Sustainable Growth: Denmark & Ghana — Four Centuries of Entanglement

What does “sustainable growth” mean between a former colonial power and its former colony? The Denmark-Ghana relationship — one of the longest continuous European-African partnerships — offers an uncomfortable but instructive answer.

I. The Colonial Foundation (1658–1850)

The Denmark-Ghana relationship did not begin with development aid or climate partnerships. It began with forts, gold, and the slave trade.

Denmark-Norway established trading posts along the Gulf of Guinea — in what is now southeastern Ghana — from the 1650s onward. Over nearly two centuries, the Danes built more than thirty forts, trading lodges, and plantations on the Gold Coast, making them a significant European presence in the region alongside the British, Dutch, and Portuguese. (National Museum of Denmark, “Denmark and the Gold Coast”)

The centerpiece of Danish colonial power was Fort Christiansborg (now Osu Castle) in Accra. The fort was acquired from the Ga people in 1661 and named after King Christian V of Denmark. (UNESCO World Heritage Centre, “Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions”) Christiansborg is not a minor historical footnote — it is arguably Ghana’s most important heritage site:

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed 1979), part of the Forts and Castles of Ghana designation
An image of the castle appears on the Ghana Coat of Arms
It served as Ghana’s seat of government from independence in 1957 until President John Kufuor moved to Jubilee House (Golden Jubilee House) in 2008 (GhanaWeb, “Christiansborg Castle”)

The Akwamu Seizure: African Agency in the Colonial Story

One of the most remarkable episodes in Gold Coast history occurred in 1693, when warriors of the Akwamu ethnic group seized Fort Christiansborg from the Danish garrison. The Akwamu, led by Assameni, infiltrated the fort disguised as merchants, overpowered the garrison, and held the fort for approximately one year before selling it back to the Danes for 50 marks of gold. (Kwame Arhin, “The Dutch and the Danes on the Gold Coast in the Eighteenth Century,” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, 1961)

Critically, the Akwamu retained the keys to the fort — and the keys remain in the ethnic group’s possession to this day. They are periodically displayed during cultural ceremonies, a living symbol of resistance and sovereignty that predates modern independence movements by nearly three centuries.

II. The Slave Trade: Denmark’s “Unforgivable” History

The commercial engine of Denmark’s Gold Coast presence was the transatlantic slave trade. Danish ships transported an estimated 100,000 enslaved Africans — primarily from the Gold Coast — to the Danish West Indies (present-day U.S. Virgin Islands: St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix). (Per Hernæs, Slaves, Danes, and African Coast Society, University of Trondheim, 1995)

The trade followed the standard triangular pattern:

From Denmark: Guns, ammunition, liquor, cloth, iron tools, and trade goods
From the Gold Coast: Gold, ivory, and captive Africans
To the Caribbean: Enslaved people forced into plantation labor producing sugar, cotton, and tobacco

The 1792 Abolition — First in Europe

Denmark holds a distinctive and complex position in abolition history. In 1792, King Christian VII issued a royal decree banning the Danish transatlantic slave trade — making Denmark the first European colonial power to formally prohibit the trade. The ban took effect in 1803, after a ten-year phase-out period that allowed traders to continue operations. (Danish National Archives, “Abolition of the Slave Trade 1792”)

Historians have debated the motives. The decree was partly driven by Enlightenment ideals championed by Ernst Schimmelmann, the Danish Finance Minister, but also by economic calculation — the slave trade had become less profitable, and Denmark hoped to transition to self-sustaining plantation economies in both the Caribbean and on the Gold Coast. (Erik Gøbel, The Danish Slave Trade and Its Abolition, Brill, 2016)

The post-abolition period was largely a failure. Denmark attempted to establish plantation agriculture on the Gold Coast — growing coffee, sugar, and tobacco in the Akuapem Hills — but the ventures proved unprofitable. Financial strain compounded by losses during the Napoleonic Wars made the colonies untenable. In 1850, Denmark sold all its Gold Coast possessions to Great Britain for £10,000. (National Museum of Denmark, “Sale of the Gold Coast to Britain”)

III. Reckoning With the Past

For most of the 20th century, Denmark’s colonial history in Africa was largely forgotten by the Danish public. The Gold Coast chapter was overshadowed by the more prominent narrative of the Danish West Indies (sold to the United States in 1917 for $25 million). Many Danes were simply unaware their country had participated in the African slave trade or maintained plantations in Ghana.

