Cape Coast in the context of "Sekondi-Takoradi"

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⭐ Core Definition: Cape Coast

Cape Coast is a city and the capital of the Cape Coast Metropolitan District and the Central Region of Ghana. It is located about 38.4 mi (61.8 km) from Sekondi-Takoradi and approximately 80 mi (130 km) from Accra. The city is one of the most historically significant settlements in Ghana. As of the 2010 census, Cape Coast has a population of 108,374 people. The majority of people who live in the city are Fante.

The city was once the capital of the Fetu Kingdom, an aboriginal Guan kingdom located 10 miles (16 km) north of Cape Coast. Once the Europeans arrived, they established the Cape Coast Castle, which eventually fell under the hands of the British who named the castle and its surrounding settlement the headquarters of the Royal African Company. Cape Coast became the capital of the Gold Coast from 1821 until 1877, when it was transferred to Accra.

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Cape Coast in the context of Ghana

Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated with the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to the east. Ghana covers an area of 239,567 km (92,497 sq mi), spanning diverse ecologies, from coastal savannas to tropical rainforests. With over 35 million inhabitants, Ghana is the thirteenth-most populous country in Africa, and the second-most populous country in West Africa specifically. The capital and largest city is Accra; other significant cities include Tema, Kumasi, Sunyani, Ho, Cape Coast, Techiman, Tamale, Bolga, Wa, and Sekondi-Takoradi.

The earliest kingdoms to emerge in Ghana were Bonoman in the south and the Kingdom of Dagbon in the north, with Bonoman existing in the area during the 11th century. The Asante Empire and other Akan kingdoms in the south emerged over the centuries. Beginning in the 15th century, the Portuguese Empire, followed by other European powers, contested the area for trading rights, until the British ultimately established control of the coast by the 19th century. Following more than a century of colonial resistance, the current borders of the country took shape, encompassing four separate British colonial territories: Gold Coast, Ashanti, the Northern Territories, and British Togoland. These were unified as an independent dominion within the Commonwealth of Nations. On 6 March 1957 Ghana became the first colony in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve sovereignty. Under President Kwame Nkrumah, it became influential in decolonisation efforts and the Pan-African movement.

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Cape Coast in the context of Fernandino peoples

The Fernandino people are creoles, multi-ethnic or multi-racial populations who developed in Equatorial Guinea (Spanish Guinea). Their name is derived from the island of Fernando Pó, where many worked. This island was named for the Portuguese explorer Fernão do Pó, credited with discovering the region.

Each population had a distinct ethnic, social, cultural and linguistic history. Members of these communities provided most of the labor that built and expanded the cocoa farming industry on Fernando Pó during the 1880s and 1890s. The Fernandino of Fernando Po were closely related to each other. Because of the history of labor in this area, where workers were recruited, effectively impressed, from Freetown, Cape Coast, and Lagos, the Fernandino also had family ties to those areas. Eventually these ethnically distinct groups intermarried and integrated. In 21st-century Bioko, their differences are considered marginal.

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Cape Coast in the context of Fante people

The modern Mfantsefo or Fante ("Fanti" is an older spelling) confederacy is a combination of Akan people and aboriginal Guan people. The Fante people are mainly located in the Central and Western regions of Ghana, West Africa, occupying the forest and coastal areas. Their land stretches from the eastern part of western region in the west to Gomoa in the east. The Fante can be broadly categorized into two groups – the Borbor/Boka Fante (Akan ancestry) and the Etsii Fante (Guan ancestry). Over the last half-century, Fante communities have been established as far as Gambia, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire and even Angola due to fishing expeditions. Major Fante cities and towns in modern Ghana include Cape Coast, Saltpond, Sekondi, Elmina, Agona Swedru, Mankessim, Winneba, Shama, Apam, Komenda, Kasoa and Anomabo.

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