Fort Amsterdam, Dutch colonial fort in Abandze, Ghana

Fort Amsterdam has a rectangular outline with two square and two round bastions at the corners, linked by curtain walls around a central courtyard. A one-storey building stood on the west side, a two-storey building along the north, and a line of two- or three-storey buildings on the south. The southeast bastion, designed hollow with a grated roof vent, served as a slave prison.

Fort Cormantin was built by the English between 1638 and 1645, after a 1631 agreement between an English trading company and the chief of Kormantse; it briefly served as headquarters of the English Gold Coast possessions. Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter captured it in 1665 and renamed it Fort Amsterdam. The Dutch enlarged it in 1681/82, lost it to the British in 1782–85, and ceded it in the 1868 fort exchange.

The fort carries weight in local memory as a place where families were torn apart, and people today visit to understand this painful past. Walking through the bastion where this occurred confronts you with the reality of what happened here.

The site opens daily from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM and is maintained by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board. The hilltop location offers good views but requires some effort on the way up.

Archaeological excavations near the fort uncovered remains of an old stone wall, along with 17th-century artifacts such as tobacco pipes and pottery. These findings help us understand daily life at this location during that era.