Elmina is located along the southern Cape Coast region of Ghana, west of Accra. It is primarily a fishing port, with a bustling commercial scene and lively atmosphere. The town is famous on account of the colonial fort built there by the Portuguese in 1482 called Fort São Jorge da Mina or St. George's Castle. St. George's was the first European fort built in Ghana and one of the many "slave factories," trading posts built for the lucrative slave trade on the west coast of Africa.
The Portuguese built the castle in a region rich in gold and ivory resources. The Dutch captured the castle in the mid sixteen hundreds after previous unsuccessful attempts, and other nations that fought to control it include the English. The castle was originally a trading post for the countries gold, ivory and timber. It later developed into a point on the infamous slave triangle transporting human cargo to America and the Caribbean, raw materials such as cotton and rubber to Britain and manufactured goods such as clothing and weaponry back to the West Coast of Africa.
Elmina was heavily competed for due to its strategic position for trade. As the plantations in America took off, the trade in slaves expanded, and Elmina became the last place many thousands of Africans would see as their homeland due to the high death rates that took place here. At the height of the trade, 30,000 slaves passed through Elmina each year on their way to the Americas. This continued for nearly three hundred years in appalling conditions. Slaves were detained and tortured in Elmina before being shipped.
Elmina has several tourist attractions which include St. George Castle, Fort St. Jago and the beaches. Both the Castle and Fort are listed as UNESCO world heritage sites. Also of importance is the famous Bakatue festival in Elmina takes place on the first Tuesday of July. The literal meaning of the festival is the opening of the Benya lagoon into the sea, symbolically it celebrates the beginning of the fishing season, marked by a parade of the town’s chiefs in their full regalia, followed by singers, dancers and stilt walkers.
References
http://archaeology.about.com/od/eterms/g/elmina.htm
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Elmina
http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/africa/west_africa/elmina
_castle.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmina
