SAINT-GEORGES CASTLE

Ghana's coastline, along the Gulf of Guinea, is unique in Africa for its number of ancient forts and castles built by various European countries; first by the Portuguese and later by the Swedes, Dutch, Danes, English and Germans. The latter changed hands many times. Remains of twenty of these castles can be found in Ghana. The oldest built in sub-Saharan Africa is at Elmina. It is the Château Saint-Georges (São Jorge). Built by the Portuguese in 1482, it was extended several times until the ^19th century. It was built after the arrival of an expedition of 600 men, including one hundred masons and one hundred carpenters. The Dutch took it from the Portuguese in 1637. It now stands in the center of the coastal town of Elmina. It is Ghana's best-preserved and most photographed castle. Like Cape Coast Castle, it was rehabilitated in 1994, and all guides offering tours have received special training. It too is a world heritage site, having been classified as a historic monument by Unesco. The building played an important role in the colonization of West Africa, and later in the gold and slave trades. It is a painful reminder of this episode. At any given time, almost a thousand slaves were chained in the four or five rooms found here, before being shipped off to the New World. At the height of the trade, there were no fewer than 50 fortifications in Ghana.