Accra, Ghana © Julien Lanoo

Accra, GHA by Julien Lanoo

Text by Joana Lazarova.

Jamestown, one of the oldest districts of Accra, is a community with a very strong identity. Its history begins with the erection of James fort by the British in 1673 and, in time, it emerged as the first man-made harbor on the coast. Located on the Gulf of Guinea, the district carries the history of its colonial past and of a dense mixture of commercial and residential uses. At the beginning of the 20th century, when the main maritime port relocated to Takoradi, and upon the country’s independence, new social differentiation transformed the beachscape, marking Jamestown to become one of the poorest and most densely populated areas of the city today.

There is no distinction between work and social space. The fishing port, the semi-informal housing, the wooden shacks, the markets and the colonial architecture are inherent to the existing socio-economic urban network. Yet despite its amorphous character, there are implications of certain disjunction: the informal settlements are separated from the colonial architecture, the market and the port by the sea defence wall. Inhabited mostly by the Ga, Jamestown is home to fishermen, merchants and artists, coexisting as part of a single dynamic and complex inhabitation.

More surveys:

[OSM-Plugin-Error]:[OL3_createMarkerList]: Invalid geo data for post ID 64658 (value: ""). Please either correct or delete the geotag in the custom field "OSM_geo_data" of this post.

[OSM-Plugin-Error]:[OL3_createMarkerList]: Invalid geo data for post ID 64721 (value: ""). Please either correct or delete the geotag in the custom field "OSM_geo_data" of this post.

[OSM-Plugin-Error]:[OL3_createMarkerList]: Invalid geo data for post ID 64797 (value: ""). Please either correct or delete the geotag in the custom field "OSM_geo_data" of this post.

[OSM-Plugin-Error]:[OL3_createMarkerList]: Invalid geo data for post ID 64925 (value: ""). Please either correct or delete the geotag in the custom field "OSM_geo_data" of this post.

[OSM-Plugin-Error]:[OL3_createMarkerList]: Invalid geo data for post ID 64939 (value: ""). Please either correct or delete the geotag in the custom field "OSM_geo_data" of this post.

[OSM-Plugin-Error]:[OL3_createMarkerList]: Invalid geo data for post ID 64958 (value: ""). Please either correct or delete the geotag in the custom field "OSM_geo_data" of this post.

[OSM-Plugin-Error]:[OL3_createMarkerList]: Invalid geo data for post ID 65066 (value: ""). Please either correct or delete the geotag in the custom field "OSM_geo_data" of this post.

[OSM-Plugin-Error]:[OL3_createMarkerList]: Invalid geo data for post ID 65500 (value: ""). Please either correct or delete the geotag in the custom field "OSM_geo_data" of this post.

[OSM-Plugin-Error]:[OL3_createMarkerList]: Invalid geo data for post ID 65533 (value: ""). Please either correct or delete the geotag in the custom field "OSM_geo_data" of this post.

[OSM-Plugin-Error]:[OL3_createMarkerList]: Invalid geo data for post ID 65586 (value: ""). Please either correct or delete the geotag in the custom field "OSM_geo_data" of this post.

[OSM-Plugin-Error]:[OL3_createMarkerList]: Invalid geo data for post ID 65774 (value: ""). Please either correct or delete the geotag in the custom field "OSM_geo_data" of this post.