The horrific slave trade at Elmina Castle in Ghana

THIS spectacular building has a dark past. Every day, at his whim, a man selected one of the 400 female captives to be subjected to his sexual fantasies.

TAMMY LOWE

Elmina Castle has a horrifying past. Picture: Erik Cleves Kristensen

AT HIS whim, the Governor stood on his balcony to select one of the 400 female slaves gathered below to be his ‘mistress’ for the day. 

A purpose-built staircase led directly from women’s dungeons straight to the Governor’s quarters. After being at the mercy of his sexual fantasies — they were raped — the terrified women were given a proper meal and the first wash they would have had since being captured.

It’s a World Heritage site. Picture: Tammy Lowe

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Elmina Castle in Ghana was built by the Portuguese in 1482. It was taken over by the Dutch in 1837, and then by the British in 1872.
The strikingly white castle is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is the oldest European building in existence south of the Sahara. Yet, despite its beautiful architecture, it has a dark and gruesome history.

It’s now a tourist drawcard.

 

 

Elmina Castle used to be a trading post for the Portuguese to sell gold and ivory which was plentiful in Ghana. When the slave trade began in the 1500s, coastal tribes were sent as ‘slave-catchers’ to the African interior.
They then traded the captured people to the Portuguese in exchange for textiles or horses. Little did the slaves know about the hellish journey they were to face.

A dungeon. Picture: Tammy Lowe

 

 

The slaves at Elmina Castle were separated by gender and then forced into underground dungeons. The dungeons were small, yet they housed up to 400 slaves at any given time.
There wasn’t even enough room to lie on the floor so slaves had to sleep in shifts, as well as having to defecate in the corners of the room due to the lack of any sanitation provisions whatsoever.
The dungeons were almost always completely dark, and the only air vent into the female’s dungeon came from a neighbouring room which stored chemicals and gunpowder — meaning toxic fumes often flowed straight into the suffocating dungeon.

A canyon lies on the edge of the castle. Picture: Tammy Lowe

Outbreaks of malaria, cholera and yellow fever were widespread, meaning many slaves died under these gruesome conditions. Others were then sold off to American or European plantation owners in the Caribbean.

Flowers placed inside the castle. Picture: Tammy LoweSource:Supplied

The slaves that survived their imprisonment in the castle were eventually taken to the ‘Door of no Return’, a door that led straight from the castle to an awaiting ship that would take them on the treacherous journey across the Atlantic.

The door of no return. Picture: Tammy Lowe

Those who survived the 10-week journey had to work tirelessly in plantations and endure physical and sexual violence, torture, and merciless forced labour. It is estimated that about 30,000 slaves were shipped from Elmina Castle to the Caribbean each year.

The old Portuguese fortress used as a slave transit point from Africa to America.

Although slavery was officially abolished in the 19th century, it still exists today. Modern slavery is a multi-billion dollar industry and the United Nations estimates that 21 million men, women and children are currently trapped in the slave-trade industry.

This includes the women who get trafficked to work in brothels throughout the world; Cambodian men who work in Thailand’s fishing industry who are held captive on boats offshore; Bangladeshi and Nepalese construction workers who work and live in appalling conditions in Dubai or Qatar (including to help construction for the FIFA World Cup in 2022); or Indian children whose bodies get mutilated by organised gangs, so that the children can earn more money as beggars.

Unfortunately, slavery still exists.

Visiting Elmina Castle and learning more about the slave trade and the horrific practices was a humbling experience. It makes me sad that Europeans and Americans would allow such brutality and inhumanity for such a long time.
And it makes me sadder still that humankind still hasn’t learned from its mistakes and allows this barbaric practice to continue.

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