The Queen’s Visit (2017)

In November 2017, Queen Margrethe II became the first Danish monarch to visit Ghana, accompanied by Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen and a delegation of politicians and business representatives. (Reuters, “Danish queen visits Ghana to confront colonial past,” November 2017)

Samuelsen described the shared history as a “shameful and unforgivable part of Danish history” — language that was widely reported as an apology, though Danish officials were careful to stop short of a formal state apology. (The Guardian, “Danish foreign minister calls slave trade ‘unforgivable’,” November 2017)

The distinction matters. A formal apology could carry legal implications regarding reparations — a topic Denmark, like most former colonial powers, has carefully avoided.

Frederiksgave: Archaeology as Reconciliation

One of the most significant cultural projects to emerge from the Denmark-Ghana relationship is the Frederiksgave Plantation restoration in the Akuapem Hills, approximately 40 km north of Accra.

Starting in 2005, Ghanaian and Danish archaeologists jointly excavated the plantation site — one of Denmark’s failed post-abolition agricultural ventures. The site has been restored as a historical exhibition and cultural center documenting the shared colonial past, supported by the National Museum of Denmark and Ghana’s Museums and Monuments Board. (National Museum of Denmark, “Frederiksgave — A Danish Plantation in Ghana”)

The project was significant not only for its archaeological findings but for its impact on Danish public awareness. Before Frederiksgave, the Danish public’s understanding of their country’s African colonial history was, by most accounts, minimal.

IV. Post-Independence Partnership (1957–2020)

Ghana’s independence on March 6, 1957 — the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence from colonial rule — reframed the relationship entirely. Under Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana became a symbol of Pan-African aspiration, and Denmark was among the European nations that pivoted from colonial extraction to development assistance.

The Folk High School Model

One of Denmark’s earliest post-independence contributions was the establishment of the Folk High School at Tsito in Ghana’s Volta Region — one of the first development education projects in Africa, carried out by a Danish NGO. (Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Denmark-Ghana Partnership”)

The Folk High School model — folkehøjskole — is a distinctly Danish institution rooted in the 19th-century ideas of N.F.S. Grundtvig: residential adult education focused on civic engagement, dialogue, and community building rather than formal credentials. Exporting this model to post-independence Ghana represented Denmark’s attempt to contribute civic infrastructure rather than merely economic aid.

Development Aid

Denmark has been a consistent development partner to Ghana for over six decades. Key dimensions include:

Bilateral aid: Denmark has provided development assistance to Ghana continuously since the 1960s, with Ghana designated as a priority country for Danish development cooperation under Danida (the Danish International Development Agency). (Danida, “Ghana Country Programme”)
Governance and decentralization: Danish aid has focused significantly on supporting local governance structures, decentralization, and democratic institutions
Water and sanitation: Major investments in rural water supply and sanitation infrastructure
Private sector development: Programs connecting Danish and Ghanaian businesses

Denmark is notably one of the few countries to consistently meet or exceed the UN target of 0.7% of GNI allocated to Official Development Assistance (ODA), a commitment that has made it one of the world’s most generous aid donors per capita. (OECD, “Denmark Development Co-operation Profile”)

V. The Modern Partnership: Climate, Trade, and the Question of Sustainability

The contemporary Denmark-Ghana relationship is built around three pillars: climate and energy, trade and investment, and governance. Denmark positions itself as a global leader in green transition — wind energy, sustainable agriculture, maritime decarbonization — and Ghana, as West Africa’s most stable democracy and second-largest economy, is a natural partner.

