History of Western Africa Ghana || Travelling Mantra || Ghana Part 9

Beautiful view of Chandarnagar, Abadji city. The floor you are seeing is the real floor of that time. This used to be another cell where they used to keep the prisoners. The door is 491 years old. In this place, the soldiers used to have fun with the women. The girl is upset with us. This used to be the trade room of the governor. Pakoras are being made. I will ask for you. News station, news station, news station. She requested me to stay with her at Adiza Couchsurfing. You have to travel anywhere in Africa. If you meet a local, it's better than nothing. Thank you. After two and a half hours, we have landed in Abadji area. There is a fort here. We will see that first. My couchsurfers are with me. Let me tell you something about Couchsurfing. Couchsurfing is a very good community app. If you use it, I would like to give you a small suggestion. Only use it when you can host someone. Don't use it for free. Wherever you go, stay free. Don't join it. Only use it when you can host someone. If you are in the travel community, it's a good app for you, for me, for everyone. Because you meet local people. And you get to know a lot. Massage! Massage! This is the view of the city from above. We have to go even higher. This is the entrance fee for the fort. 10 CD for me and 10 CD for them. This is 5 CD for locals and 10 CD for me. Because we are foreigners. This is the beautiful view of Abadji city. And this is the sea coast car. This is the main entrance of the fort. This is the main entrance. My name is Ebenezer. I am replacing my father Joseph Akwafor as the main tour guide here. This fort was built by the Britishers in 1631. They built this fort using sea sand and palm oil. All the forts built in Ghana used this kind of material. No iron rod or cement was used in any fort. The Britishers built this fort with the help of the locals. And with the thought of their welfare. Not to keep slaves. That's why they didn't build any fort here. The Britishers used to bring sugar, salt and clothes here. In return, they used to take gold and minerals from here. Then in 1638, the Dutch came here. They defeated the Britishers and captured this fort. And named this fort Fort Amsterdam. After that, this fort began to be used as a tavern for the Dutch. The Dutch made 7 taverns here. For 5 men and 2 women. Which we will see inside. Before going inside, I want to tell you. After the Dutch, the Britishers came again. And they fought with the Dutch. In this battle, many parts of this fort were destroyed. This is called FIFU. There used to be a soldier here. Who used to see the incoming person. If an enemy came. He used to shoot him from above. Otherwise, he used to call the soldier inside and open the door. There used to be a soldier inside this place. This place was not so small before. But now, due to the high sand, it has become a little smaller. Maybe you will ask me. How did the soldier sitting above know? Is the person standing at the door a friend or an enemy? So look at this place. At that time, there used to be a pet pigeon here. He used to indicate the danger that came close. So that the soldier would know the difference between a friend and an enemy. This place that you are seeing. There were soldiers' rooms up here. And the Dutch soldiers were kept down here. The Dutch soldiers were kept in this room. And they used to fight inside. So you can guess how they used to stay in the dirt. There used to be a church up here. And there used to be a school downstairs. Where the Dutch were kept. The practice of slavery has been going on since the time of Moses. When the Egyptians had kept the Israelis as slaves. What is this? The water tank. They used to drink water from here. Since 1638 when they were here. Come out from this hole that we are seeing. This small hole. In these rooms, the Dutch used to keep their weapons. And this is some early pictures of this fort. When we came here in 1880, this is how the fort was looking. There used to be an iron door here. And there used to be a small hole. From which the soldiers used to see through a microscope. Whether a person is alive or dead inside. This place was made for those stubborn slaves. Who did not listen to the Dutch people. And they used to fight with them. And those slaves were so strong. That if the Dutch shot them. Then the bullet did not enter their body. And they used to turn when they hit with a knife or sword. Such men were locked in this cell. And their food was stopped. Because of which they died. And their bodies were thrown into the sea. Today we use this room for the warehouse. The Dutch used to trade on the roof of this room. And 150 female maids were kept down here. And these rooms were made to punish those female maids. Who did not let the soldiers communicate with them. So this is how they treated Africans. This is what you are seeing the windows. The female prisoners were fed from here. And the imprisoned woman inside used to get one meal. While the imprisoned woman outside was given two meals. So let's go inside and see this room. This was the dark room for the women. This is the floor you are seeing. This is the real floor of that time. It was made of sand. Which the woman used to use to clean herself in her menstrual period. Even after menstruation. She used this sand to clean herself. Because of the filth, some women used to die. Their bodies were tied with big stones. And thrown into the sea. This is how they mistreated women. Here is the blood of our ancestors. So this is a holy room. And before we go inside, we knock on the door. Because we believe that our ancestors still live in this room. A soldier used to stand here. He used to beat the slaves by mistake. This was not a palm tree before. This used to be the captain's room. His bedroom was upstairs. And the office was downstairs. This used to be another cell from here. Where they used to keep the prisoners. And if a prisoner died in the back cells. They used to bring him from the back to the fort. And throw him into the sea. This is an original gate. Which used to be on the fort at that time. Which is almost 491 years old. The door is 491 years old. A soldier used to sit here. He used to shoot the prisoners. There used to be soldiers around the fort. And used to shoot the enemies who came down from these tunnels. Here the soldiers used to celebrate Langra Niya with the women. Our girl is sad. I don't know what to say. I feel very sad. When we went to Benin. We felt the same way in Udaipur and Veda. I don't want to hear these stories. But they say that the British didn't do anything wrong here. The Dutch did. The British did the development work. But the Dutch did the slave trading work. This big room used to be for the captain and the governor. The soldiers used to live here. The captain and the governor used to celebrate Langra Niya with the women. This is the last place where we are going to end our tour. This was the sitting room for the governor. This used to be the governor's trading room. This was the roof. The governor used to sit here. This was the office. This was the bedroom. The goat is so small. His beard is big. In Ghana, whenever someone meets a foreign person. They say that the person they meet is God. A kid came to ask for money. I gave him two instead of one. He said he had two. I said I know I gave him two. He was asking for one. They have told me that whenever a foreigner comes to Ghana. They feel that God has come. This was a part of the history of Fort Amsterdam, Ghana. Now we are going somewhere further. Thank you. Again tell me your name. Ebenezer. Thank you Ebenezer. We are going to Alemina.