Place: Forts and Castles of Volta and Greater Accra, Ghana
Weather: A few clouds from time to time, 80/90F.
Route: From Guene 835 km SSE on RNIE2.
Significance: Starting in 1482 the European powers - Portugal, Britain etc - started building castles in this region to protect gold that they were extracting from the area. Soon these castles became known for holding enslaved peoples prior to being put on ships for the Americas. In 2006 I went on a trip to Ghana through Habitat for Humanity and went to one of the castles. It was a very moving - thinking of all the people taken from their homes and forced onto ships - this being the last place they would see their homeland.
Images:
Castle on the coast (from whc.unesco.org)
Courtyard of Fort William (from whc.unesco.org)
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