Ghana’s slave trade history really comes to life when you visit its castles. After taking guided tours through three of them – Elmina, Cape Coast and Fort Amsterdam, I feel as though I have a better understanding of the horrific events that took place.
All also have plaques saying ‘May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity’.
Elmina is the biggest and oldest slave castle in Ghana. Out of the 3 million slaves that passed through there, two thirds died and only one third survived. Those who survived then still had to endure terrible conditions on boats to their far away destinations, and if they made it, were forced into a lifetime of slave labour.
Cape Coast Castle contains a very poignant display in its museum, showing for example, a poster dated 18 May 1829 that advertises slaves for sale. The slaves on offer at that particular auction were: ‘Hannibal, about 30 years old, an excellent House Servant, of Good Character’, ‘William, about 35 years old, a labourer’ and ‘Nancy, an excellent House Servant’. On the same poster, there were slaves to let, and at the bottom of the poster other wares were listed – ‘Also for sale fine rice, grain, books, muslins, needles, pins, ribbons, etc.’
Fort Amsterdam was smaller than the other two and more in a state of ruin but our guide was an incredible storyteller going back to the days of European/African trade before going into detail about the slave trade.
One thing all three have in common is the dreaded ‘Door of no return’ where the slaves would exit from the castle onto the awaiting boats. Cape Coast castle now has a sign on the back of the door saying ‘Door of return’, essentially encouraging the different generations affected by the slave trade to return to their roots.
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