The History of Christiansborg Castle
Ghana’s castles, forts and lodges date back to the fifteenth century. Between 1482 and 1786, Europeans constructed approximately 80 castles, forts and lodges stretching along the 400-mile coastline between Keta and Beyin, formerly and notoriously known as the “Coast of Guinea” and “White Man’s Grave”. For several centuries, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Swedes, Brandenburg-Prussians, Danes and English and Africans lived and worked at these sites.
Christiansborg Castle in Osu, Accra, played a pivotal role, strategically situated at the intersection of important inland and transatlantic trade routes. The Swedes built Christiansborg Castle in 1652, as a lodge used mostly for the storage of goods. In 1661, the Danes purchased the land beneath the lodge from the Ga Paramount Chief Okaikoi for the sum 3,200 gold florins.
They built a fair sized stone fort and named it Fort Christiansborg or Christian’s Fortress, after the King of Denmark, Christian IV. Over time, it was enlarged and converted from a fort into a castle so as to provide more storage and living space, as well as meeting the need for stronger defenses to compete with the Dutch and English coastal trade. In 1685, Christiansborg Castle became the new Danish headquarters.
An impregnable imperial fortification, Christiansborg Castle contained a courtyard, cistern, chapel, ‘mulatto school’, storerooms and living quarters, a gable with a bell tower and twenty-eight cannon. The cistern was inscribed with Danish Governor Carl Gustav Engmann’s name (1752-1757), and two structures bore inscriptions with the ciphers of Christian VI and Christian VII. A small room facing out to the sea served to bring in goods from the beach directly underneath. The castle included a governor, bookkeeper, physician and chaplain, alongside a garrison of Danes and Africans, who were known as ‘castle slaves.’
Between 1694 and 1803, guns, ammunition, liquor, cloth, iron tools, brass objects and glass beads were exchanged for gold and ivory, as well as enslaved Africans who were transported to the Danish West Indies, comprising St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas islands. The Danish transatlantic slave trade transported approximately 100,000 enslaved Africans.
Christiansborg Castle was so vital to Denmark’s economy that from 1688 until 1747, Danish ducats and double-ducats bore a view of the castle and the word ‘Christiansborg’. Christiansborg Castle along with nine other forts and lodges enabled Denmark to acquire a near monopoly of the trade on the west coast.
Apart from a few brief periods, the site remained occupied by the Danish. Between 1660 and 1661, it was Dutch occupied. Between 1679 and 1683, it was sold and occupied by the Portuguese (renamed Fort Sao Francis Xavier), and between 1685 and 1689 it was remortgaged to the British. In 1693, Asameni, a powerful Akwamu trader and his men disguised as merchants who wished to purchase guns and ammunitions, entered the castle and through subterfuge, gained possession of Christiansborg Castle. Asameni assumed the title of Governor and donned a Danish officer’s official uniform, until the site was returned to the Danes in 1694. However, the keys of the Castle were never returned and to this day continue to be part of Akwamu stool property.
The Danish Edict of 16th March 1792 officially marked the end of the Danish transatlantic slave trade, though it was not enforced until 1803. However, this ten-year period of ‘adjustment’ meant that the Danes claimed to be the first nation to abolish the transatlantic slave trade. With Denmark’s loss of Norway to Sweden from 1814 onwards, the country faced unprecedented financial difficulties, yet was reluctant to give up its territories. However, in 1850, Denmark sold Christiansborg Castle to the British for £10,000 (as well as forts Augustaborg, Fredensborg, Kongensten, Prinsensten and Prøvesten, and the plantations in the Akuapem Mountains).
In 1862, Christiansborg Castle was severely damaged by an earthquake, and two of the upper floors collapsed. These were reconstructed and in 1873, the castle became the British seat of colonial government in the Gold Coast. After 1876, British colonial Governors resided in the castle but abandoned it between 1890 and 1901. During that period it functioned as a constabulary mess and then as a lunatic asylum. In 1902, it reverted to the seat of government under colonial British rule.
With Ghana’s independence from Britain in 1957, Christiansborg Castle was renamed Government House. In 1960, Kwame Nkrumah was appointed the first President and Head of State. The castle continued as the seat of government and also served as the President’s official residence. President Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings continued this arrangement. But in 2009, President Kuffour moved the seat of government into what is now known as Flagstaff House, because he felt it was inappropriate for the seat of government to be located in a building so closely identified with the trans-Atlantic slave trade. But, President John Atta Mills subsequently reversed this decision later that year. However, in 2013 the seat of government and the official residence moved back to Flagstaff House under President John Dramani Mahama.
In February 2017, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced plans to convert the castle into a Heads of State Museum. Today, most of the government departments are based at what is now called Jubilee House in Accra, but some government employees remain in what is now known simply as ‘The Castle’ or ‘Osu Castle.’
Today, Christiansborg Castle is protected as a National Monument under the National Liberation Council Decree (N.L.C.D) 387 of 1969 and Executive Instrument (E.I) 29 of 1973.
Prior to the Christiansborg Archaeological Heritage Project, no archaeological research has been conducted. For the reason, Christiansborg Castle’s continued occupation as Ghana’s seat of government, and the fact that some government employees continue to work there.
However, in 1960, the Public Works Department reconstructed the Cabinet Secretariat building. They discovered English clay and local smoking pipes, a small decorated gold-dust pot, an elaborate silver horn ornament, State swords, a groundnut, European knives, local and European bead necklaces. These findings are currently housed in the National Museum.
Christiansborg Castle – A Unique Heritage Site
As a site of incarceration and deportation, the Castle represents the last point at which captive African men, women, and children departed from the African continent and journeyed through the Middle Passage into enslavement in the Americas. It was also the Danish administrative headquarters during the transatlantic slave trade, supervising other Danish coastal fortifications and plantations inland.
Ghana became independent in 1957, and for many of the subsequent years, the Castle continued to serve as the seat of government, and the President’s official residence. Finally, in 2013, Flagstaff House (now known as Jubilee House) assumed that role, but some government offices are still based in the Castle.
Today an image of the Castle is featured on the Ghana Coat of Arms and Ghanaian currency.
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