Fort Apollonia

Beyin, Ghana, Ghana

---

Fort Apollonia is a historic fort located in Beyin, Ghana, built by the English between 1766 and 1768 as the last fort constructed on the Gold Coast.

The Nzema Chief Amenihyia granted permission for its construction to counter Dutch colonial ambitions and facilitate trade, with the name "Apollonia" given by a Portuguese explorer who first saw the area on Saint Apollonia's Day.

The fort's economic importance declined after the slave trade was abolished, leading to its abandonment in 1819, and it was later transferred to the Dutch in 1868, who renamed it Fort Willem III in honor of their monarch. After reverting to British control in 1872, the fort was bombarded by a British gunboat in 1873 during an attack on Beyin due to the town's coalition with the Asante Kingdom, leaving it in ruins.

The fort was rehabilitated in the 1960s by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and now houses the Museum of Nzema Culture and History, which opened in 2010 and is dedicated to Nzema culture, history, and Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president. Fort Apollonia was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 as part of Ghana's forts and castles that testify to the Atlantic slave trade and European colonial history.