Sekondi-Takoradi, a city comprising the twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi. It is the capital of Sekondi – Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and the Western Region of Ghana. Sekondi-Takoradi is the region’s largest city and an industrial and commercial centre, with a population of 445,205 people.
Sekondi, older and larger, was the site of Dutch Fort Orange (1642) and English Fort Sekondi (1682). It prospered from a railroad built in 1903 to hinterland mineral and timber resources.
Takoradi was the site of Dutch Fort Witsen (1665) and has an important deepwater seaport, Ghana’s first, built in 1928. During World War II, RAF Takoradi was an important staging point for British aircraft destined for Egypt. Spitfire fighter planes were shipped in crates from England to Takoradi where they were assembled then flown via Nigeria and Sudan to the war in Libya. 26 Squadron SAAF was also based in Takoradi during World War II flying anti-submarine and convoy protection patrols over the Atlantic. A number of South African airmen are buried in the Takoradi European Public cemetery.The cities combined in 1946. On 20 November 1969, the city became the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sekondi–Takoradi.
The Gold Coast, as Ghana was known before it became its own republic, has a variety of interesting forts to see. Fort San Sebastian, in Shama is another of these. This fort was also originally built by the Portuguese and served as a trading post from 1520 until 1526. Later, the Dutch obtained the fort in 1642 after which it was used as a slave port. During the time of the African Slave Trade a lot of Africans were kidnapped and enslaved. Many of those were imprisoned in Fort San Sebastian before being transported to North America.
