[1] Along with several other castles in Ghana, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 because of its testimony to the history of European trade, colonization, and exploitation in the region.

[2] It was built by the Portuguese from 1520 to 1526 as a trading post in and captured by the Dutch West India Company in 1642.

The original purpose of the fort was to serve as a deterrent to English sailors interfering in Shama trade.

[1] The first black European university professor, Anton Wilhelm Amo, lies interred in the fort's graveyard.

[3] The Zamani Project documented Fort San Sebastian in 2013, with terrestrial 3D laser scanning.