Ghana - Elmina Castle.

The second interesting thing about Ghana is all of the history of the Slave trade! While we were staying on the beach we went to visit Elmina castle. Elmina, is the oldest European building in sub-saharan africa and was a major player in the slave trade. The history is every bit as dark and horrendous as one would think! At Elmina it is estimated 3 million slaves passed through the castle, by the 18th century, over 30 000 slaves passed through each year. Of the people captured and brought to Elmina 2/3 died while being held there and 1/3 survived only to die later in transit or become slaves far away from their home. The women and men were held in separate dungeons with very little light and poor air quality. Often times up to 150-200 people per dungeon. This room was not much bigger than my classroom at school! When leaving the castle the slaves passed through the "gate of no return" to board the boats. This gate is narrow, but so were the malnourished people who passed through it. The governor had a home that filled the whole upper level of the castle to himself while hundreds of people were dying and living in filth in his basement. He also had a special viewing platform where he could select the female slaves to rape. During this selection the guards ensured all the windows of the church just opposite, were closed so that God couldn't see what was happening! This visit was truly sickening, hard to believe humanity could ever go this wrong!