What colours and scents I have discovered.
-Khwarja Mir Dard-
We had a BIG travel day today and wanted to get on the
road by 8am. I made sure I was not going
to sleep in this morning and I set my phone and also my IPod just to be on the
safe side! Breakfast was arranged with
the Church for 7.30am and not having tents to pack away, we certainly could be
on the road by the set time. Well TIK
(this is Africa) and the breakfast people didn’t arrive till 7.30am, but as
things always have a way of working out, Sam wasn’t feeling the best, so it
gave him a little more time to get ready as he was looking really green by the
time we were ready to leave. He was
complaining of a headache and achy muscles, exactly what Bean was complaining
about on his last days of the trip and I wonder if they are related at
all?
We weren’t too late in the end and were on the road at
8.30am, not bad at all and we had to maneuver our way through Kumasi traffic
and head back on the same road we had travelled in a few days ago, as far as
Cape Coast and then we would head further west after that. We are now slowly making our way across west
Africa pretty much from now on with no backtracking or loops back to cities, we
are now well and truly now into the swing of the trip. Just after we finally got out of the city
limits we saw a small escort of cars including 3 black SUV’s flanked by a few
other cars and sirens. It must have been
pretty important and wondered if it was The King or The President. Zoe and I had been talking about the
Priscilla Queen of the Desert soundtrack and this morning it was played in its
entirety. There has to be something said
listening to that soundtrack, which I know so well, travelling in a massive
truck on the roads of Ghana with the wind in your hair. We were just short the massive shoe on the
roof and a few feather boas and we pretty much could have re-enacted a few
scenes from the movie. Just before lunch
there were more sirens and if we thought we had seem someone important this
morning, this person was triple more important and HAD to be The
President. There were 2 motor bike
police, around 15 SUV’s followed by 2 more police bikes and an ambulance and
they were flying along with sirens blaring and their lights on and
flashing. The first bike was waving to
us and at first I thought that was nice, but then realized that he was telling
us to move over as the convoy of cars sped through. It was AWESOME and lasted about 25 seconds
and left you wondering who the hell was in those cars!!!!
This trip has a different feel to the first section in
regards to the accommodation and the meals.
This section is 28 days and we have a total of 18 days in hotels, HOTELS
(not guest houses or upgrades-hotels) and 10 days of camping, which 6 of them
are bush camps. The upside is that we
should be able to have showers for 60% of the time, and the possibility of more
internet access and the downside is that it will cost more money as we will be
eating out a lot more and not having truck lunches and dinners. We are making the most of our time on the
truck with just the 5 of us as the last section there will be 12 of us and it
will certainly be a bit more squishy that what it currently is at the
moment.
We have been through so many check-points and have
stopped on average of 5-8 times a day for them and this one seemed no different
when we got pulled over. The difference
on this one was that Sam drove through this checkpoint a few days ago and they
waved him through, then changed their minds and asked him to stop, with another
wave and he just pretended that he hadn’t heard the call back and kept
driving. I asked him that night if he
heard them call him and he said if they are fluffing around to stop, not stop,
stop then he is just going to keep going.
Well as we were coming back the same way and we are a little bit conspicuous,
they stopped us this time on the provision that we ran through the checkpoint
before. As the chief walked up to the
truck (he was in a crisp white jacket) he caressed my arm on the way past,
hello. Zoe was driving this time, and
with her usual charm she disarmed the Chief guy straight up with her smile and
jokes and they were going to charge her (they say) when they asked to see her
license and the officer started to laugh and called some of his traffic police
friends over and all I heard was Ghana, Ghana, Ghana, Moffat (which is Zoe’s
surname) and they all laughed and he came back and said his brother’s name was
Moffat and after that the officer didn’t have a chance and 10 minutes later,
fine-less, we were on our way once again, after the officer in white told me
that he loved me. Oh shucks!!!
