Fort Saint Anthony was a fort built by the Portuguese in 1515 near the town of Axim, in what is now Ghana. In 1642, the Dutch captured the fort and subsequently made it part of the Dutch Gold Coast. Fort Santo Antonio, subsequently known as Fort Saint Anthony, is one of the oldest forts built by Europeans during the Gold Coast period. It was located in Axim, Ghana’s Western Region. During the Portuguese occupation, a trading post was erected near the Ankobra River in Axin, but it was abandoned due to raids by the Axim people. In 1515, they built Santo Antonio, a large triangular fort on a small point adjacent to the River Ankobia. Following St. George’s Castle, the Portuguese constructed Fort Santo Antonio (Elmina Castle). A three-meter deep rock-cut trench was built on the landward side to improve protection. The Dutch handed over the Fort to the British authority in 1872 and left the Gold Coast. The British forfeited their monopoly over the slave trade and their control over the area that had previously been their dominion by handing over the Fort to them. Following Ghana’s independence in the 1950s, the British handed up the Fort to the country. It was restored to use as government and local government offices.