During the colonial period in Ghana, at the time known as the Gold Coast, roughly corresponding to the 15th through 19th centuries, European-style coastal forts and castles were built, mostly by the Portuguese, Dutch and British.

[1] These forts linked the trading routes established by the Portuguese and acted as important market places for the gold and slave trades.

[1] Because of their testimony to precolonial and colonial Afro-European commerce, including the Atlantic slave trade, and their profound effect on the history of West Africa, a number of these fortifications and outposts were designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979.

[2] Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions is the collective designation by UNESCO of European-style fortifications and outposts (mostly Portuguese, Dutch and British) along the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) during the colonial period.

The term specifically applies to a number of such fortifications designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979, including:[1] Other coastal forts included in Ghana's material cultural heritage list of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board:[3] Not listed as heritage (mostly largely destroyed or otherwise lost): By region (from East to West):