![]() ![]() The slave trade was the principal exchange and major part of the economy for many years. The Gold Coast had long been a name for the region used by Europeans because of the large gold resources found in the area. The European traders built several forts along the coastline. News of the successful trading spread quickly, and British, Dutch, Danish, Prussian and Swedish traders arrived as well. From here they acquired slaves and gold in trade for European goods, such as metal knives, beads, mirrors, rum, and guns. They built the Castle of Elmina, the first European settlement on the Gold Coast. ![]() ![]() In 1483, the Portuguese came to the continent for increased trade. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial deposits of gold in the soil. The first European explorers to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. These were the Gold Coast itself, Ashanti, the Northern Territories Protectorate and the British Togoland trust territory. The term Gold Coast is also often used to describe all of the four separate jurisdictions that were under the administration of the Governor of the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast was a British Crown Colony on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa from 1821 until its independence in 1957.
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