Accra

Sister cities

• Columbia
• Johannesburg
• Washington, D.C.
• Columbus
• São Tomé
• Chicago
• Paynesville

History

By the 15th century, the kingdom of Accra ruled the area from the capital at Ayawaso. Initially, Accra was not the most prominent trading centre; the trading hubs were the ports at Ada and Prampram, along with the inland centres of Dodowa and Akuse. A Portuguese fort was destroyed by the local inhabitants in 1576; trade afterwards was conducted on the beaches. The Dutch later built the nearby Fort Crèvecœur while the British and the Swedes built James Fort and Christiansborg castles, respectively, in the 17th century. By 1646 the kingdom was a regional power, bolstered by European trade. It depended on the goodwill of the rising Akwamu Kingdom, which controlled the trade routes in the interior. A dispute in 1646 escalated to war when Accra invaded Larteh. At the same time, Accra was weakened by a civil war. In 1677 Akwamuhene Ansa Sasraku, using the circumcision of a visiting Akwamu prince as pretext, attacked Accra. He sacked Ayawaso and beheaded the king, Okai Koi. The king's son, Ofori, retreated to 'Small Accra', the town that had grown up under the walls of Fort Crèvecœur. Ansa Sasraku's attempts to finish off the Accrans were defeated by the guns of the Danish Fort Christianborg. Ofori and his people survived for years, until the Akwamu fomented a rebellion amongst the Danish garrison, and the fort was turned over to the Portuguese. Ansa Sasraku returned in 1681, burning Osu town and Small Accra and chasing Ofori to exile in Fetu. As Akwamu continued to expand, strips of land east and west were added to the Accra province. Britain gradually acquired the interests of all other countries beginning in 1851, when Denmark sold Christiansborg (which they had acquired from the Swedes) and their other forts to the British. The Netherlands was the last to sell out, in…

Geography

As a coastal city, Accra is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and sea level rise, with population growth putting increasing pressure on the coastal areas. Drainage infrastructure is particularly at risk, which has implications for people's livelihoods, especially in informal settlements. Inadequate planning regulation and law enforcement, and perceived corruption in government processes, lack of communication across government departments and lack of concern or government co-ordination with respect to building codes are impediments to progressing the development of Accra's drainage infrastructure, according to the Climate & Development Knowledge Network.

Most-observed species

• Yellow fever mosquito

  Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) · Insecta
  2,671
• Pied Crow

  Corvus albus Statius Muller, 1776 · Aves
  1,089
• Laughing Dove

  Spilopelia senegalensis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,038
• Common Bulbul

  Pycnonotus barbatus (Desfontaines, 1789) · Aves
  744
• Western Plantain-eater

  Crinifer piscator (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  739
• Cattle Egret

  Bubulcus ibis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  694
• Black Kite

  Milvus migrans (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  685
• Red-eyed Dove

  Streptopelia semitorquata (Rüppell, 1837) · Aves
  562

Most recent

• M 4 — 2020-06-24
  4 km NW of Gbawe, Ghana