Fort Lijdzaamheid
Encyclopedia
Fort Lijdzaamheid is a Dutch-built fort located in the township of Apam
, in the Central Region
of Ghana
.
Commenced as a stone trading lodge in 1697, the lodge was later fortified to secure the Dutch state of Acorn, which was tenuously held between the two British-held territories of Fante & Agona in the modern-day Central Region of Ghana.
By 1721, the lodge had been converted into a defensive fortification, which sat on a craggy peninsula which juts out from the township to the south, offering a commanding view of Apam's harbour to the north, and the Gulf Of Guinea coast to the south, east, and west.
Early in 1782, Captain Thomas Shirley in the 50-gun ship Leander
and the sloop-of-war
Alligator sailed to the Dutch Gold Coast
. Britain was at war with The Netherlands and Shirley captured the small Dutch forts at Mouri (Fort Nassau
- 20 guns), Kormantin (Courmantyne or Fort Amsterdam
- 32 guns), Apam
(Fort Lijdzaamheid or Fort Patience - 22 guns), Senya Beraku (Fort Goede Hoop
- 18 guns), and Accra
(Fort Crêvecoeur
- 32 guns).
Apam
Apam is a coastal town in the Central Region of Ghana, located approximately 45km east of the regional capital of Cape Coast.Apam is the site of Fort Lijdzaamheid, a Dutch-built fort which was completed in 1702, which dominates the fishing harbour and town from a rocky peninsula located on the...
, in the Central Region
Central Region (Ghana)
The Central Region is one of Ghana's ten administrative regions. It is bordered by the Ashanti and Eastern regions to the north, Western region to the west, Greater Accra region to the east, and to the south by the Atlantic Ocean.-Districts:...
of Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
.
Commenced as a stone trading lodge in 1697, the lodge was later fortified to secure the Dutch state of Acorn, which was tenuously held between the two British-held territories of Fante & Agona in the modern-day Central Region of Ghana.
By 1721, the lodge had been converted into a defensive fortification, which sat on a craggy peninsula which juts out from the township to the south, offering a commanding view of Apam's harbour to the north, and the Gulf Of Guinea coast to the south, east, and west.
Early in 1782, Captain Thomas Shirley in the 50-gun ship Leander
HMS Leander (1780)
HMS Leander was a Portland-class 50-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy, launched at Chatham on 1 July 1780. She served on the West Coast of Africa, West Indies, and the Halifax station. During the French Revolutionary Wars she participated in the Battle of the Nile before a French ship captured her....
and the sloop-of-war
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
Alligator sailed to the Dutch Gold Coast
Dutch Gold Coast
The Dutch Gold Coast or Dutch Guinea, officially Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea was a portion of coastal West Africa that was gradually colonized by the Dutch, beginning in 1598...
. Britain was at war with The Netherlands and Shirley captured the small Dutch forts at Mouri (Fort Nassau
Fort Nassau (Ghana)
Fort Nassau was the first Dutch established fort on the Dutch Gold Coast, near Moree, Ghana. A trading post was established between 1595 and 1600, which was attacked and burned to the ground by the Portuguese in 1610. In 1612 a reinforced fort was built, which due to the unfamiliarity of the Dutch...
- 20 guns), Kormantin (Courmantyne or Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam (Ghana)
Fort Amsterdam is a fort in Kormantin, Ghana. It was built by the English between 1638 and 1645 as Fort Cormantine and was captured by admiral Engel de Ruyter of the Dutch West India Company in 1665...
- 32 guns), Apam
Apam
Apam is a coastal town in the Central Region of Ghana, located approximately 45km east of the regional capital of Cape Coast.Apam is the site of Fort Lijdzaamheid, a Dutch-built fort which was completed in 1702, which dominates the fishing harbour and town from a rocky peninsula located on the...
(Fort Lijdzaamheid or Fort Patience - 22 guns), Senya Beraku (Fort Goede Hoop
Fort Goede Hoop (Ghana)
Fort Goede Hoop or Fort Good Hope is was a fort on the Dutch Gold Coast, established in 1667 near Senya Beraku. The fort was occupied between 1781 and 1785 by the British, as well as by the local Akim population between 1811 and 1816. In 1868, the fort was ceded to the United Kingdom in a large...
- 18 guns), and Accra
Accra
Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...
(Fort Crêvecoeur
Fort Crevecoeur
Fort Crevecoeur was founded near the present site of Creve Coeur, a suburb of Peoria, Illinois, in January 1680.-Founding:...
- 32 guns).