MyWeku

Elmina Castle in Cape Coast Ghana was constructed by the Portuguese in 1482 and is now a UNESCO world heritage site. The Castle is one of the biggest and oldest in West Africa and synonymous with the slave trade. The name “Elmina” is derived from the Portuguese word for “mine”.  Elmina Castle was in the 17^th century notorious for its use as a hub for transporting slaves from Africa to Brazil and other Portuguese colonies. The film Cobra Verde highlighted the “Door of No Return” where slaves would depart from the castle to the new world never to return.

The castle changed hands a few times. The Portugese lost it to the Dutch in 1637 until the British empire took possession of it in 1871.

Elmina Castle, which was renovated in the 1990s has now become a museum and a tourist site for those who wish to learn from the ravages of the slaves trade. It has become a magnet for African Americans and decendants of those who went through the “doors of no return” across the West African coast.

President Obama on a visit to Ghana’s Cape Coast Castle, a stones throw away from the Elmina castle, in 2009 had this to say.  “symbolically to be able to come back with my family, with Michelle and our children and see the portal thru which the Diaspora began — but also to be able to come back here in celebration with the people of Ghana of the extraordinary progress that we’ve made because of the courage of so many black and white to abolish slavery and ultimately win the civil rights for all people — I think is, is, a source of hope.” “It reminds us that as bad as history can be, it’s also possible to overcome,” he added.