Sekondi, city and port, southwestern Ghana, capital of the Western Region, on the Gulf of Guinea. The city was formed in 1946 by amalgamating the port of Takoradi and the city of Sekondi. The city is a fishing and trading center; it has railroad workshops, sawmills, cold-storage facilities, and cocoa-processing, plywood, and tire-retreading plants. The community is the site of Takoradi Polytechnic and the Sekondi Regional Library. In the Sekondi section are the remains of Fort Orange (1642), which is now a lighthouse.
Sekondi was founded in the 16th century by the Dutch; English and Swedish forts were built in the 17th century. The city was under joint British and Dutch control until 1872; subsequently it was ruled solely by Britain. Sekondi began to flourish after 1903, when it was connected by rail to the mineral-rich interior. A Swedish fort was built in Takoradi in 1640; the area remained undeveloped until the 1920s, when port facilities were constructed. Population (1990 estimate) 116,500.Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Sekondi Information info
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