Ghana - Slave Castles

While in Ghana I visited two of the slave castles along the coast. I visited the Cape Coast Castle and the Elmina Castle. Ghana was under the power of several European nations before they achieved their independence in 1957. The Portuguese were the first, followed by the Dutch and then the British. These countries used the coast of Ghana as a holding place for slaves before they were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean on the Middle Passage. The Portuguese started this trend and the Dutch followed, however by the time the British controlled Ghana the slave trade was abolished. The castles that I visited had dark holding cells that were crowded and disease ridden. Hundreds of slaves were kept in these slave dungeons for months at a time before being packed into ships that were just as crowded and unsanitary. Each of these castles had a low dark passage out from the dungeons into a door called the Door of No Return. This door was where the slaves would be transferred into slave ships, never to return to their homeland again. In Cape Coast Castle this door was enormous and wooden and led out to the docks that are still used by local fishermen. Elmina Castle's Door of No Return was made from stone and tiny - I don't think I would have fit through it- and it led straight to the water. The door was so narrow because no matter how big a slave was when they entered the dungeons, they could all fit through the door by the time they were sold. These castles are important historical landmarks and have been declared World Heritage Sites. President Obama even visited Cape Coast Castle last year with First Lady Michelle Obama. Slavery was a huge part of the world economy at one time and many African nations, including Ghana are still trying to recover from and come to terms with its effects.