1482 Jan 20-1483: The Portuguese constructed Elmina Castle, also known as São Jorge da Mina, as an imposing square fortress on the Gold Coast of modern-day G…

1482 Jan 20-1483: The Portuguese constructed Elmina Castle, also known as São Jorge da Mina, as an imposing square fortress on the Gold Coast of modern-day Ghana. This structure, which featured steep stone stairways and forbidding dungeons, served as a permanent declaration that Europeans intended to remain on the African coast for commerce. For more than three centuries, a large cistern beneath the castle’s base supplied essential water to slave ships preparing for the Middle Passage. Thousands of captives were herded through its “door of no return” into vessels bound for the Americas or other African ports.