TIME TO GET SERIOUS: ELMINA FORTRESS AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SLAVE TRADE THAT WAS BASED THERE

The image looks "pleasant" in a way, doesn't it? If you look closely, there are tourists scurrying about the ancient walls of Elmina Castle now. It's called St. George's Castle and it was built to protect and serve the Portuguese--who arrived on the coast of what is now Ghana in 1471. A year later 200 soldiers made up of masons, carpenters and other artisans built what was the first permanent European building in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Portuguese eventually launched a slave trade from Elmina that became the envy of other European powers. Significantly, the Dutch were nearby and to make a long story short, an attack on Elmina came on August 29, 1637, and the Portuguese slave trade at Elmina, which lasted for approximately one hundred ten years came to an end.

Ironically, the Dutch were helped by local people to conquer the hated Portuguese. The Dutch, of course, took up the profitable slave trade where the Portuguese left off and remained in Elmina until the fortress was sold to the British in 1872. Some historians say that the slave trade continued there until about the 1860's--even though it was abolished by the English in 1807 and the Dutch in 1814, respectfully.

Elmina was designated as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1979. The Portuguese word "Al mina", meaning the mine, is the origin of the word Elmina. It was given this name because of the gold that was mined in the region, hence the coastal area was known earlier as the Gold Coast. When gold was depleted, the Europeans turned to "black gold"--and slavery produced human "cargo" that was taken to the plantations in the Americas.