Keta — Mediated Wiki

{{Other uses}} {{Use Ghanaian English|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox settlement  | official_name = Keta | other_name = Ketta, Quittah | native_name =  | nickname = | settlement_type = Town & Municipality Capital | motto =  | image_skyline = Keta beach.jpg | imagesize = 250px | image_caption = Fort Prizenstein on the beach of Keta in 1985 | image_flag = | flag_size = | image_seal = | seal_size = | image_shield = | shield_size = | image_blank_emblem = | blank_emblem_type = | blank_emblem_size = | image_map = | mapsize = | map_caption = | image_map1 = | mapsize1 = | map_caption1 = | image_dot_map = | dot_mapsize = | dot_map_caption = | dot_x = | dot_y = | pushpin_map = Ghana | pushpin_label_position = bottom | pushpin_map_caption = Location of Keta in Volta | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flag|Ghana}} | subdivision_type1 = Region | subdivision_name1 = {{flagicon image|Flag of Volta Region.png}} Volta Region | subdivision_type2 = District | subdivision_name2 = Keta Municipal District | subdivision_type3 = | subdivision_name3 = | subdivision_type4 = | subdivision_name4 = | government_footnotes = | government_type = | leader_title = | leader_name = | leader_title1 =  | leader_name1 = | leader_title2 = | leader_name2 = | leader_title3 = | leader_name3 = | leader_title4 = | leader_name4 = | established_title =  | established_date = | established_title2 =  | established_date2 = | established_title3 =  | established_date3 =  | area_magnitude = | unit_pref = Imperial  | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 =  | area_land_km2 =  | area_water_km2 = | area_total_sq_mi = | area_land_sq_mi = | area_water_sq_mi = | area_water_percent = | area_urban_km2 = | area_urban_sq_mi = | area_metro_km2 = | area_metro_sq_mi = | area_blank1_title = | area_blank1_km2 = | area_blank1_sq_mi =  | population_as_of = 2013 | population_footnotes = | population_note = Ranked 61st in Ghana | population_total = 23,207<ref name="World Gazetteer">{{cite web|url=http://bevoelkerungsstatistik.de/wg.php?x=1170623253&men=gcis&lng=de&dat=32&geo=-85&srt=npan&col=aohdq&pt=c&va=x |title=World Gazetteer online |publisher=World-gazetteer.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111172126/http://bevoelkerungsstatistik.de/wg.php?x=1170623253&men=gcis&lng=de&dat=32&geo=-85&srt=npan&col=aohdq&pt=c&va=x |archive-date=2012-01-11 }}</ref> | population_density_km2 = | population_density_sq_mi = 1829 | population_metro = | population_density_metro_km2 = | population_density_metro_sq_mi = | population_urban = | population_density_urban_km2 = | population_density_urban_sq_mi = | population_blank1_title = Ethnicities | population_blank1 = | population_blank2_title = Religions | population_blank2 = | population_density_blank1_km2 = | population_density_blank1_sq_mi =  | timezone = GMT | utc_offset = | timezone_DST = GMT | utc_offset_DST = | coordinates = {{coord|5|55|N|0|59|E|region:GH|display=inline}} | elevation_footnotes =  | elevation_m = | elevation_ft =  | postal_code_type =  | postal_code = | area_code = +233 (3626) | blank_name = | blank_info = | blank1_name = | blank1_info = | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Keta''' is a coastal town and the capital of the Keta Municipal District in the Volta Region of Ghana.<ref name="ouring Ghana - Volta Region">[http://www.touringghana.com/regions/volta_region.asp Touring Ghana - Volta Region] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414140757/http://www.touringghana.com/regions/volta_region.asp |date=2012-04-14 }}. touringghana.com.</ref>

Keta has a population of 23,207.<ref name="World Gazetteer"/>

==History== Village on the Keta Lagoon, near Keta, 1890s|thumb|200px|right

Keta was an important trading post between the 14th and the late 20th centuries. The Somey Ewes were the original people of the Keta area. Keta was settled by the Anlo Ewe, a sub-group of the Ewe people who, in the 17th century, migrated to the area from Ketu, in Benin via Adja Tado and Notsie in Togo.<ref name="Amenumey">Amenumey, D. E. K. (1968) "The Extension of British Rule to Anlo (South-East Ghana)" ''The Journal of African History'' 9(1): pp. 997–117; [https://www.jstor.org/stable/179922 JSTOR copy]</ref> Awanyedor and Akaga, who were sons of Torgbui Wenya - the founder of the Anlo State, left Anloga to found Keta as a fishing village.

