Portuguese Build Fort Elmina, First European Slave-Trading Fort in Africa

The Portuguese constructed São Jorge da Mina (Elmina Castle) on the Gold Coast of present-day Ghana, the first permanent European trading post in sub-Saharan Africa. Originally built for gold trade, it rapidly became the central hub of the Atlantic slave trade. Dungeons beneath the castle held captive Africans before their forced transport across the Atlantic. An estimated three million enslaved Africans passed through its 'Door of No Return' over the following centuries.