We had aimed to be in Elmina around lunch time and we had
stopped for some fresh bread 16km out of Elmina for lunch around 1pm and
thinking it was only 16km, decided to hold off the lunch until we got to the
camp site. Well we were led astray by
one of the signs for our accommodation and we took a wrong turn and ended up in
the actual town of Elmina, which was a little bit if a test for Zoe’s driving
skills as the streets were a little tight and then when we realized that we
were in the wrong place we had to turn around, in the tight street and head
back out again to the main road. The
small town of Elmina looked very colonial with a lot of British looking
buildings, that you could see a grandness about them even though 95% of them
were in bad disrepair and with people living and setting up shops in the
decaying buildings. We finally found the
right road to get to out accommodation, which was tucked away down a dirt track
for a further 15 minutes and our 16km took us an additional 1.5 hours to travel
pulling up at The Stumble Inn at 2.30pm.
Needless to say we were all starving and while we set up lunch Sam
enquired on the camping and upgrades and came back and said it was only going
to cost 6GHS (3AUD) to upgrade into a dormitory, which I was in and the great
thing with a dorm I could upgrade without it costing any more to me no matter
if anyone else decided to. Well they all
did decide to and after packing up lunch, getting our bags into the dorm, we
were then ready to head to Elmina Castle.
Sam had called and booked cabs for 3.30pm, but at 3.45pm we saw a cab on
the other side of a field and waved him over and he said he was here for
someone else, but after checking with his client he came back and said he could
take us to the castle. Our other taxis
hadn’t arrived yet, so we decided to take him up on his offer as the castle
closes at 5pm and it was fast becoming 4pm.
So we all piled into Fred’s 5 door corolla, it was a
squeeze all 5 of us in the car with Elle and Rich sharing the front seat and
Suzanne, Ian and I in the back. We
negotiated the price of 10GHS (5AUD) for the 15 minute drive to the castle. Elmina Castle was erected by Portugal in
1482 as São Jorge da Mina (St. George of the Mine) Castle. It was the first trading post built on
the Gulf of Guinea, so is the oldest European
building in existence below the Sahara. First
established as a trade settlement, the castle later became one of the most
important stops on the route of the Atlantic slave trade. The Dutch seized
the fort from the Portuguese in 1637, and took over all the Portuguese Gold Coast in 1642. The
slave trade continued under the Dutch until 1814; in 1872 the Dutch Gold
Coast, including the fort, became a possession of the British
Empire. Britain granted the
Gold Coast its independence in 1957, and control of the castle was transferred
to the nation formed out of the colony, present-day Ghana. The castle is recognized by UNESCO as
a World Heritage Site.
West Africans nurtured ancient connections to other parts
of the world. Common metals trade, iconic artistic forms, and agricultural
borrowing show that trans-Saharan and regional coastal connections thrived. The
Portuguese in 1471 were the first Europeans to visit the Gold Coast as such,
but not necessarily the first sailors to reach the port. The Portuguese first reached what became
known as the Gold Coast in 1471. Prince Henry the Navigator first sent
ships to explore the African coast in 1418. The Portuguese had several motives
for voyaging south. They were attracted by rumors of fertile African lands that
were rich in gold and ivory. They also sought a
southern route to India so
as to circumvent Arab traders
and establish direct trade with Asia. In line with the strong religious
sentiments of the time, another focus of the Portuguese was Christian proselitism.
They also sought to form an alliance with the legendary Prester John,
who was believed to be the leader of a great Christian nation somewhere in
Africa. These motives prompted the
Portuguese to develop the Guinea trade. They made gradual progress down the
African coast, each voyage reaching a point further along than the last. After
fifty years of coastal exploration, the Portuguese finally reached Elmina in
1471, during the reign of King Afonso V.
However, because Portuguese royalty had lost interest in African exploration as
a result of meager returns, the Guinea trade was put under the oversight of the
Portuguese trader, Fernão Gomes. Upon reaching present day Elmina,
Gomes discovered a thriving gold trade already established among the natives
and visiting Arab and Berber traders. He established his own trading post, and
it became known to the Portuguese as “A Mina” (the Mine) because of the gold
that could be found there.
