Cape Coast Castle Cape Coast Castle is one of a number of " slave castles " , fortifications in Ghana built by Swedish traders , originally for trade in timber and gold , later used in the trans - Atlantic slave trade . Other Ghanaian slave castles include the Portuguese foundation of Elmina Castle ( later Dutch ) and Fort Christiansborg . They were used to hold slaves before they were loaded onto ships and traded in the Americas and the Caribbean . This “ gate of no return ” was the last stop before crossing the great Atlantic Ocean . Trade history . The large quantity of gold dust found in Ghana was what primarily attracted Europe , and many natives of Cape Coast used this to their advantage . In exchange for gold , mahogany , their own people and other local items , the natives received clothing , blanket s , spices , sugar , silk and many other items . The castle at Cape Coast was a market where these transactions took place . At the time slaves were a valuable commodity in the Caribbean and the Americas , and slaves became the principal item traded in Cape Coast . Due to this , many changes were made to Cape Coast Castle . One of the alterations was the addition of large underground dungeon s that could hold as many as a thousand slaves awaiting export . Many European nations flocked to Cape Coast in order to get a foothold in the slave trade . Business was very competitive and this led to conflict . This is the reason why the castle at Cape Coast changed hands many times during the course of its commercial history . Building history . The first lodge established on the present site of Cape Coast Castle was built by Hendrik Caerloff for the Swedish Africa Company . Caerloff was a former employee of the Dutch West India Company who had risen to the rank of fiscal before employing himself with the latter company established by Louis de Geer . As a former high - ranking officer of the Dutch , Caerloff had the friendly relations with the local chiefs necessary to establish a trading post . In 1650 , Caerloff succeeded in getting the permission of the King of Fetu to establish a fort at Cabo Corso ( meaning " short cape " in Portuguese , later corrupted to English " Cape Coast " ) . The first timber lodge was erected at the site in 1653 and named " Carolusborg " after King Charles X of Sweden . Caerloff returned to Europe in 1655 , leaving a Swede by the name of Johann Philipp von Krusenstjerna in charge of Carolusborg . Louis de Geer had however died in the meantime , and Caerloff got himself involved in a serious dispute with his heirs . In Amsterdam , he convinced merchants to give a financial injection to the Danish West India Company , for which he set sail to the Gold Coast in 1657 , with the goal in mind to capture for Denmark the Swedish lodges and forts he had established himself . With the help of the Dutch , Caerloff succeeded in driving the Swedes out , leaving the Gold Coast on the captured ship " Stockholm Slott " , and with Von Krusenstjerna on board as a prisoner . Caerloff had left Samuel Smit , also a former employee of the Dutch West India Company , in charge of Carolusborg . The Dutch were able to convince Smit in 1659 of the rumour that Denmark had been conquered by Sweden , upon which Smit rejoined the Dutch West India Company , handing over all Danish possessions to the Dutch . The King of Fetu was displeased with this , however , and prevented the Dutch from taking possession of the fort . A year later , the King decided to sell it to the Swedes . After the King died in 1663 , the Dutch were finally able to occupy the fort . The Danes had in the meantime established another fort , Fort Frederiksborg ( 1661 ) , just a few hundred yards east from Carolusborg . Although situated perfectly to launch an attack on Carolusborg , the British capture of Carolusborg ( 1664 ) during the prelude to the Second Anglo - Dutch War , prevented the Danes from challenging them ; the British had reinforced the fort , which they named Cape Coast Castle , to such an extent that even Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter deemed it impossible to conquer . As the Dutch had captured the former British headquarters at Kormantin and had rebuilt it as Fort Amsterdam , Cape Coast became the new capital of the British possessions on the Gold Coast . In 1757 , during the Seven Years ' War , a French naval squadron badly damaged and nearly captured Cape Coast Castle . This event was likely one of the most important reasons to entirely reconstruct the Castle , which was quite notorious for its collapsing walls and leaking roofs . In 1762 , a extensive spur ending in a tower was built on the western side and in 1773 , a high building along the north curtain was erected , during which the last remnants of the 17th - century fort were demolished . Greenhill Point , the bastion to the east of the castle , was replaced by two new bastions , with a sea gate in the middle . To the south , two new bastions , named Grossle ' s Bastions , replaced an old round tower as the main defensive work . The tower , which now had no military use , was extended in 1790s with two storeys , now becoming the governors ' apartments . The space below Grossle ' s Bastions was used as the new slave dungeons . Restoration . The Castle , or Castle and Dungeon , to give it its official name , was first restored in the 1920s by the British Public Works Department . In 1957 , when Ghana became independent , the castle came under the care of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board ( GMMB ) . In the early 1990s , the building was restored by the Ghanaian Government , with funds from the United Nations Development Programme ( UNDP ) , United States Agency for International Development ( USAID ) , with technical assistance from the Smithsonian Institution and other NGOs . The Cape Coast Castle , and other forts and castles in Ghana , are included on the United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) World Heritage List .