Elmina

The Portuguese built São Jorge da Mina castle here in 1482, on the coast of present-day Ghana. They came for gold, which gave the place its name ('the mine'). In 1637 the Dutch West India Company (WIC) captured the castle and built Fort Coenraadsburg on the hill opposite. Elmina became the Dutch headquarters on the Gold Coast and remained so until 1872. At first the trade was mainly in gold. From the late seventeenth century the slave trade became the main business. Enslaved Africans were held in the castle dungeons and then shipped to the Americas. The castle still stands and is a World Heritage Site.

Source: Atlas of Mutual Heritage