Photos: Retracing a slave route in Ghana, 400 years on | Hindustan Times
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Photos: Retracing a slave route in Ghana, 400 years on

Updated On Aug 08, 2019 12:14 PM IST

This month marks 400 years since the first recorded African slaves arrived in North America to work plantations in English colonies. In the centuries after, European slave traders shipped millions of African men, women and children across the Atlantic Ocean. Many died in horrific conditions on the slave boats, while survivors endured a life of misery and backbreaking farm work.

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Children dressed in traditional style cloth wrappings perform for residents of Kofi Gyan during a cultural performance, in a village on Tarkwa-Bogoso road, in Kofi Gyan. This month marks 400 years since the first recorded African slaves arrived in North America to work plantations in English colonies. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 08, 2019 12:14 PM IST

Children dressed in traditional style cloth wrappings perform for residents of Kofi Gyan during a cultural performance, in a village on Tarkwa-Bogoso road, in Kofi Gyan. This month marks 400 years since the first recorded African slaves arrived in North America to work plantations in English colonies. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS)

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Boys take extra lessons after school hours in Obuasi. European slave traders shipped millions of African men, women and children across the Atlantic Ocean centuries after the first recorded African slaves arrived in North America. Many died in horrific conditions on the slave boats, while survivors endured a life of misery and back-breaking farm work. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 08, 2019 12:14 PM IST

Boys take extra lessons after school hours in Obuasi. European slave traders shipped millions of African men, women and children across the Atlantic Ocean centuries after the first recorded African slaves arrived in North America. Many died in horrific conditions on the slave boats, while survivors endured a life of misery and back-breaking farm work. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS)

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Nana Assenso, 68, chief of Adidwan, a village in Ghana’s interior, looks on before visiting the grave of his uncle Kwame Badu. His uncle’s name Kwame Badu, has been passed on through the family in remembrance of an ancestor with that name who was captured and sold into slavery long ago. “Growing up, I was told the story of two of my great-great-grand-uncles Kwame Badu and Kofi Aboagye who were captured and sold into slavery,” said Assenso. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 08, 2019 12:14 PM IST

Nana Assenso, 68, chief of Adidwan, a village in Ghana’s interior, looks on before visiting the grave of his uncle Kwame Badu. His uncle’s name Kwame Badu, has been passed on through the family in remembrance of an ancestor with that name who was captured and sold into slavery long ago. “Growing up, I was told the story of two of my great-great-grand-uncles Kwame Badu and Kofi Aboagye who were captured and sold into slavery,” said Assenso. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS)

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Nana Assenso stands at the grave of his uncle, remembering the man he loved but also a past that has haunted his family for generations. Though he followed the family tradition and named his youngest son Kwame Badu. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 08, 2019 12:14 PM IST

Nana Assenso stands at the grave of his uncle, remembering the man he loved but also a past that has haunted his family for generations. Though he followed the family tradition and named his youngest son Kwame Badu. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS)

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Abdul Sumud Shaibu, 50, shows a photograph of his grandfather on his mobile phone, in Obuasi. “My ancestors were giants,” he said. “They were well-built and strong. Look at the height of my grandfather in this picture.” They did battle with slave raiders, he says. In those fights, sometimes they lost. And sometimes they were captured into slavery. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 08, 2019 12:14 PM IST

Abdul Sumud Shaibu, 50, shows a photograph of his grandfather on his mobile phone, in Obuasi. “My ancestors were giants,” he said. “They were well-built and strong. Look at the height of my grandfather in this picture.” They did battle with slave raiders, he says. In those fights, sometimes they lost. And sometimes they were captured into slavery. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS)

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A boy rides a bicycle along a road in Denyase, Ashanti Region. For some of them, the terrible journey began here, deep inside Ghana. Captured by slavers, they were marched along dirt tracks for 200 kilometers (125 miles) to slave castles perched on the Atlantic Coast, where they boarded ships for North America. They never saw their homeland again. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 08, 2019 12:14 PM IST

A boy rides a bicycle along a road in Denyase, Ashanti Region. For some of them, the terrible journey began here, deep inside Ghana. Captured by slavers, they were marched along dirt tracks for 200 kilometers (125 miles) to slave castles perched on the Atlantic Coast, where they boarded ships for North America. They never saw their homeland again. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS)

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Adum market is seen at nightfall in Kumasi, Ghana. This central business district of Kumasi is the hub for trade that supplies the hinterlands and northern parts of Ghana with goods from the south. But many rulers of West African empires, such as the Ashanti kingdom, whose descendants still live in this part of modern-day Ghana, also profited, selling captured slaves in exchange for guns, cloth, alcohol and other Western manufactured goods. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 08, 2019 12:14 PM IST

Adum market is seen at nightfall in Kumasi, Ghana. This central business district of Kumasi is the hub for trade that supplies the hinterlands and northern parts of Ghana with goods from the south. But many rulers of West African empires, such as the Ashanti kingdom, whose descendants still live in this part of modern-day Ghana, also profited, selling captured slaves in exchange for guns, cloth, alcohol and other Western manufactured goods. (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS)

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British and American flags are among other flags hoisted on fishermen’s boats at the Cape Coast Castle. From the castles, where European authorities lived in comfort right above the dungeons that held the slaves, the captured Africans walked through the Door of No Return onto the ships that would take them to America. (Siphiwe Sibeko / REUTERS) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 08, 2019 12:14 PM IST

British and American flags are among other flags hoisted on fishermen’s boats at the Cape Coast Castle. From the castles, where European authorities lived in comfort right above the dungeons that held the slaves, the captured Africans walked through the Door of No Return onto the ships that would take them to America. (Siphiwe Sibeko / REUTERS)

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A man walks past a torn-down colonial building in Mampong. Saviour Asante, 30, a hairdresser in Obuasi, had given little thought to slave history growing up. That changed with a visit to Cape Coast castle. “I cried the whole day,” she says. “It was a very painful experience to hear these stories.” (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS) expand-icon View Photos in a new improved layout
Updated on Aug 08, 2019 12:14 PM IST

A man walks past a torn-down colonial building in Mampong. Saviour Asante, 30, a hairdresser in Obuasi, had given little thought to slave history growing up. That changed with a visit to Cape Coast castle. “I cried the whole day,” she says. “It was a very painful experience to hear these stories.” (Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS)

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