Battle of Elmina (1625)


The Battle of Elmina was a military engagement of the Dutch-Portuguese War, fought off the castle of São Jorge da Mina in the Portuguese Gold Coast in 1625. It was fought between 1,200 soldiers of the Dutch West India Company who landed and assaulted the Portuguese garrison of the castle. The garrison was reinforced by 200 African allies put in service of the governor Sottomayor by the local caciques.
The Dutch opened the battle by bombarding the castle. Then the Dutch began to march to the castle, but they were ambushed by the Portuguese and their African allies from hidden positions and were almost totally massacred. Among the dead were the commander-in-chief and all his officers. The Portuguese had very few casualties and took 15 flags, 15 drums and more than 1,000 muskets, pikes, pistols and dresses.
The Dutch ships fired over 2,000 cannonballs at the castle before they withdrew.