By the end of the seventeenth century, the Dutch were one of the few major European trading powers whose primary interest remained in the trade of gold rather than the trade in slaves. By the eighteenth century, however, the slave trade was firmly established as the major market of European interest, and the returns from the Gold trade were in steep decline. The Dutch, who had by this time lost a good deal of potential access to the major slave markets in the West Indies and Americas, now searched for a possible way to revive the ailing revenues of the Gold trade.

During this time, Akim, which was located north of Agona, was considered to be the most important producer of Gold. In 1704, the Dutch asked permission from the Queen of Agona to build a fort at Senya Beraku. The Dutch had previously established a lodge in the area in 1667, however abandoned it when their English competitors built a fort at neighboring Winneba.

In 1706, as a final attempt to find new sources of wealth which might restimulate the Gold trade, the Dutch built a small triangular fort at Senya Beraku, appropriately naming it 'De Goede Hoop' (Good Hope). It was to be the last fort the Dutch would build on the Gold Coast proper.

Though their hopes of engaging in a prosperous gold trade at Senya Beraku were never fulfilled, the Dutch did succeed in eventually using the fort to engage in the Slave Trade. By 1715, expansion was needed, and the fort was doubled in size. The renovations included the construction of a slave prison in the South West Bastion, which was capable of holding some 500 captives.

The fort remained under Dutch control until 1782 when it was captured by the English and held in their possession until 1785, at which point the Dutch regained possession by treaty.40 Two decades later, however, the Dutch, perhaps feeling that the fort was no longer of use to them, abandoned the castle, ending almost a century of European occupation. In 1868 as a result of the Anglo-Dutch exchange of territories, Fort Goede Hoop once again came under possession of the British.