By the mid-17th century, other European traders had entered the gold trade with the natives of the Gold Coast. Most notable among them were the Swedes, who established the Swedish Gold Coast, and Denmark-Norway, who established the Danish Gold Coast. Because of the abandunce of gold in the area, Portuguese merchants named the region as Costa do Ouro or Gold Coast. The Gold Coast was a strategic location during the Atlantic slave trade. The Portuguese, Swedish, Dano-Norwegians, Dutch, and German traders erected more than thirty forts and castles in the region, with the last, Germans, establishing the German Gold Coast.
