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Article: Ghana's crumbling heritage. (castles and forts on the coast are deteriorating)
- Article from:
- History Today
- Article date:
- October 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 History Today Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The beaches of Ghana are among the most attractive in West Africa. Frowning down on thirty-one of them are the forts and castles which, for the most part, owe their existence to the slave trade. These beaches and castles - two splendid assets for tourism - are now significant foreign currency earners for Ghana, which last year ranked sixth in Africa for tourism receipts.
The grandest castle, Elmina, was founded by the Portuguese in 1482. Gold (hence Ghana's former name as the Gold Coast) was originally their quest. But Elmina owes its present extent to the Dutch, the first slave-traders on a massive, transatlantic scale.
With its size, its curtain-wall, ...