Elmina Slave Castle

During our recent trip to Cape Coast and Elmina, we visited the very sobering Elmina Slave Castle.  The white-washed, red-roofed castle with its many cannons facing the sea sits right on the ocean.  The grand scale and picturesque views belie the horrors that took place there.  This is oldest and largest of many slave castles that exist along the Gulf of Guinea (also known as the Slave Coast).   

Elmina was built on sedimentary rock believed to be over a hundred meters deep, thus explaining why it is in such good condition today.  The castle was isolated from the community with moats, over which spanned a drawbridge, allowing no one to enter of leave the castle when lifted.  The Portuguese built Elmina Castle in 1482 as a trading post to house goods bartered (like guns, ammunition, tobacco, alcohol, and spices) for local gold and ivory.  As the demand for slaves developed in South America (Brazil), the Caribbean Islands, and America, the castle began to store a more precious and perishable trade - African human slaves. 

Millions of Africans were taken into slavery between the 1500s and 1800s.  The slaves were traded or sold to Europeans sometimes by their own chiefs, by a victorious warring tribe, or native African raiders.  Elmina castle could hold 600 men and 400 women and children (over age 12) for months at a time, waiting for the ships to arrive.  The cramped conditions had to be atrocious. 

The most sobering location in the castle was the "Door of No Return."  A barred door opens to reveal a narrow opening, only wide enough for one slave at a time to fit through sideways.  As they left the castle on small boats bound for the ship, this would be their last view of Africa, their homeland.  Half died on the voyage, but none ever returned.  It is hard to believe what humans can do to each other.