Ghana - Places of Interest

The Markets of Accra
Amongst the most famous markets of Accra are Makola market located on Kojo Thompson Road, and the Osu Night Market, where market stalls are illuminated by hundreds of lanterns and candles.

Makola Shopping Mall
Located at the Accra Central. Has adequate car parking space. The market was recently constructed to replace the old one with the same name. One can obtain beautiful African Textiles, Foodstuffs, Traditional Cloths and clothes, shoes, cosmetics, etc. It also houses a bank, restaurants, offices, etc. Because of its central location it enjoys a lot of patronage from residents in Accra and tourists alike.

Agbogbloshie Market
Located near the Timber Market on the Fadama Road. This is another newly constructed market. It enjoys all the facilities as the Makola Shopping Mall.
Other local markets found in Accra are the Kaneshie Market Complex located on the Mallam-Odorkor Road, Kaneshie, and the Kantamanto Market also located in central Accra is the capital's local and largest flea market. Items sold here are mostly imported second hand cloths, shoes and household items.

Academy of African Music and Art
The Kokrobite Academy of African Music and Art, Accra is located on the beautiful Southern coast of Ghana, 30 kilometres away from Accra. This authentic African holiday paradise offers a unique combination of beach and music, dance and art. The houses are built in the style of African architecture, surrounded by coconut palms and tropical flowers. In their own bay at the beach of the Atlantic, the vacationists and those who are interested in culture have the chance to rest and mediate. The Academy offers classes taught by highly-skilled teachers who are all members of the world-famous Obonu-Royal-Drum of Ghana group which have international experience. Every Saturday and Sunday the Academy is a meeting point where you can experience African music and the local dancing culture first hand.

A concert hall (up to 200 people) for performances and classes with ballroom are erected in the African style of the rotundas and caused by the unique architectural construction which gives optimal ventilation and a wooden dance floor.

Ashanti Goldfields
The Gold mine is locted in Obuasi, it is one of the richest gold mine in the world. For details of visits to the Ashanti Gold Mine.

Tamale
The Central market in Tamale sells everything from groceries to motorbikes. Visitors will find this colourful market full of hustle and bustle and the bargaining process between sellers and buyers captivating. A visit to the leather tanners will provide a look at the traditional process of tanning, which produces the beautiful leather products including bags, purses, necklaces and boots. Other sites include the National Cultural Center, a small zoo, and a botanical garden herbarium of the University of Development Studies. Tamale is largely Islamic so you’ll find grand mosques and very interesting traditional rustic mosques in which the faithful gather to pray five times each day.

Traditional cloth making at Boama
20km from Techiman, the village of Nsuta is famous for the production of Kyenkyen, a local folk weave cloth.

Tafi Monkey Village
Nestled in the heart of the region (43km South of Hohoe and less than 200km north of Accra) lies the beautiful village of Tafi Atome.

Tafi Atome is surrounded by an indigenous tropical forest with very high floral concentration. In this forest, one could find the endangered, playful and rather sacred True Mona Monkeys.

Believing the monkeys to be messengers to the gods and their protectors, the chiefs and people of Tafi have been protecting them for the past 200 years.

 

Forts and Castles

The castles and forts of Ghana constitute treasures par excellence, a legacy of the historic past as much to modern Ghana and Africa as to the world at large. Though built on African soil, their authors came from Europe - Portuguese, Dutch, French, Britons, Brandenburg-Prussians, Danes and Swedes. For several centuries, European masters and native African servants lived and worked in them. The warehouses teemed with gold and ivory export products as well as African slaves destined for auction in the New World, there to become ancestors to future generations of black populations. Indeed, these historic buildings were no respectors of persons and extraordinary history was made once when one castle, Elmina, held prisoner an Asante King in all his splendour during the first stage of his forced exile from Ghana. Hence, not only modern Ghanaians, but also many millions in countries of the Western hemisphere and elsewhere constitute stake-holders with an interest in ensuring the preservation of these historic castles and forts.

Recognizing their unique place in world history, the World Heritage Convention of UNESCO has designated Ghana"s castles and forts as World Heritage Monuments.

