[3] 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.

One of the alterations was the addition of large, underground dungeons that could hold as many as a thousand enslaved people awaiting export.

The basement of this imposing fortress was often the last experience enslaved people had of their homeland before being shipped off across the Atlantic, as this signified the beginning of their journey.

[5] The first fort established on the present site of Cape Coast Castle was built by Hendrik Caerloff for the Swedish Africa Company.

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.

[7] With the help of the Dutch, Caerloff succeeded in driving the Swedes out, leaving the Gold Coast on the captured ship Stockholms Slott, and with Von Krusenstjerna on board as a prisoner.

Although situated perfectly to launch an attack on Carolusborg, the English capture of Carolusborg (1664) during the prelude to the Second Anglo-Dutch War, prevented the Danes from challenging them; the English 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.

[11] In 1722, the fort was the site where 54 men of the crew of the pirate Bartholomew Roberts were condemned to death, of whom 52 were hanged and two reprieved.

[13] In 1762, an 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.

Maclean was charged with putting an end to slave trading and did so along 300 km (200 mi) of the West African coast.

However, his reputation was muddied by his willingness to support the ownership of enslaved people within the vicinity of Cape Coast Castle.

He also made peace with the Ashanti (Treaty of 1831), instituted a judicial system still in use in many African democracies, and encouraged successful and fair trading.

[18] The 1993 film Sankofa also uses the castle as a critical location in the plot, referring to its past connections to the Atlantic slave trade.