Green Energy and Climate Finance

Denmark has committed significant resources to supporting Ghana’s energy transition:

The Danish Energy Partnership Programme (DEPP) supports Ghana’s renewable energy development and energy efficiency policies. (Danish Energy Agency, “Ghana Partnership”)
Danish companies like Vestas (wind turbines) and Ørsted (offshore wind) have explored opportunities in West African markets
Denmark has contributed to the Green Climate Fund and bilateral climate finance mechanisms targeting Ghana

Trade Realities

Despite the long historical relationship, bilateral trade volumes remain modest. Ghana’s primary exports to Denmark include cocoa, gold, and tropical products, while Denmark exports machinery, pharmaceuticals, and processed food. The trade relationship reflects a broader pattern: former colonial relationships rarely translate into proportionate modern economic partnerships.

The Sustainability Question

This is where the historical depth matters. When Denmark and Ghana discuss “sustainable growth” today, the conversation carries four centuries of context:

Extractive origins: The original relationship was purely extractive — gold, ivory, human beings. The infrastructure Denmark built (forts, trading posts) served extraction, not development.
Abolition without reparation: Denmark was first to ban the slave trade but has never paid reparations or issued a formal apology. The word “unforgivable” was chosen precisely because it acknowledges harm without accepting liability.
Aid as partial redress: Denmark’s generous development aid to Ghana can be read — and is read, by some Ghanaian scholars — as a form of informal reparation, though Denmark does not frame it this way.
Green transition as new extraction? Critical voices ask whether the current push for “green partnerships” risks reproducing colonial patterns — European countries securing access to African resources (this time minerals for batteries, solar capacity, carbon credits) while the value addition happens elsewhere.

VI. What Sustainable Growth Actually Requires

The Denmark-Ghana story is a case study in what “sustainable growth” means when the relationship has colonial roots. Three principles emerge:

1. Historical honesty is infrastructure. The Frederiksgave project, the Queen’s visit, and Samuelsen’s remarks all demonstrate that acknowledging the past is not merely symbolic — it creates the political conditions for genuine partnership. Countries that refuse to reckon with colonial history find their modern partnerships built on unstable ground.

2. Sovereignty must be real, not performed. The Akwamu keys are more than a cultural artifact. They represent a principle: partnership requires that both parties have genuine agency. Development frameworks that position African countries as recipients rather than co-designers reproduce colonial dynamics regardless of intent.

3. Value must be created locally. The test of any “sustainable growth” partnership is simple: does it build productive capacity in both countries, or does it extract value from one to benefit the other? Denmark’s Folk High School model — investing in civic infrastructure and human capacity — represents one answer. Carbon credit schemes that monetize African ecosystems for European compliance markets represent another.

The keys to Fort Christiansborg are still in Akwamu hands. Sustainable growth begins with understanding why that matters.

Sources

National Museum of Denmark — Denmark and the Gold Coast
UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions
GhanaWeb — Christiansborg Castle
Kwame Arhin — “The Dutch and the Danes on the Gold Coast in the Eighteenth Century,” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, 1961 — JSTOR
Per Hernæs — Slaves, Danes, and African Coast Society, University of Trondheim, 1995 — WorldCat
Danish National Archives — Abolition of the Slave Trade 1792
Erik Gøbel — The Danish Slave Trade and Its Abolition, Brill, 2016 — Brill
National Museum of Denmark — Sale of the Gold Coast to Britain
Reuters — “Danish queen visits Ghana to confront colonial past,” November 2017
The Guardian — “Danish minister calls slave trade ‘shameful, unforgivable’,” November 2017
National Museum of Denmark — Frederiksgave — A Danish Plantation in Ghana
Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Denmark-Ghana Partnership
Danida — Ghana Country Programme
OECD — Denmark Development Co-operation Profile
Danish Energy Agency — Ghana Partnership