Cape Coast Castle

Cape Coast Castle is one of about forty slave castles or large commercial forts built on the Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. It was originally a Portuguese feitoria or trading post. Established in 1555. However, in 1653 the Swedish Africa Company constructed a timber fort there. It originally was a centre for the trade in timber and gold. It was later used in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

One of the most well known parts of Cape Coast Castle, that you can visit today, is the Door of No Return, which led slaves out of the castle and onto the ships setting off on the Middle Passage. Their boat journeys could last several months, where many died en route.