The trans-Atlantic slave trade was much more than a forced movement of people; it was also a movement of cultures and ideas across the Atlantic from Africa to the New World. And in spite of the horrors of human traffic, it laid the cultural and ethnic foundation of today’s black societies of the Caribbean and the Americas. Join journalist John Lawton, who is working on the UNESCO Slave Route Project, as we seek to go beyond the inexcusable human exploitation and try to understand something of the legacy of the slaves themselves. Explore their music, dance and spiritual traditions where gods and spirits are worshipped in stirring ceremonies.
Our trip begins in Kigoma, a small sleepy town on the edge of Lake Tanganyika where the main caravan route to the East Coast slave markets began. Watch craftsmen building traditional dhows, visit the compound where Henry Morton Stanley greeted David Livingstone with the words “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” and explore the Goomba Stream National Park made famous by Jane Goodall’s chimpanzee behavioral studies. Continue on to Zanzibar, of great symbolic importance in the slave trade, being both one of the main slave-trading ports of East Africa and also the base from where its opponents such as David Livingstone conducted their campaign against it. Its hybrid civilization is characterized by a distinctive stone architecture and a diverse population descended from migrants, traders, conquerors and slaves. Tour the old Stone Town, a chaotic, labyrinth of winding streets lined with whitewashed houses which combines the disparate elements of the cultures of Africa, Arabia, India and Europe.
Our journey continues from Tanzania to Ile de Mozambique, located in northern Mozambique, the former capital of Portuguese East Africa and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its history as a trading settlement with ties to Persia, Arabia and beyond goes back hundreds of years. Fly to Accra, the capital of Ghana and spend an afternoon at the renowned Academy of African Music, founded by legendary drummer Mustafa Tettey Addy. Drive along the Slave Coast of Ghana to St. George’s Castle ceded to the British to defend their spheres of interest and, when slaves replaced gold as the major object of commerce, used to imprison slaves.
Continue on to Benin visiting the early trans-Atlantic slave trade center of Ouidah, a voodoo stronghold on the coast where religion penetrates deeply into local society. Historically, when the Gulf of Benin was known as the Slave Coast, some of the largest trading posts and slave markets were sited here. Ouidah was captured by the “Amazon” warriors of Abomey in the early eighteenth century and in the following years the town grew into one of the foremost trading posts between Europe and the Dan-Homey. Spend a quiet morning walking along the Route des Esclaves. This four-kilometer sandy track was walked by slaves from their holding points in town to the beach. Return home from Accra.
Group size is limited to 15 travelers
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