colony · Scandinavia and the Baltic
Danish Gold Coast
Origins
Danish traders, led by Hendrik Carloff, arrived on the Gold Coast in 1658 and seized the Swedish forts. Denmark built Fort Frederiksborg near Cape Coast and in 1661 bought the site of Christiansborg at Osu, near modern Accra, from the king of Accra.
Rule and society
The Danish West India and Guinea Company and later the crown ran a string of forts east of Accra, exchanging textiles, guns and alcohol for gold and enslaved Africans, who were shipped to the Danish West Indies. In 1792 Denmark became the first European state to ban the transatlantic slave trade, effective from 1803, after which the Danes tried plantation farming inland.
Decline and legacy
Unprofitable after the end of the slave trade, the forts were sold to Britain in 1850 and joined the British Gold Coast colony. Christiansborg, also known as Osu Castle, later served as the seat of Ghana's government.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (3)
- Danish Gold Coast was a colony of Denmark-Norway1658 CE – 1814 CE
- Swedish Gold Coast was conquered by Danish Gold Coast1658 CE – 1663 CE
- Danish Gold Coast was a colony of Kingdom of Denmark1814 CE – 1850 CE
More states of Scandinavia and the Baltic →
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Danish Gold Coast. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/danish-gold-coast
- MLA
- “Danish Gold Coast.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/danish-gold-coast. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Danish Gold Coast.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/danish-gold-coast.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Danish Gold Coast’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/danish-gold-coast (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