treaty. Four years later, however, on 6 April 1872, the fort was, with the entire Dutch Gold Coast, again transferred to the United Kingdom, as per the Gold Coast treaty of 1871.
The Fort was included as one of the Forts and Castles of Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions that became a World Heritage Site in 1979.
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fort Metal Cross. |