Cabo Corso - Blog Posts

Welcome to the Castle of Cabo Corso

Hi Nana all is set for you to come to Cape Coast for your much-anticipated involvement and investigation of the Cabo Corso Castle - in a sniggering tone

Those were the careful expressions of my cousin Fiifi who called me right from Cape Coast to reveal to me his family was prepared to have me as I take my much-anticipated voyage through the noteworthy and renowned Cape Coast Castle one of the numerous old European Castles situated in Cape Coast - in the Central district of Ghana

I rested for most piece of the 2-hour venture from Accra to Cape Coast My cousins Fiifi and little Araba were at the transport station to invite me

I hurriedly eaten down my lunch upon entry and pressed exactly few bites and water into my rucksack prepared for my voyage through the Cabo Corso Castle

It was a 15-minute drive from our family house to the lovely Cape Coast Castle which has a protected shoreline There remained before me the brilliant and notable Cape Coast château I saw on entry different travelers such as myself prepared to investigate the privileged insights of old that lie behind the relentless dividers of Cape Coast Castle We were introduced by a visit manage who took us round the palace relating occasions of old

Generally of the visit I just couldnt trust my eyes and ears and it returned infrequent squeezes to carry myself to the real world The mansions design is essentially stunning! It has a sporadic polygon shape with a prominent enormous pentagonal yard disregarding the ocean and its condos inside are exceptionally roomy

As indicated by Joojo Hanson the neighborhood visit manage the Portuguese constructed the principal exchange hold up 1555 and called the nearby settlement Cabo Corso Ha! I surmise you currently know why cousin Fiifi made those sniggering remarks about a certain Cabo Corso - Yeah! I knew the town of Cape Coast was named as Cabo Corso by the Portuguese however was later ruined to Cape Coast I completed a little research before setting off - something that has turned into a daily schedule The Portuguese Dutch Danes Swedes and English were in rivalry to deal with Cape Coast which was nearer to Elmina Castle At last the Portuguese won and fabricated the main exchange hold up

The Swedes likewise fabricated a perpetual fortification in 1653 and called it Carolusburg The English later took over Carolusburg changing it into a manor - the Cape Coast Castle

These are extensive rooms sufficiently huge to have contained the slaves said Joojo indicating a huge underground room that must have at any rate contained near a thousand slaves with an opening sitting above the ocean In the expressions of Jean Barbot an observer the keeping of the slaves underground is a decent security to the army against any uprising Joojo re-resounded it yet again to us By then I pondered internally Im certain those words have been recorded some place for this visit manual for rehash them so effectively just as he had met the alleged observer

Comparable rooms were likewise accommodated the capacity of arms Groups were everywhere throughout the manor some arranged inside the patio to prevent insubordinate detainees while others have been deliberately mounted along the dividers of the stronghold in availability for any commitment with a moving toward foe

There was this specific live with no ventilation and littler than the past ones It was the Denounced cell Defiant slaves were kept there without sustenance nor water until they kicked the bucket of thirst appetite and suffocation

As indicated by Joojo it is assessed that around the 1700s 70000 slaves were traded yearly to the New World

These disclosures gave me the creeps I realized I was prepared to investigate the dim insider facts behind the Castle be that as it may basically I WAS NOT PSYCHOLOGICALLY PREPARED FOR THIS! I was gobsmacked!

I could scarcely discover the feet to proceed with the visit however my hunger for legacy information and interest to know more encouraged me on

We were later driven into a historical center inside the stronghold which harbored old possessions of the palaces initial tenants We were not permitted to take pictures but rather I figured out how to catch couple of shots however obscure I saw mugs weapons bottles channels among others having a place with slave experts which have been kept for quite a long time related article

In one of the rooms there were bunches of roses pleasantly arranged I tensely solicited Joojo the reason from those blooms He clarified that the blossoms laid by voyagers and Africans in the diaspora who have followed their genealogical roots and observed them to be in Cape Coast - Ghana - and furthermore to offer their regards to their ancestors who persevered through abhorrent treatment before being sent to the New World in the slave exchange period

To end the visit Joojo drove us to the patio where Philip Quaque the primary Ghanaian to get clerical preparing in England was covered It was in that equivalent yard that Governor George McLean and his significant other were later likewise covered

Having arrived at the finish of the visit in as much as I had profited by the learning I had gained I basically couldnt trust the things I had heard and seen Mind boggling!

Next prevent from the stronghold was the nearby market where I needed to buy a few things for cousins Fiifi and Araba while discharging a portion of the steam I had collected from my visit to the superb and noteworthy Cape Coast palace I found the nearby people very fascinating cordial and entertaining - common of Fantes I made a beeline for the family house to plan for my voyage back to Accra the following day previous post