Castles and Dungeons

I went with ten other people yesterday on an independent trip to see the castle and dungeons of Cape Coast. Ghana was at one time called the Gold Coast and became Ghana in 1961 when they declared independence from the British. The history of slave labor from this region goes back to the 1500’s. The first people to come were the Portuguese and then the Dutch took over and eventually the British were in control. The guide explained that the Portuguese traveled from Portugal to Ghana to pick up gold and slaves and transported them to Brazil, the Caribbean Islands and North America. Along the way they picked up items to deliver to Portugal and the European countries, and then they start all over again

The castle was originally built as a fort and then the dungeons were added when the slave trade became the major money maker for the white people. All of the black people that were captured were brought into a big room where prospective buyers would examine them for strength and stamina. Many of these people were captured far away and brought here to be sold. If they were not considered strong enough, then nobody would buy them and they would be freed, but not helped to return to their original homeland. Consequently many of them stayed in this area and made Ghana their home as they did not have a way or the knowledge how to get back home.

If he was purchased he was branded like they brand cattle. They were often times shackled at the ankle and the wrist and then they were put into the dungeon until a ship arrived in port to transport them. We went down into the dungeons and were told that sometimes there were as many as 1000 men in there. They had separate dungeons for the women. They were given meager food and water and many of them died. There was no electricity at this time and the only light was from an open space that could not be reached by climbing (which would be difficult to do when they were shackled). When a ship would arrive in port the ones that had survived the dungeons were loaded onto the ships where they were layered on bunks one on top of another. The most unlucky ones were loaded on the bottom and many of them died on the ocean. The ones that survived were forced to work as slaves the rest of their lives.

There was a plaque on the wall stating that President and Mrs. Obamba visited here in July 2009. Machelle Obama’s ancestors were taken from this location as slaves. There is a big door that leads out to the ocean and above the door is the plaque “The point of no return“ and once the slaves walked through that door they were put onto a ship and never saw their homeland again.

The guide was a very pleasant well spoken man and he said that his people do not hold a grudge against the people that did this to his people as it is up to God to do the judging. It was a very sobering experience.