Ussher Fort
{{Short description|Fort in Ghana}}
{{Infobox military structure
|name = Ussher Fort
|native_name = Fort Crèvecoeur
|partof = Dutch Gold Coast
|location =
|image = Crevecoeur and James Fort.png
|image_size = 250px
|caption = Fort Crèvecœur (left) and Fort James (right) in 1727.
|map_type = Ghana
|map_size =
|map_alt =
|map_caption =
|type =
|coordinates = {{coord|5.5385|-0.2082|type:landmark|display=inline}}
|code =
|built = {{Start date|1649}}
|builder =
|materials =
|height =
|used =
|demolished =
|condition =
|ownership =
|open_to_public =
|controlledby =
|garrison =
|current_commander =
|commanders =
|occupants = Netherlands (1649-1868)
|battles =
|events =
|image2 =
|caption2 =
|footnotes={{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
| child = yes
| part_of = Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions
| criteria = {{UNESCO WHS type|(vi)}}(vi)
| ID = 34
| year = 1979
}}
}}
Ussher Fort is a fort in Accra, Ghana. It was built by the Dutch in 1649 as Fort Crèvecœur, and is two days' march from Elmina and to the east of Accra on a rocky point between two lagoons. It was one of three forts that Europeans built in the region during the middle of the 17th century.The other two were Osu Castle (Fort Christiansborg; Danish, 1659) and Jamestown, Ghana (Fort James; British, 1673). Fort Crèvecœur was part of the Dutch Gold Coast. The Anglo-Dutch Gold Coast Treaty (1867), which defined areas of influence on the Gold Coast, transferred it to the British in 1868. Because of its significance in the history of European colonial trade and exploitation in Africa, the fort was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 (along with several other castles and forts in Ghana).{{cite web|title=Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/34/|website=UNESCO World Heritage Convention|access-date=9 Oct 2022}}
History
Negotiations to build a Dutch fort on the site began in 1610, but did not bear fruit until much later.{{sfnp|Kropp Dakubu|1997|p=147}} Fort Crèvecœur was built in 1642 as a simple factory and then enlarged in 1649 by the Dutch West India Company. It was named after Fort Crèvecœur in 's-Hertogenbosch in the Dutch Republic, which had played a crucial role in the Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch.{{sfn|Van Dantzig|1999|p=24}} One of the Dutch representatives, Henry Caerlof, developed good relations with the Dey of Fetu, who gave Caerlof permission to build Osu Castle in 1652 for the Swedish Africa company.{{sfn|Van Dantzig|1999|p=24}}
Fort Crèvecœur and Fort James were neither as imposing nor as important from the political point of view as Elmina or Cape Coast Castle, built 150 kilometers further west. Still, they brought their owners significant revenue.{{sfnp|Soulillou|Salvaing|1993|p=149}}
At the end of 1781 Captain Thomas Shirley in the frigate {{HMS|Leander|1780|6}}, together with the sloop-of-war Alligator, sailed for the Dutch Gold Coast with a convoy consisting of a few merchant-vessels and transports. Britain was at war with the Dutch Republic and Shirley launched an unsuccessful attack on 17 February on the Dutch outpost at Elmina, which the Dutch repulsed four days later. Leander and Shirley then went on to capture the small Dutch forts at Mouri (Fort Nassau - 20 guns), Kormantine (Courmantyne or Fort Amsterdam - 32 guns), Apam (Fort Lijdzaamheid or Fort Patience - 22 guns), Senya Beraku (Berricoe, Berku, Fort Barracco or Fort Goede Hoop - 18 guns), and Accra (Fort Crèvecœur - 32 guns).{{sfnp|Crooks|1973|pp=51 & 62}} Shirley garrisoned those facilities with personnel from Cape Coast Castle.{{sfnp|Crooks|1973|p=62}} Fort Crèvecoeur was completely destroyed, and rebuilt in 1839 by Dutch master of works Hubertus Varlet.{{sfn|Doortmont|Smit|2007|p=337}}
Fort Crèvecœur, which lies to the east of the present port, became known in time as Ussher Fort in honour of the then Administrator of the Gold Coast, Herbert Taylor Ussher.
