Elmina Castle, CAPE COAST

At the end of November,we needed to drive a new Missionary to the MTC in Tema, and as we didn't have too much else we had to do that weekend and to maximise our 2 hour drive to Accra, we went on to Cape Coast. This is where the Portugese built Elmina Castle in 1482. In the early 16th Century, the importation of slaves began in exchange for Gold, Ivory etc. Cape Coast used to be known as the Gold Coast.

THE DOOR OF NO RETURN
The Slaves  got shipped out to waiting boats here.
It's pretty skinny, but so were they.

Approaching Elmina Castle

This Ball weighs 24kg? and the slavs
had one on each leg!
Not much chance of escaping.

One of the Slave Dungeons
This housed hundreds of Slaves
Not many came out alive...

Main courtyard
In the middle, upstairs was a church.
Whilst Slaves were being tortured below, Church was being held upstairs.
They said, Heaven above and Hell below!!

View from inside the Courtyard

View from the Govenor's Residence