This castle in Cape Coast, Ghana—once known as the Gold Coast of West Africa—was one of around 40 “slave castles” that served as prisons and embarkation points for slaves en route to the Americas (the Caribbean, South America, and the U.S.). Thousands of enslaved Africans from regions near and far, sometimes hundreds of miles away, were taken to these castles to be sold to slave ships.

One of the most well known parts of Cape Coast Castle, that you can visit today, is the “Door of No Return,” which led slaves out of the castle and onto the ships setting off on the Middle Passage. Their boat journeys could last several months, and an estimated 15 percent of slaves died aboard, en route. Somewhere around 12 millions slaves were sent from Africa, millions of whom died in the process. Cape Coast Castle was a way station in history’s largest, and darkest, forced human migration.

Located in downtown Accra, Ghana is the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park and Mausoleum. The Mausoleum is the final resting place of Ghana’s first President and Africanist. The museum hosts rare artefacts relating to Ghana’s independence and tours at the park give visitors in-depth history of the Sub-saharan struggle for independence.