The Elephant in the Room

You can't spend much time in coastal West Africa without being reminded about the issue of slavery. This is especially true in Bénin. I read in several places here that 40% of the slaves that were part of the Atlantic slave trade in the late 17th-early 19th century came from what is now Bénin, through a series of agreements between the local rulers of the Dahomey kingdom and the Portuguese, French, Dutch, Danish, and British traders who traded on the coast near the city of Ouidah. The predominance of slaves from this part of Africa was critical in the development of voodoo (which derives from the Fon word for god or deity) in Brazil, Haiti, and Cuba. 

I had a chance today to visit the city of Ouidah, a sleepy little place between Cotonou and the Togolese border. Ouidah is filled with architectural remnants of the 18th and 19th centuries. A Portuguese trading fort is well preserved and serves as a local museum, chronicling the history of the slave trade, the Kingdom of Dahomey, and the Dahomey diaspora spread across the western hemisphere by the slave trade. 

Memorial on the ocean front at Ouidah

Ouidah sits several miles north of the ocean. On the south side of the town is a large square that once served as the city's slave market. Traders would come here to inspect the "wares". After contracts were sealed, the slaves were then chained together and forced to walk to the coast, where they were crammed into ships and sent around the West African coast to the Ile de Goré in Senegal, where most transatlantic voyages commenced. 

Today, a large monument stands overlooking the ocean, serving as a monument to those who passed this "point of no return." The slave trade during the Dahomey period remains a live political issue today, as some in the country's north continue to resent the fact that the Dahomey kings were very much complicit in the slave trade that took place 200 years ago. 

Museum of Ouidah - an old Portuguese fort

Aside from these sad reminders of human history, Ouidah is a beautiful place to visit, with a quiet culture far removed from the bustle and dust of Cotonou. I am thankful for these opportunities to visit places a bit off the beaten path.