Forts, Castles and Society in West Africa: Gold Coast and Dahomey, 1450-1960

Long regarded as disturbing remnants of the Atlantic slave trade, the European forts and castles of West Africa have attained iconic positions as universally significant historical monuments and world heritage tourist destinations. This volume of original contributions by leading Africanists presents extensive new historical views of the forts in Ghana and Benin, providing both impetus and a scholarly basis for further research and fresh debate about their historical and geographical contexts; their role in the slave trade; the economic and political connections, centred on the forts, between the Europeans and local African polities; and their place in variously focused heritage studies and endeavours.

Contributors are Hermann W. von Hesse, Daniel Hopkins, Jon Olav Hove, Ole Justesen, Ineke van Kessel, Robin Law, John Kwadwo Osei-Tutu, Jarle Simensen, Selena Axelrod Winsnes+, Larry Yarak.

John Kwadwo Osei-Tutu, Ph.D. (2000), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), is Associate Professor of History (African and World) at NTNU. He has published a monograph, many articles and edited volumes, including (with Victoria Ellen Smith) Shadows of Empire in West Africa: New Perspectives on European fortifications (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).