The town attracted the interest of the Danish, because they felt they could establish a base here without interference from rival European nations. Their first initiative was to place a factory at Keta to sell alcohol.<ref name="Akyeampong">{{cite book|last=Akyeampong|first=Emmanuel Kwaku|title=Between the Sea and the Lagoon|date=2001|publisher=James Currey|location=Oxford|isbn=0-85255-776-0|page=46}}</ref> Following the Anlo-Danish War (the Sagbadre War of 1784), the Danes later built a fort in Keta (Fort Prizenstein = "Prince’s Stone Fort"). That enabled Keta to flourish in commerce. However, the Danes' efforts to exert any power beyond the range of the guns located in the fort proved to be ineffective.

In June 1790, a Danish official was killed at Agorko near Denu in retaliation for him killing the chief of Keta years earlier. Lacking any effective military forces, the Danes hired the Anloga people to punish the Keta people. Initially, Anloga and Keta agreed to stage a mock battle after which the Anloga would burn a few Keta houses and then share the money provided by the Danes. But the mock fight somehow turned into a real battle, leaving a legacy of enmity between Anloga and Keta. The civil war between Keta and Anloga in the year 1794, initiated by the Danes, culminated in the defeat of Keta. This substantially weakened the Anlo people.

Faced with the threat of war between Peki and an alliance of the Ashanti and the Akwamu, the North German Missionary Society (also known as the Bremen Missionaries) moved the focus of their activities from Peki to Keta. Their missionaries, Dauble and Plessing, landed at nearby Dzelukofe on September 2, 1853.<ref name=Agbeti>{{cite book|last=Agbeti|first=J Kofi|title=West African Church History: Christian Missions and Church Foundations 1482-1919 |date=1986|publisher=Brill Archive|location=Leiden}}</ref>

Historically Keta was also known as ''Quittah'' or ''Agudzeawo'' ("Easterners" in old Ewe) and was assigned B27 as a postal mark.<ref>{{cite web|title=British Commonwealth Postmarks|url=https://pbbooks.com/cr24.htm|publisher=Philatelic Bibliopole|access-date=2 April 2014}}</ref>

From 1874 Hausa Constabulary were based at Keta, and soon there grew to be a community of Hausa traders in the town.<ref name=Akyeampong/>

The author, and then colonial Civil Servant, R. Austin Freeman served as a medical officer (Assistant Surgeon) here in 1887 during which an epidemic of black water fever killed forty per cent of the European population.<ref name=Travels>{{ cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=Richard Austin |title=Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman |chapter=XVII A Chapter on Malaria |pages=502 |date=1898 |publisher=F. A. Stokes |location=New York |hdl=2027/uva.x004101128?urlappend=%3Bseq=532 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uva.x004101128?urlappend=%3Bseq=532 |access-date=2020-07-05 |via=The HathiTrust (access may be limited outside the United States) }}</ref>

In 1917, the first Orange Lodge in Ghana was founded. It was named "Pride of Keta, LOL 891". It was founded by R. E. Sharlley, a Ghanaian postal worker who learned about Orangeism during the First World War and contacted the Grand Orange Lodge in England for affiliation. Sharlley’s initiative led to the formation of the lodge under the authority of the Orange Order, marking the beginning of organised Orangeism in Ghana.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reporter |first=Staff |date=1999-11-12 |title=The loyal Orangemen of Ghana |url=https://mg.co.za/article/1999-11-12-the-loyal-orangemen-of-ghana/ |access-date=2025-12-24 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1999-11-06 |title=Ulster-by-the-Equator |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/nov/06/northernireland.books |access-date=2025-12-24 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

