Approximately 12km west of Cape Coast, this small fishing port - formerly a fishing and salt-producing village going back some 700 years - is mostly visited for its beaches and recognised for its role in the former transatlantic slave trade. One of its best-known sites, Elmina Castle, was built by the Portuguese in 1482 as a base for trading slaves, gold and ivory. It's also the oldest European building in sub-Saharan Africa. The 17th-century Fort St. Jago was used by the Dutch to attack Elmina Castle and the Elmina-Java Museum records the recruitment of Africans into the Dutch army.
Shelley Phillips
Travel Specialist
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