Elmina Castle is located in Elmina, Ghana and is just a short drive from where I am staying in Cape Coast. Elmina is the largest of the 3 castles in Ghana that were used for the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. It was built as a Christian castle by the Portuguese in 1782, and then was later taken over by the Dutch and then finally the British. Today, Elmina castle is over 530 years old. The slave trade at Elmina ended in 1680 due to the start of the Industrial Revolution. Slaves came from all over Africa to be traded for gold, spices, food, ivory, brassware, guns, liquor, artifacts and other goods. Over 60 million slaves were said to be a part of the trade. 20 million of them died in the dungeons of the castle, 20 million died on the way to the New World, and 20 million survived. That means that only about 1/3 of the slaves survived. When the slaves died in the dungeons, they were thrown into the sea.
Women and men were kept in separate dungeons, and if there was a family, they were sold into slavery as a family. The governor had the top floor of the castle, and he would look down and choose his woman of the night to rape and torture. If a woman refused rape, she was chained to the ball (picture below) in the courtyard without food or water until she died. The living conditions of the slaves were exactly that of the Cape Coast castle (see previous blog entry).
It is our duty to educate ourselves of these injustices and ensure that they never happen again. As I was leaving the castle, I saw this quote, "Until the lion has his historian, the hunter will always be a hero." What does this mean to you?
I love the "lion" quote.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to fathom this "Christian" castle in action over 300 years ago. My great grandfather was a slave and his grandfather may have seen that "castle". Mind boggling!