Trade between Elmina and Portugal grew throughout the
decade following the establishment of the trading post under Gomes. In 1481,
the recently crowned João II decided to build a fort on the
coast in order to ensure the protection of this trade, which was once again
held as a royal monopoly. King João sent all of the materials needed to build
the fort on ten caravels and two transport ships. The supplies, which
included everything from heavy foundation stones to roof tiles, were sent, in
pre-fitted form, along with provisions for six hundred men. Under the command
of Diogo de Azambuja, the fleet set sail on 11
December 1481 and arrived at Elmina a little over a month later, on 19 January
1482. Some historians note that Christopher Columbus was among those
to make the voyage to the Gold Coast with this fleet. Upon arrival, Azambuja contracted a
Portuguese trader, who had lived at Elmina for some time, to arrange and
interpret an official meeting with the local chief, Kwamin Ansah (interpreted
from the Portuguese, "Caramansa"). Concealing his self-interest with
elegant manners and friendliness, Azambuja told the chief of the great
advantages in building a fort, including protection from the very powerful king
of Portugal. Chief Kwamin Ansah, while
accepting Azambuja, as he had any other Portuguese trader who arrived on his
coast, was wary of a permanent settlement. However, with firm plans already in
place, the Portuguese would not be deterred. After offering gifts, making
promises, and hinting at the consequences of noncompliance, the Portuguese
finally received Kwamin Ansah's reluctant agreement.
When construction began the next morning, the chief’s
reluctance was proved to be well-founded. In order to build the fort in the
most defensible position on the peninsula, the Portuguese had to demolish the
homes of some of the villagers, who consented only after they had been
compensated. The Portuguese also tried to quarry a nearby rock that the people
of Elmina, who were animists, believed to be the home of the god of the nearby
River Benya. In response to this, the local people forged an attack that
resulted in several Portuguese deaths. Finally, an understanding was reached,
but continued opposition led the Portuguese to burn the local village in
retaliation. Even in this tense atmosphere, the first story of the tower was
completed after only twenty days; this was the result of having brought so much
prefabricated building materials. The remainder of the fort and an accompanying
church were completed soon afterward, despite resistance.
The fort was the first pre-cast building to have been
planned and executed in Sub-Saharan Africa. Upon its completion, Elmina
was established as a proper city. Azambuja was named governor, and King João
added the title "Lord of Guinea" to his noble titles. São Jorge da
Mina took on the military and economic importance that had previously been held
by the Portuguese factory at Arguim Island on the southern edge of the Moorish world.
At the height of the gold trade in the early sixteenth century, 24,000 ounces
of gold were
exported annually from the Gold Coast, accounting for one-tenth of the world’s
supply.
The new fort, signifying the permanent involvement of
Europeans in West Africa, had a considerable effect on Africans living on the
coast. At the urging of the Portuguese, Elmina declared itself an independent
state who’s Governor then took control of the town’s affairs. The people of
Elmina were offered Portuguese protection against attacks from neighboring
coastal tribes, with whom the Portuguese had much less genial relations (even
though they were friendly with the powerful trading nations in the African
interior.) If any tribe attempted to trade with a nation other than Portugal,
the Portuguese reacted with aggressive force, often by forming alliances with
the betraying nation’s enemies. Hostility between tribes increased, and the
traditional organization of tribal societies suffered, especially after the
Portuguese introduced them to fire-arms, which made the dominance of the
stronger tribes easier. Trade with the
Europeans helped make certain goods, such as cloth and beads, more available to
the coastal people, but European involvement also disrupted traditional trade
routes between coastal people and northern tribes by cutting out the African
middlemen. The population of Elmina swelled with traders from other towns
hoping to trade with the Portuguese, who gradually established a west-African
monopoly.