The lodge played a key role in the early spread of the Orange Order across Ghana, contributing to the formation of additional lodges and ultimately the establishment of a national governing body, the Grand Lodge of Ghana, in 1918. Ghana’s Orange lodges, including Pride of Keta, traditionally drew membership from educated Christian communities and maintained the Order’s fraternal practices while adapting to local cultural contexts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Orange Order in Africa – History Ireland |url=https://historyireland.com/the-orange-order-in-africa/?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-12-24 |website=historyireland.com}}</ref>{{AI-retrieved source|date=March 2026|checked=no}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Millar |first=Scott |date=2005-05-22 |title=Orange Order finds African outposts |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/africa-travel/south-africa/orange-order-finds-african-outposts-30t39sx00mx |access-date=2025-12-24 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Ecology== In 1784, Fort Prinzenstein, like most slave trade forts, was built by the sea's edge. The sea had retreated by about 600 ft by 1907. Since then, Keta has been subject to tidal waves, perennial flooding and sustained sea erosion. The Bremen Factory and Coconut plantation, which were close to the high water mark in 1907, had been swept away by the sea by 1924. The erosion has advanced as far as Queen Street and started to wear away the Fort.<ref name=Akyeampong/>

Close to Keta is the town of Woe, known for the Cape St. Paul Lighthouse<ref>{{cite web|title=about this municipality|url=http://keta.ghanadistricts.gov.gh/?arrow=atd&_=121&sa=173|publisher=ghanadistricts.gov.gh|access-date=19 January 2014}}</ref> on the beach that is believed to guide ships away from a mythical massive underwater mountain. This lighthouse is also thought to be the oldest in Ghana.<ref>{{cite book|last=Briggs|first=Philip|title=Ghana|year=2010|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides|page=[https://archive.org/details/ghanabradttravel0000brig/page/234 234]|url=https://archive.org/details/ghanabradttravel0000brig|url-access=registration|quote=woe keta.|isbn=9781841623252}}</ref>

==Keta Lagoon== {{Main|Keta Lagoon}}

Keta Lagoon is the largest lagoon in Ghana with a water area of 300 km<sup>2</sup>. This is located in a larger wetlands protected area of 1200 km<sup>2</sup>. It is a stopping point for a large number of migratory birds and provides a breeding ground for sea turtles.<ref name=FCG>{{cite web|title=Keta Lagoon Complex Ramsar Site|url=http://www.fcghana.org/page.php?page=269&section=32&typ=1&subs=281|access-date=5 April 2014|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304040944/http://www.fcghana.org/page.php?page=269&section=32&typ=1&subs=281|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Keta Lagoon is known for its immense quantity of salt.<ref>{{cite web|author=Webby|title=Keta Lagoon|url=https://content.ghanagrio.com/article/355-keta-lagoon.html|website=Ghana Nation|access-date=19 April 2018}}{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==Oil== Petroleum has been found at the Keta Basin. Experts are against the exploitation because it will lead to the destruction of land and lives, as well as some sources of livelihood.<ref name=MiD>{{cite web|title=Oil & Gas Expert Warns Against Exploration in Keta Basin|url=https://www.reportingoilandgas.org/oil-gas-expert-warns-against-exploration-in-keta-basin/|access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref>

== Notable people ==

* Dan Kwasi Abodakpi * Charles Sterling Acolatse * Kofi Adjorlolo * Ben Akafia * R. S. Amegashie * Fred Kwasi Apaloo * Raphael Armattoe * Christian Baëta * Emmanuel Kobla Bensah * Esi Buobasa * Christian Kobla Dovlo * Ferdinand Kwasi Fiawoo * Kwame Dzudzorli Gakpey * Marricke Kofi Gane * Philip Gbeho * Victor Gbeho * GlennSamm * P. K. D. Habadah * Eric Kwame Heymann * Clement Kofi Humado * Annie Jiagge * Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka * Richard Agbenyefia Lassey * G. S. Lassey * MzVee * Paul Nkegbe * Daniel Ahmling Chapman Nyaho * Courage Quashigah * Ivan Quashigah * Richard Quashigah * Jerry John Rawlings * Epiphan Patrick Komla Seddoh * Francis Selormey * Anthony Hugh Selormey * Albert Gregorio De Souza * Clend Mawuko Sowu * Togbi Sri II * Kojo Tsikata * Tsatsu Tsikata * Charity Zormelo

==See also== * Dzelukofe * Anloga

==References== {{Reflist}} (15) Felix Kuadugah- contributor. History of Agbozume and Keta. {{GhanaLargestCities}} {{Ghana district capitals}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Populated places in the Volta Region Category:Ramsar sites in Ghana