en List of castles in Ghana

Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions
UNESCO World Heritage Site
	Cape Coast Castle
Location	Ghana
Includes	Fort Good Hope (Fort Goedehoop); Cape Coast Castle; Fort Patience (Fort Leysaemhyt); Fort Amsterdam; Fort St. Jago (Fort Conraadsburg); Fort Batenstein; Fort San Sebastian; Fort Metal Cross; English Fort (Fort Vredenburg); Fort Saint Antony; Elmina Castle (St. George's Castle / Fort St. Jorge);
Criteria	Cultural: (vi)
Reference	34
Inscription	1979 (3rd Session)

During the colonial period in Ghana, at the time known as the Gold Coast, roughly corresponding to the 15th through 19th centuries, European-style coastal forts and castles were built, mostly by the Portuguese, Dutch and British.^[1] These forts linked the trading routes established by the Portuguese and acted as important market places for the gold and slave trades.^[1]

Because of their testimony to precolonial and colonial Afro-European commerce, including the Atlantic slave trade, and their profound effect on the history of West Africa, a number of these fortifications and outposts were designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979.^[1]

Kumasi Fort in the Ashanti Region was originally built by an Asante king in imitation of these colonial forts.^[2]

Coastal regions

World Heritage listed forts

Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions is the collective designation by UNESCO of European-style fortifications and outposts (mostly Portuguese, Dutch and British) along the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) during the colonial period. The term specifically applies to a number of such fortifications designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979, including:^[1]

Three castles:
- Cape Coast at Cape Coast
- St. George's d’Elmina at Elmina
- Christiansborg at Osu, Accra
Fifteen forts:
- Good Hope at Senya Beraku
- Patience at Apam
- Amsterdam at Abandze
- St. Jago at Elmina
- San Sebastian at Shama
- Metal Cross at Dixcove
- St. Anthony at Axim
- Orange at Sekondi
- Fort Groß Friedrichsburg [de] at Prince's Town
- William (Lighthouse) at Cape Coast
- William at Anomabu
- Victoria at Cape Coast
- Ussher at Usshertown, Accra
- James at Jamestown, Accra
- Apollonia at Beyin
Four forts partially in ruins:
- Amsterdam at Abandze (Note, this fort is listed both as fort and as fort partially in ruins by UNESCO)
- English Fort at British Komenda
- Batenstein at Butre;
- Prinzensten at Keta
Ruins with visible structures:
- Nassau at Mouri
- Fredensborg at Old Ningo
- Vredenburg at Dutch Komenda
- Vernon at Prampram
- Dorothea at Akwidaa
Two sites with traces of former fortifications:
- Frederiksborg at Amanful, Cape Coast
- Fort Augustaborg at Teshie

Gallery

Other coastal forts

Other coastal forts included in Ghana's material cultural heritage list of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board:^[3]

Fort Fredericksburg at Amanful (distinguished from Fort Frederiksborg/Fort Royal near Cape Coast Castle)
Fort McCarthy at Cape Coast
The Little Fort at Anomabu
Fort Tantumquery at Otuam

Not listed as heritage (mostly largely destroyed or otherwise lost):