Benin -Route DES Esclaves

In the city of Ouidah, we walked to the heart wrenching memorial, ‘Route Des Esclaves,” (Route of the Slaves). This historic road includes a monument to the tree of forgetfulness, where traders made captured humans walk around a tree several times, believing it would help them forget where they came from.

The slaves were chained to cots, in a building with little ventilation, to assimilate conditions on ships. Often times, they were chained in a squatting position for weeks at a time. The weak and sick were then tossed into massive graves, even before death! A grand arch on the beach symbolizes the point of no return, where the captured left from, never to be seen again!