By the seventeenth century, most trade in West Africa concentrated
on the sale of slaves. São Jorge da Mina played a significant part in the Atlantic Slave Trade. The castle acted as
a depot where slaves were bought in bartering fashion from local African chiefs
and kings. The slaves, often captured in the African interior by the
slave-catchers of coastal tribes, were sold to Portuguese traders in exchange
for goods such as textiles and horses. The
slaves were held captive in the castle before exiting through the castle’s
infamous “Door of No Return” to be transported and resold in newly
colonized Brazil and
other Portuguese colonies. In 1637 the
fort was taken over by the Dutch,
who made it the capital of the Dutch Gold
Coast. During the period of Dutch control, they built a new, smaller
fortress on a nearby hill to protect St. George Castle from inland attacks.
This fort was called Fort Coenraadsburg. The Dutch continued the
triangular Atlantic slave route until 1814, when they abolished the slave
trade, pursuant to the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814. In 1872
the British took over the Dutch territory
pursuant to the Anglo-Dutch Sumatra
treaties of 1871.
Once we had arrived, Fred said that he would wait for us
to take us back home, and with that we didn’t pay him and would do it when he
returned us safely back to The Stumble Inn.
The admission for the castle was 19GHS (9.50AUD) and there was an
additional cost of you wanted to take photos of 20GHS (10AUD) which is more
than the ticket and obviously where they make their money. I wasn’t happy that they charge so much for
pictures, I don’t mind paying, but when it is more than the admission price
that really sucks. I asked if they would
give a discount price for 3 and he said he would only charge us for the 2. Well it was better than nothing and I am glad
it wasn’t him that was going to be taking our tour. Asshole.
The castle was extensively restored by the Ghanaian government in the
1990s and renovation of the castle continues today. We started our tour at 4.15pm and we technically
only had 45 minutes to get around the oldest fort/castle on the West African Coast
and was also the largest in terms to the amount of slaves that passed through
the door of no return here. After giving
us a few minutes in the old Dutch Church that has now been turned into a small
museum with pictures and information boards we then moved around the
castle. The biggest courtyard, where the
tour started didn’t look that big, well in comparison to Cape Coasts Castle,
but then we were taken up through some steps and shown the back of the castle,
it then gave you the overall size of the place and it was massive. It was very deceiving just looking at the
initial courtyard.
In the end the Portuguese ruled the castle for 155 years,
the Dutch for 235 years and then the Brits ruled the castle for the last 85 years
before Ghana then become independent and they have been in charge of the castle
since 1956 making it the oldest fort on the coast. The first dungeons we were shown were off a
small courtyard that had a balcony overhead.
This was the women’s dungeon where there would be up to 1000 ladies in 5
smaller chambers. They were fed twice a
day, but until the Brits came along in the 1790’s there was no ventilation at
all in the dungeons. The women defecated,
vomited and also had their menstrual cycles all in the dungeons without ever
leaving. Can you imagine the stench and
disease that would be in those chambers?
The mind just can’t quite comprehend the conditions that these people;
the key word ‘people’ lived in for 3-4 months.
The women were raped during their time incarceration. The dungeons were located below the Governors
bed chambers and when he felt the ‘urge’ he would get the guards to walk out
the females into the courtyard and then from the balcony he would select the
lady that he wanted, she would be washed and cleaned up and then shown to the Governors
bed. When he was done, the lady would be
returned back to the dungeons. If the
women refused, then they would be chained to cannon balls in the courtyard to
be made an example of to the other women if they said no and they would be left
there for hours on end with no food as an example.
