The coast at Sekondi became another theatre of European trade competition in the 17th and 18th centuries. The competition often degenerated into hostilities as local Hanta peoples were ranged in opposing alliances supporting the English or Dutch companies in their two separate trade posts located within gunshot of each other. For instance, in 1694, one Ahanta group captured and destroyed the Dutch fort, which then had to be rebuilt; in 1698 a second group of Ahanta captured and damaged the English fort and the English had to rebuild it only for it to be recaptured by the French in 1779. The foundation of the earliest-known Dutch lodge harks back to the 1670's. The precise date is uncertain. However, by 1704, the lodge had become a small fort called "Oranje".