Assin Manso Slave Market: The Painful Experience And More..

Assin Manso Slave Market and River Site is one of Ghana’s most popular tourist attractions. It is 40 kilometers from the Yamransa junction on the Cape Coast Kumasi highway.

In fact, there is a particular reason why people go there. I therefore set out to experience the tour for myself. During their journey, the slave merchants made a spectacular stop at the slave river on their way to the coastal dungeon.

During my tour, witnessing the final bath of African ancestors before they were transported to the castle was an emotionally charged experience. Particularly, imagining in the visions how the people were forced to take one last bath before being taken away against their will.

During the notorious trans-Atlantic slave trade, Assin Manso Ancestral Slave River Park was one of the largest slave markets for gathering people to sell into slavery. Because you will be traveling along the route that many African Americans’ ancestors took, it is especially worth seeing this before going to the Cape Coast slave castle.

It was known to have been the largest slave market for merchants supplying slaves to the coast’s forts and castles because it was the final link in the slavery route from northern Ghana.

As a result of the Europeans’ inability to adapt to the climate and to withstand tropical diseases while working in the agricultural and mining industries, the trans-Atlantic slave trade developed.

Trans-Atlantic slave trade because already manufactured goods (such as tobacco, liquor, beads, clothing, and firearms, among others) were exchanged for human beings and transported from Europe to Africa.

Additionally, Assin Manso owns the location where Carson from New York and Lady Crystal from Jamaica’s returned remains were reburied. As a result, the annual Emancipation Day Durbar, which includes a visit to the slave river and the laying of wreaths at the graves of returnees, is held on August 1 to commemorate and crown the festivities.

The Memorial Wall of Return is located at the same Assin Manso. The majority of Africans write their names on the wall here to express gratitude and acknowledge that they have located their ancestral home. Some prominent people who were part of the slavery are honored with an epitaph here.

To get to the Gold Coast Dungeon, captured Africans had to walk barefoot through the harsh bush and over rough terrain for sometimes hundreds of miles. The slave merchant’s hired drivers beat them into submission, starved them, and abused them.

They were frequently attacked by wild animals, but they were chained and unable to fight or flee. This perilous journey resulted in the loss of numerous souls and lives.

Before continuing their journey, some were well fed and rested for several days or weeks. The merchants were aware that if they appeared healthy and robust, they could guarantee higher prices.

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Surprisingly, the Portuguese initiated the inhumane treatment of captured slaves. In order to identify them as captives, they would burn their skin with a branding iron that was so hot. To demonstrate ownership, the burns would leave a scar on the upper arm, breast, or shoulder.

In other instances, branding was used to demonstrate proper duty payment. When it was time to leave, the Europeans left behind the weak ones behind chained trees where some starved to death and were eaten by dangerous animals.

In their worn-out condition and chained state, the weak ones were left to ‘rot’, whilst the stronger captives continued walking for approximately 40 miles to Cape Coast Castle.

I enjoyed myself at the Assin Manso Slave Market and River Site, but when I got home, I was filled with so much pain and imaginations.