Cape Coast and Elmina Castle

Coconut Grove Resort

Coconut Grove Beach

Located 165 km west of Accra, Cape Coast is a beautiful location within Ghana.  There are lovely long beaches with coarse white sand, mahogany coloured rocks along the shore and tall palm trees along the coast line.  We saw many contrasts in the Ghanaian culture in this region…from the wealth of foreign vacationers at the Coconut Grove Resort, complete with its pool and pool side bar, chalets, and beautiful beaches to the underdeveloped poor areas of the region with its chaotic sprawl of homes, shacks and lean-to’s.  

Beach at Coconut Grove Resort

Elmina - a fishing town

One of the towns we visited was a little community called Elmina (about 20,000 people), a fishing village where we saw boats being made and a massive sprawl of boats and fisherman in the little bay off the coast.  The name Elmina is derived from the Portuguese who first started trading in this area in the late 1470’s.  They traded spices and various products with the Ghanaian people in exchange for gold.  The Portugese thought gold to be in abundance here so named the settlement “the mine” which was interpreted as “El Mina” and thus, the name has existed for the last few hundred years as “Elmina”.

Exterior wall of Castle

Inside walls of castle

In 1482, The Portuguese build a castle as the West African headquarters
for their trading but in 1600’s as the Portuguese continued to exploit the African people, it was used to channel slaves and was the largest sub-Saharan slave trading depot in Africa. 

Dungeon doorway

 Elmina Castle sits on the tip of a bay and the beauty from the top of the castle looking out in all directions is breath taking.  But, the castle, despite its beauty leaves you feeling quite haunted and the dungeons and holding sells are dark and musty.  

Holding cell

 One particular dungeon left me nauseous.  I could smell gun powder (I remember my grandfather making shotgun shells when I was little and to the smell of the powder in the holding cell brought back the childhood memories quickly).  The armory for the castle was located in the next room to the cell and the gun powder smell still lingered.   I could also smell human waste and what I imagined to be death.  But only in this cell…I’m still puzzled by this.  Perhaps these smells would remain forever in memory of the souls that died there.  A few people in our tour group stepped outside quickly after entering.  Perhaps the smell got to them as well.   The female slaves were held in this wing of the castle and were segregated from men (their husbands) for fear of spreading disease, but that didn’t prevent the Portuguese soldiers, captains and commanding officers from regularly committing rape on these women or tying them to balls and chains as punishment for rebellious behaviour.  Many children were born at the castle out of these atrocities and were given Christian names, educated and treated well by the Portuguese, unlike their mothers who would be shipped off to be slaves in a far off locations (Brazil, Caribbean, southern US states).

Chains used on the slaves from point of capture until on the ship

After being housed in the dungeons for long periods of time (months in most cases), the slaves would crawl through the portals in the walls and climb down ladders or slides into holding areas before they went through the “door of no return” where they were taken by small boats out to waiting ships before heading over seas.  

Hole and slide which the slaves slid down to go through the door of no return

In the book “The Book of Negroes” (or “Someone Knows My Name” where is titled in US, New Zealand and Australia) is written by Lawrence Hill and he talks about the main character Aminata Diallo and her life in captivity and slavery.  The book had a profound impact on me when I read it well over a year ago and last week, standing and peering out the “door of no return” I could recall Aminata's persistent longing throughout her entire life to go home to Africa.  

The view from the “door of no return” is beautiful…white sandy beaches, blue water and waves that lightly brush the shore line.  This is in stark contrast to what the castle stood for and was used as for hundreds of years.  But I’m learning that Ghana’s history and its present day life are so full of contrasts. 

Door of no return