Elmina Castle - Ghana - Africa

in #travelfeed5 years ago (edited)

Constructed in 1482 by the Portuguese, who called it São Jorge da Mina, Elmina Castle is the oldest existent colonial structure in Sub-Saharan Africa. It’s held up beautifully throughout the centuries, but as a center for the transatlantic slave trade, much of its history is dark. We took a tour, during which we were confronted with the unthinkable conditions suffered by the prisoners, before they were shipped off to the New World.


The Elmina Castle which exists today has very little to do with the structure originally erected by the Portuguese. It’s been expanded multiple times throughout its history, after changing hands to the Dutch and then to the English. Today, it’s grown into a massive complex, which reaches up to four stories and boasts a view that encompasses all of Elmina.

Our guide touched on the architectural history of the fort, pointing out the few remaining elements of the original Portuguese construction, but mostly he focused on the slave trade. As a European-American, I feel an acute sense of shame whenever confronted with history like this. And I suppose that’s correct. It’d be inappropriate to waltz into a place like Elmina Castle, without any sense of ancestral guilt.

What we learned during the tour, however, was that Africans share that sense of guilt. My ancestors might have bought the slaves, but the ancestors of many Ghanaians sold the slaves. The only people who are truly without responsibility in this situation are the victims; the people who would become African-Americans, bought and sold against their will. They weren’t just traded, but treated like animals — murdered for the slightest of reasons, chained, humiliated, raped, and kept in conditions so unbelievably inhumane that it beggars a modern conscience to believe it.

But there it is. We can see it. I mean, we’re here, standing in the literal cell where dozens of prisoners were imprisoned for … nothing. For no crime at all, simply enslaved to satiate the greed of others. And as much as we all abhor the idea of slavery, actually seeing these trading centers in person is sobering. It’s not like my visit to Elmina Castle “taught me” that slavery is bad, but it opened my eyes to a reality which I had previously understood in only abstract terms. (And I’ll concede, I still understand it “abstractly” — but Elmina is as close to experiencing slavery as I really need to get.)


The tour was fascinating. Despite the upsetting history, our guide kept things moving along; not shying away from the horrors, but also not dwelling on them. We learned lascivious details about the Dutch governor who lived on the top floor. From time to time, he would call the female slaves into the courtyard below, where he could inspect them, select one, and bring her up to his quarters for rape. And we saw the narrow doors through which the slaves were transported into their cells, then out toward the sea. When they were stolen from their villages in northern Ghana, they had no idea that they would be shipped across an ocean. They’d surely never even seen the ocean, before. How could they even know about the existence of the New World? It must have been so disorienting; this is a detail I’d never considered, and one that’s stuck with me.

A visit to Elmina Castle isn’t “fun”, but it’s important to confront ourselves with the darker sides of human history — especially during an era in which many seem to be forgetting it. We’re capable of great things, but also of unspeakable evil… I know that’s not an original thought, but it’s really true. Even if it’s not pleasant, we have to remember our darkness, and stay vigilant against it. Places like Elmina Castle can help us do that.

Sort:  

What a castle! And such a heavy history that it still carries within its bones.... I am glad that your tour guide handled the subject with such a level approach, I think it is interesting that as human beings, most of us will feel a sense of desire to come to terms with the darker sides of our past.

Love your write up, as usual, and the photos are great, too <3

THANK YOU!!!

Many come back to Ghana to see their roots ... it can be very overwhelming to stand in that castle imagining what their family members had to go through. It's very moving, sad and enraging!

Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=for91days
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=elmina-castle-ghana-africa


Want to have your post on the map too?

  • Go to Steemitworldmap
  • Click the code slider at the bottom
  • Click on the map where your post should be (zoom in if needed)
  • Copy and paste the generated code in your post
  • Congrats, your post is now on the map!

This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
@c-squared runs a community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here

Thank you guys!

Hello!

This post has been manually curated, resteemed
and gifted with some virtually delicious cake
from the @helpiecake curation team!

Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
Keep up the great work!


helpiecake

Manually curated by @steemflow.


@helpie is a Community Witness.
For more information about our project,
please visit this month’s UPDATE post.

Thank you so much and thank you @steemflow for taking the time to check out our work!

History is always a mystery with so many unknown facts to explore. It always gives a goosebumps thinking of the past in these places...

Posted using Partiko Android

And an eerie place loaded with history it was. It makes you think about current history and how everything is tied together in current day.

That's true....it took a lot to come up with so many things

Posted using Partiko Android

Such an excellent photo story again. Great to see Ghana once more Thanks to you.

Posted using Partiko Android

And there is so much for to come from Ghana ... we're just sooo slow to get everything online what we got. Thank you for all your awesome comments.

Hi @for91days!

Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 5.086 which ranks you at #1049 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has dropped 3 places in the last three days (old rank 1046).

In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 135 contributions, your post is ranked at #15.

Evaluation of your UA score:
  • You've built up a nice network.
  • The readers appreciate your great work!
  • Great user engagement! You rock!

Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server

Hi, @for91days!

You just got a 8.7% upvote from SteemPlus!
To get higher upvotes, earn more SteemPlus Points (SPP). On your Steemit wallet, check your SPP balance and click on "How to earn SPP?" to find out all the ways to earn.
If you're not using SteemPlus yet, please check our last posts in here to see the many ways in which SteemPlus can improve your Steem experience on Steemit and Busy.

Hiya, @lizanomadsoul here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made into our Top 3 in Daily Travel Digest #582.

Your post has been manually curated by the @steemitworldmap team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider upvoting and supporting us.

100 Snax tokens will be in your wallet by next Monday courtesy of @crowdmind. Learn More

Thank you for your contribution to the crowd. We are the Steem community project dedicated to empowering The Wisdom of Crowds. You can find more about us on our official website or whitepaper and you can support us by voting for our witness and joining our curation trail on Steemauto . We are also inviting you to join Crowdmind Discord server. Don't forget to use the #crowdmind hashtag and happy crowdsourcing!

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.36
TRX 0.12
JST 0.039
BTC 69965.85
ETH 3540.49
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.71