Currently
In all, Europeans built 27 forts on the coast of Ghana. The Dutch captured two forts from the Portuguese, and themselves built nine others. The British built ten, all before 1660.[https://books.google.com/books?id=RDw9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA71 An Introduction to the History of West Africa], Cambridge University Press. Today, only 11 of these forts are in good shape. Ussher Fort is currently being restored with funds from the European Commission and UNESCO. The purpose is to convert it to a museum and International Documentation Centre.Unesco.org - [https://ghana.un.org/en/131052-unesco-and-partners-rehabilitate-ussher-fort-slave-museum-and-documentary-centre-accra UNESCO and partners rehabilitate Ussher Fort Slave Museum and Documentary Centre in Accra ]
The fort opening hours are 9:00am to 4:30pm from Mondays to Saturdays including public holidays.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ghanamuseums.org/ussher-fort-museum.php|title=Ghana Museums & Monuments Board|website=www.ghanamuseums.org|access-date=2019-10-19}}
Chale Wote is hosted virtually in the premises of the fort.{{Cite web|date=2021-08-21|title=Two ‘Chale Wote’ festival organisers; one artist arrested at Jamestown|url=https://citinewsroom.com/2021/08/two-chale-wote-festival-organisers-one-artist-arrested-at-jamestown/|access-date=2021-08-22|website=Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana|language=en-US}}
Gallery
File:Ussher Fort 2.jpg|Ussher Fort built in 1649 and located in Ussher Town in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana,
File:One of the entrances of Ussher Fort at Jamestown, Ghana.jpg|One of the entrances of Ussher Fort at Jamestown
File:Ussher Fort, Ghana 3.jpg|Ussher Fort at Jamestown
File:Ussher Fort, Ghana 4.jpg|Ussher Fort at Jamestown
File:Ussher Fort, Ghana 2.jpg|Ussher Fort at Jamestown
File:Ussher Fort 13.jpg|Ussher Fort in Accra, Ghana
File:Ussher Fort 30.jpg|Ussher Fort in Accra, Ghana
File:Ussher Fort 16.jpg|Ussher Fort in Accra, Ghana
File:Ussher Fort 22.jpg|Ussher Fort
File:Ussher Fort 26.jpg|Ussher Fort
File:Ussher Fort 10.jpg|Ussher Fort
File:Ussher Fort 19.jpg|Ussher Fort
File:Ussher Fort 21.jpg|Ussher Fort at Ghana
File:Ussher Fort 27.jpg|Ussher Fort at Ghana
File:Ussher Fort 24.jpg|Ussher Fort at Ghana
File:Ussher Fort 8.jpg|Ussher Fort at Ghana
Notes, citations and references
Notes
{{reflist|group=Note}}
Citations
{{reflist|30em}}
References
- {{cite book |last=Crooks |first=John Joseph |date=1973 |title=Records Relating to the Gold Coast Settlements from 1750 To 1874 |location=London |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-7146-1647-6}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=yr3QSrlNPjYC&dq=shirley+mackenzie+%22gold+coast%22&pg=PA47]
- {{cite book | last1=Doortmont | first1=Michel R. | last2=Smit | first2=Jinna | title=Sources for the mutual history of Ghana and the Netherlands. An annotated guide to the Dutch archives relating to Ghana and West Africa in the Nationaal Archief, 1593-1960s | publisher=Brill | year=2007 | location= Leiden | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-SBwMhYAZw0C | isbn = 978-90-04-15850-4 }}
- {{citation |last=Kropp Dakubu |first=Mary Esther |author-link=Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu |date=1997 |title=Korle Meets the Sea: a sociolinguistic history of Accra}}
- {{cite book |last1=Soulillou |first1=Jacques |first2=Françoise Doutreuwe |last2=Salvaing |date=1993 |title=Rives coloniales: architectures, de Saint-Louis à Douala |location=Paris |publisher=Editions de l'Orstom |isbn=9782863640562}}
- {{cite book | last=Van Dantzig | first=Albert | title=Forts and Castles of Ghana | publisher=Sedco Publishing | year=1999 | location=Accra | url= https://books.google.com/books/about/Forts_and_castles_of_Ghana.html?id=YhZyAAAAMAAJ | isbn=9964-72-010-6 }}
{{commons category|Fort Crevecoeur, Accra}}
{{Gold Coast}}
Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1649