Panoramic view of Cape Coast Castle, headquarters and garrison of the British on the Gold Coast, West Africa. It has been sketched from the bridge of the steam ship Volta ans shows the coastline. In 1873, after decades of an uneasy relationship between the British and the Acing people of central Ghana, the British attacked and virtually destroyed the Asanti capital of Kumasi, and officially declared Ghana a crown colony on 24 July 1874. They then moved their administrative capital from Cape Coast Castle to Accra.