...Well, the side of the hotel anyway!:-)
The green lushness is breath-taking--not to mention what I presume to be the Atlantic Ocean just behind it. It is, actually, because it leads to Elmina Castle, which is the quintessential tourist-like location bringing back memories, myths and whatnot surrounding the never-to-be-forgotten slave trade, where my ancestors were ineluctably a part of.
If you clook closely enough, you can just make out the Atlantic ocean on the landscape, as well as the plenty of palm trees.from: http://www.blackhistorysociety.ca/Elmina.htm
The Portuguese built the castle in 1482, originally established as a trading post for goods bartered for local gold and valuable gem. However, as the demand for slaves increased in the Americas and Caribbean, the castle became strategic in the perpetuation of this abhorrent human cargo trade. The storerooms of the castle were converted into dungeons, and the ownership of the castle changed hands several times, eventually ending up being seized by the British in 1872. By this time, slavery had been abolished. The British didn't use Elmina to house slaves; they used Cape Coast Castle for that.
Elmina Castle, known then as the slave castle, is one of over twenty castles built along the shoreline of the Gold Coast (now known as Ghana). The Gold Coast was one of the richest markets for slave traders during the peak of the slave trade. Hundreds of thousands of captives passed through the dungeons of Elmina Castle, and were shipped off, like commodities into the Americas and Caribbean against their wishes. This illicit human trade carried on for...
