At Cape Coast Castle on the shores of the Ghanaian city, a sordid history belies its beauty. The castle overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, a former slave-trade outpost, is home to the so-called "Door of No Return," through which millions of Africans were forced onto slave ships bound for the United States.
Interior courtyard of Cape Coast Castle, where captive Africans were assembled before being led to the "Door of No Return."
Cape Coast Castle is one of about forty "slave castles", or large commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. Other Ghanaian slave castles include Elmina Castle and Fort Christiansborg.
Shown in this file photo, is the "Door of No Return" at Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, a fortress used to confine slaves in Ghana before they were shipped abroad.
The infamous "Door of No Return" at Cape Coast Castle.
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The History of Cape Coast Castle
Cape Coast Castle is located in the Central Region of Ghana. In 1653, a timber fort was constructed by the Swedish Africa Company. The first fort established on the present site of Cape Coast Castle was built by Hendrik Caerloff for the Swedish Africa Company.
It originally was a centre for timber and gold trade, and then was later used in the Atlantic slave trade. At the time, enslaved Africans were a valuable commodity in the Americas and elsewhere, and enslaved people were the main trade in Cape Coast.
The large quantity of gold dust found in Ghana was what primarily attracted Europe, and many natives of Cape Coast used this to their advantage. In exchange for gold, mahogany, other locally produced goods and enslaved captives, local Africans received clothing, blankets, spices, sugar, silk and many other items.
Due to this, many changes were made to the fort. One of the alterations was the addition of large, underground dungeons that could hold as many as a thousand enslaved people awaiting export. Many European nations flocked to the area in order to get a foothold in the slave trade.
Aerial view of Cape Coast Castle.
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In Cape Coast Castle, the underground dungeon was a space of terror, death, and darkness. This stood as a direct juxtaposition to the European living quarters and commanding heights of the administrative quarters above, whose occupants lived relatively luxuriously.
As a former high-ranking officer of the Dutch, Caerloff had the friendly relations with the local chiefs necessary to establish a trading post. Caerloff returned to Europe in 1655, leaving Johann Philipp von Krusenstjerna in charge of Carolusborg.
Caerloff had left Samuel Smit, also a former employee of the Dutch West India Company, in charge of Carolusborg. The Dutch were able to convince Smit in 1659 of the rumor that Denmark had been conquered by Sweden, upon which Smit rejoined the Dutch West India Company, handing over all Danish possessions to the Dutch.
The King of Fetu was displeased with this, however, and prevented the Dutch from taking possession of the fort. A year later, the King decided to sell it to the Swedes. The Danes had in the meantime established another fort, Fort Frederiksborg (1661), just a few hundred meters east from Carolusborg.
Later Developments and Modifications
In 1757, during the Seven Years' War, a French naval squadron badly damaged and nearly captured Cape Coast Castle. In 1762, an extensive spur ending in a tower was built on the western side and in 1773, a high building along the north curtain was erected, during which the last remnants of the 17th-century fort were demolished.
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Greenhill Point, a bastion to the east of the castle, was replaced by two new bastions, with a sea gate in the middle. To the south, two new bastions, named Grassle's Bastions, replaced an old round tower as the main defensive work. The tower, which now had no military use, was extended in the 1790s with two stories, now becoming the governors' apartments.
Historical Significance
In 1824, British Governor Sir Charles MacCarthy, was defeated by the Ashanti army, committed suicide, and his skull was taken back to the Ashanti capital Kumasi where it was reportedly used as a drinking cup. George Maclean was President of the Committee of Merchants at Cape Coast Castle from 1830 until 1844, a period when a President rather than a Governor ruled the British in the Gold Coast.
In October 1836 he met the poet Letitia Landon at a dinner party while on a visit to the UK. They married and traveled back to Cape Coast Castle where, within two months, Landon died of heart failure. Both Maclean and Landon are buried in the castle courtyard.
Maclean was charged with putting an end to slave trading and did so along 300 km (200 mi) of the West African coast. However, his reputation was muddied by his willingness to support the ownership of enslaved people within the vicinity of Cape Coast Castle.
From 1846-1850, Governor William Winniett was also active in ending the slave trade. In 1957, when Ghana became independent, the castle came under the care of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB).
Cultural Impact and Preservation
The 2016 novel Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi makes frequent references to the Castle. The contrast in living conditions between the Europeans living above and the enslaved people living below are highlighted in the individual stories of two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, during their time at the castle.
In 2015, the Zamani Project documented Cape Coast Castle with terrestrial 3D laser scanning. The non-profit research group specialises in 3D digital documentation of tangible cultural heritage. The data generated by the Zamani Project creates a permanent record that can be used for research, education, restoration, and conservation.
A 3D model and a panorama tour of Cape Coast Castle are available on www.zamaniproject.org.
Modern Significance and Remembrance
Hundreds of years after those fateful voyages, millions of the descendants of those slaves have been returning to the castle -- creating a full-circle moment. In 2018, Boris Kodjoe co-founded the Essence Full Circle Festival, which coordinates trips for descendants of slaves to visit and invest in Africa.
The Full Circle Festival took guests to places with significance to the slave trade in Ghana, including the Door of No Return, the Assin Manso Slave River and Jamestown -- the oldest district in the nation's capital, Accra.
Full Circle Festival has done more than just reconnect visitors with their past, too; it's reinvested in Africa as well, already generating over $1 billion toward the local economy.
Since moving to Ghana over two decades ago, Rabbi Halevi has guided newcomers through monuments of the past. One place he takes visitors is the Assin Manso Slave River site, where Africans from various parts of the continent had their "last bath" on their native land before being sold into servitude.
Today, Elmina's economy is sustained by tourism and fishing. Elmina Castle is preserved as a Ghanaian national museum and monument and is designated as a World Heritage Monument under UNESCO.
On 24 August 2017, Nigeria erected the first symbolic Door of Return monument as part of the Diaspora Festival in Badagry. The Door of Return initiative is expected to advance African economic development in areas of tourism, infrastructure and renewable energy.
Door of Return monument in Nigeria.
Elmina Castle
Perched on the edge of Ghana’s southern coast, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the land with rhythmic waves, Elmina Castle rises like a ghost from history. Built in 1482 by Portuguese traders, Elmina Castle was the first European slave-trading post in all of sub-saharan Africa.
Located on the western coast of present-day Ghana, it was originally built to protect the gold trade but following its capture by the Dutch in 1637, it came to serve the Dutch slave trade with Brazil and the Caribbean.
Elmina, like other West African slave fortresses, housed luxury suites for the Europeans in the upper levels. The slave dungeons below were cramped and filthy, each cell often housing as many as 200 people at a time, without enough space to even lie down.
At the seaboard side of the castle was the Door of No Return, the infamous portal through which slaves boarded the ships that would take them on the treacherous journey across the Atlantic known as the Middle Passage.
Table: Key Facts About Slave Castles in Ghana
| Name | Location | Built By | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Coast Castle | Central Region, Ghana | Swedish Africa Company | Timber, gold, and slave trade |
| Elmina Castle | Western Coast, Ghana | Portuguese traders | Gold and slave trade |
| Fort Christiansborg | Accra, Ghana | Danish | Trade and administration |
CAPE COAST CASTLE, GHANA | DOOR OF NO RETURN - AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE
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