Ghana’s connection to the transatlantic slave trade goes back a very long time. The Portuguese established a trading presence in the country during the 1400s, and they established forts and castles that would serve as part of the infrastructure supporting the slave trade that was soon to come. In 1482, Elmina Slave Castle was constructed in the town of Elmina, which sits right on the border of Cape Coast’s city limits. That castle—along with dozens of others—held slaves from all over Africa who were waiting for their departure across the ocean. Just a few miles down the coast, Cape Coast Castle houses a massive door labeled ominously as "The Door of No Return," and the meaning is exactly what it sounds like. Once slaves crossed that threshold, leaving the castle and heading toward small boats that would carry them out to much larger ones, very few ever returned. It’s not just that they didn’t come back to that specific castle in that specific city; more importantly, they never got to return to Africa at all.
It was Ghana’s position on the western coast of the continent that ensured its connection to the dark industry of slavery.
