... View of an impressive building with a grim history and a stark reminder of a horrific past... Cape Coast Castle is the largest of the buildings which contains the legacy of the trans-Atlantic slave trade... somewhere around 12 millions of enslaved Africans from regions near and far, were taken to these castles to be sold to slave ships... today, it attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year... but the Castle is also a place where tourists learn about Ghana's history... not only about the history of the slave trade but also the history of the country within which the slave trade occurred... Cape Coast Castle was a way station in history's largest, and darkest, forced human migration... Thanks a lot Karolyn! (✿◠‿◠)
Cape Coast Castle is situated in the small town with the same name on the central coastline of Ghana. Originally built by Sweden in the 1650s, Cape Coast Castle shifted into Danish, Dutch, and then English possession by the 1660s. In the castle's early decades, trade revolved around gold, wood, and textiles before English merchants began to seek captive Africans in large numbers. The Brits formally declared the slave trade illegal in 1807, though Cape Coast Castle remained their local headquarters on the Gold Coast until 1877.
The Forts and Castles of Ghana, as inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1979, consist of three castles, 15 forts in a relatively good condition, 10 forts in ruins and seven sites with traces of former fortifications.
Stamps:
2X The 20th Anniversary of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(Issued 04-11-1985)
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