We were shown the male holding dungeons before walking exactly
the same route where the slaves would have walked hundreds of years ago, through
a small entrance where you had to duck your heads to the room of no return and
then finally out of the door of no return to where there would be small canoes
waiting to then take the slaves to the jetty and load them onto the larger
ships that would then export them to Brazil and the Caribbean. Looking out the door, which no longer opens,
the scenery of everyday life kicks on with some boys playing soccer and a few
fishermen about, but what an idyllic view for such a heinous crime of history. Everyone has heard of the crimes of the Jews
committed by the Nazi’s, the Genocide of Rwanda, the Vietnam War, WWI and WWII,
but I get the distinct feeling that not many people are aware of this part of history,
like it has been swept under the carpet, but then Australia was never involved,
never was a part of it, actually we weren’t even discovered yet in the height
of the slave trade, so I am hoping that is why I was so ignorant on this part
of history. But it is truly shocking and
just hopes that it never happens again-ever.
It is bad enough that we still have to deal with racism in this day and
age, which again is just crazy in this world at this time, but I know that it
happens, I see it with my own eyes and it makes my blood boil. Maybe we haven’t come as far as we think we
have after all.
We were then shown the condemned cells. There was one for Europeans which they would
spend a certain amount of time in the 5.6m cell for misdemeanors such as misbehaving,
leaving the castle, drunkenness or fighting, but they would always be let out
and they had a window for ventilation.
The condemned cell next door was slightly smaller, didn’t have a window
and this is where the slaves were sent for fighting for their freedom trying to
escape. Once they were captured, they
were thrown into the condemned cell where they were literally left to die. If there were several slaves in there and
they died, their bodies would eventually be removed and then thrown into the
sea, but it could be days before they were removed, keeping in mind there was
little light, no food, excrement and dead bodies, these conditions are just
horrific. We then moved to the upper
part of the castle seeing the kitchens, the conference rooms, walking along and
around the bastillion of the castle and again getting a magnificent view of the
small bustling town of Elmina in the dying days light and also the beautiful
coast line. Just a charming little place
and if you forget for a second where you are, you can appreciate the view and
just how magic this part of the world is, but they I just think of the slaves
all chained together from the neck, not knowing where they were going and
really having no idea what was going to happen to them, just brings you back to
the present pretty fast.
Our guide finished off what seemed like a lightning fast
tour, well I guess it was not 5.15pm, after his home time, he pointed out that
the castle and it’s story is not there to place blame anywhere but to get the
story out there and to prevent something like that EVER happening again and to
the slaves that were taken from their homes and to those who as ancestors hope
to return one day, a living memorial to them all. All 35 MILLION and remember that is not
including the slaves that perished in the dungeons and also the slaves that
perished on the sailings, there was no record kept of these people and as they
were generally all thrown into the ocean, there literally is no trace of these
people. So I would be sure if you
doubled that number it would still not be 100% true to the number, but to think
70 MILLION……. It is unthinkable.
Fred was waiting as promised, and we were driven the 15
minutes back to the accommodation. The
sun was starting to set, so with a beer purchased from the bar, I walked the
100m to the beach to see if I could get a sunset shot for our last night in
Ghana. It was a little cloudy, but I
didn’t get a great shot and I sat for a few minutes on a deck chair and just
contemplated my trip so far, what I had learned about the slave traded in the
last 2 weeks and to say a silent thanks.
To my mum, she is never far from my thoughts, to god for being born in a
time where slavery is no longer accepted and just for each and every day that I
am alive on this planet. That quote from
the truck pops up every now and then “travelling tends to magnify all human
emotions” and sitting on a beach in Elmina-Ghana watching another day finish, I
will agree with that quote through and through.
Dinner was a simple yet delicious affair which we had preordered before
we left for the castle and was served BANG on time. A few of the group had lobster for the grand
total of 10AUD, and they had 2 medium lobbies on their plate, I had ordered the
palm nut and chicken soup and it was delicious and better than I would have
expected. The bar/restaurant is located
on the beach, so with the sand through our feet and a few beers later we slowly
all retired to bed, and were all wondering who was going to be the snorer of
the group and I was just hoping it wasn’t going to be me, as we were all
sleeping in a dorm room tonight!
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