Restoring the past for the future
In restoring part of Ghana’s past in both Elmina and Usshertown-Old Accra, the EU has played its part in boosting tourist arrivals in Ghana. The Elmina project has been a “life saver”, says one resident.
Nana Kobina Gyan Square, Elmina from ‘Elmina. Building on the past to create a better future’ by E.van Steekelenburg (ed.).
© www.kit.nl/publishers
A €2M project under the 9th European Development Fund (EDF) began in 2004 as part of the ‘Elmina 2015 strategy: Building on the past to create a better future’
Derived from ‘La Mina’ in Portuguese meaning ‘mine’, Elmina is a key town in Ghana’s past and was at the heart of West Africa’s gold trade in the 16th century. The castle of St.George d’Elmina dates back to 1482. The Dutch took over control of Elmina from the Portuguese in 1637, making the town their Gold Coast headquarters and by the end of the 17th century, a centre of the slave trade to plantations in the Americas.
Up to the 19th century, it thrived through food production, fishing and service industries such as transport and storage. The Dutch eventually abandoned the slave trade and in 1872 sold their possessions on the Gold Coast to the British in exchange for rights to Bengkulu in Sumatra, Indonesia. Elmina town was bombarded by the British because of the refusal of the King of Elmina to accept Britain’s new rule. Accra became the centre of British colonial administration and Elmina’s importance diminished.
New lease of life
Both the castle and fort of Elmina are World heritage sites of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and are much visited by Ghana’s diaspora in tracing the suffering endured by their West African descendants. To celebrate 300 years of Ghanaian-Dutch diplomatic relations, the ‘Elmina 2015 project - Building the Past to create a better future’ was launched. In 2002 and in consultation with the Dutch, local people, including church leaders and hotel owners and many others, drew up some 80 projects to give the town a new lease of life.
Ninth EDF financing went to 10 areas: repair to the entrance and upper terraces of St.George’s castle; renovation and landscaping of Fort St Jago; tourist facilties in Elmina; the renovation of 15 historic houses; construction of staircases to St Joseph’s and Java Hill; a face lift of Nana Kobina Gyan Square; renovation of the 19th century chapel and community hall; renovation of the Dutch cemetery and surroundings; expansion of the Catholic museum and renovation of four Asafo posts.
Not only is Elmina now firmly on the tourism map, but there have been many economic spin-offs in both the public and private sector such as bars, bed and breakfasts and fish processing. This revival is traced in an illustrated brochure, freshly published by the EC’s Delegation in Accra. Quoted in the publication, Christopher Ewusi, manager of the Elmina tourist office, says with 15-20 visitors a day Elmina is receiving double the number of tourists in 2007 and local people rent the spruced-up facilities in the square for big family events like weddings and funerals.
€305,100 (around 400,000 Ghana Cedi) of 9th EDF monies have gone to restore Ussher Fort-Old Accra, also on UNESCO’s heritage lists. It is another reminder of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.
www.encounterelmina.com
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