Elmina Castle

The Portuguese founded Castle "Sao Jorge and Mina" in 1482 to protect the gold-rich lands discovered in 1471. The castle was completed according to its original plan in 1486 and the town was raised to the status of a "city".
Portuguese navigators carefully selected the castle’s site, because it was strategically located at the end of a narrow promontory bounded on two sides by the Atlantic Ocean and the Benya River or lagoon. Here, in the lee of a low headland, a natural harbour provided sheltered anchorage.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Portuguese enjoyed a trade boom in spite of numerous attempts by Castilians and later the French and the English to break the Portuguese trade monopoly.

The Portuguese imported vast quantities of old and new cloths, blankets and linen from Morocco, North European copper and brassware, millions of "manilas" (metal bracelets) and iron kettles and bars in exchange for gold dust and ornaments supplied by Mina. So extensive and popular was the cloth trade that a factor maintained a large shop for old linen c.1500-1507. The commander of the castle wrote to King Manuel in 1503: "Sir, I, Diego d' Alvarenga, kiss the royal hands of your highness and I report that I have received the old linen."

The import trade raised the issue of porterage, as the natives needed assistance in conveyance of large quantities of European goods into the hinterland and coastlands. To meet this need, the Portuguese initiated, in the early 16th century, the importation of slaves from Benin to Elmina in exchange for gold, ivory, etc. As it turned out, however, the price of gold slumped in Europe in the 16th century due to massive importation of superior gold from Mexico. At the same time, the Portuguese Crown spent vast sums of resources on defensive works, artillery, galleys, warships and convoys related to Mina. Thus weakened, the Portuguese succumbed to Dutch attacks and were dislodged from Elmina in 1637.

Christiansborg Castle - Accra

Christiansborg Castle is unique among the castles and forts as it served as Government House during various periods in the 19th and 20th centuries and continues to play that role today.

The building of the first lodge in the 17th century at Ursu or Osu is attributed to the Swedish African Company. In 1657, the Swedish headquarters at Carolusburg Castle, Cape Coast was captured by the Danish Guinea Company led by Heindrick Caerlof who himself was formerly the Swedish Africa Company's Commanding Director. This resulted in all Swedish establishments including Osu lodge passing into the hands of the Danish Africa Company. Caerlof defected to the Dutch in 1659. The Danish Commander of Carolusburg was tricked into believing that Denmark had been conquered. He therefore sold Carolusburg to the Dutch and with it the former Swedish establishments including Osu lodge. The Ga Paramount Chief Okaikoi, disgusted with their trickery, asked the Dutch to leave Osu. In 1661, Jost Cramer, Danish governor of Fredericksborg, near Cape Coast, acquired land from Chief Okaikoi for 3,200 gold florins. The Danes built a stone fort to replace the earthen lodge and named it Christiansborg (Christian's fortress) after the former King of Denmark, Christian IV who had died in 1648.

In 1679, Peder Bolt, a Greek who was deputy commandant at Christiansborg, instigated the murder of the Danish commandant Johan Ulrich and sold the castle to Julian de Campo Baretto, former governor of the Portuguese Island of Sao Thome.

The Portuguese renamed the castle "St. Francis Xavier", garrisoned it, constructed a Roman Catholic Chapel in it and made architectural improvement on the bastions.


Cape Coast Castle

The strategic location of Cape Coast having a sheltered beach in proximity to Elmina Castle made it a great attraction to the European nations. Hence, for nearly a century, there was a ding-dong competition among the Portuguese, Dutch, Danes, Swedes and English to gain control of Cape Coast. The Portuguese built the first trade lodge in 1555 and called the local settlement "Cabo Corso", meaning short cape, later corrupted to Cape Coast. The Swedes, led by Krusenstjerna, built a permanent fort in 1653 and called it Carolus burg after King Charles X of Sweden. During the next 11 years, the Danes, the local Fetu chief and the Dutch each in turn captured and held Carolusburg for a time. Finally, the English fleet led by Captain Holmes took Carolusburg. The fort remained in English hands till the late 19th century serving as the West African headquarters seat of the president of the Committee of Merchants and later as the seat of the British governor.