Atlantic slavery: places of remembrance

The journey in one line

18 places on this journey in Ghana, Senegal, Benin, Gambia, United States, Brazil, Guadeloupe, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sierra Leone and Curaçao so far. The first rung is 3 of them, and the list keeps growing.

People come to these places for many reasons. Some are tracing a family story. Some are teachers, students, or travellers who want to stand where a history they have only read about actually happened. Some live in the towns around them and pass the walls every day. This journey does not ask you to say why you came. It gathers places that hold the memory of the Atlantic slave trade and keeps them in one list, in the order the trade itself moved: the West African coast, the crossing, the Americas, and the European ports that financed it. Nothing here is a prize. The list is long because the history is wide, not because there is a target to reach.

For roughly four centuries, ships carried millions of people from West and Central Africa across the Atlantic. The forts on the Gold Coast, the island off Dakar, the river islands of the Gambia and Sierra Leone, and the wharves at Rio and Charleston were all working parts of one system. Most of the sites here are now run as museums or memorials by national heritage bodies. Many were built by the people who profited. Reading them together, on both shores, is the point of the journey.

Ghana's coastal castles sit within a short drive of each other and are usually seen in one trip, often with Assin Manso inland. Gorée is a short ferry from Dakar. The American sites are spread across many states and are usually visited over years rather than in one route. The European memorials are in working port cities and are free to approach. Several sites are reached by boat and can be cut short by weather. Check each one before travelling.

Where it goes

The places on this journey

What a visit means here. A visit means entering the public visitor area, museum or memorial named for each place. Progress is counted quietly as places on this journey visited.

1. 1

   Cape Coast Castle

   Cape Coast, Ghana

   

   Begun by Swedish traders in 1653 and rebuilt by the British, Cape Coast Castle became the headquarters of British trade on the Gold Coast. People were held in its underground dungeons before being taken through the sea gate. It is now a museum run by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board.

   What counts as a visit

   The castle courtyard, the dungeons and the site museum, on a guided tour.

   Access

   Open daily with guided tours; entry fees are set by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and change. Checked 2026-09-16.

   A place of reflection

   Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

2. 2

   Elmina Castle

   Elmina, Ghana

   

   Built by the Portuguese in 1482 as Sao Jorge da Mina and later taken by the Dutch, Elmina is the oldest European building still standing south of the Sahara. It was a trading post for gold before it became a holding place for enslaved people. The Ghana Museums and Monuments Board lists it as a national monument as the Castle of St George's, Elmina.

   What counts as a visit

   The castle courtyards, the holding cells and the guided tour.

   Access

   Open daily with guided tours. Fees are published by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board. Checked 2026-09-16.

   A place of reflection

   Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

3. 3

   Island of Gorée

   Île de Gorée

   Dakar, Senegal

   

   Gorée lies off Dakar and was held in turn by the Portuguese, Dutch, English and French. UNESCO describes the island's architecture as the contrast between slave quarters and traders' houses. The House of Slaves on the island is kept as a memorial and museum.

   What counts as a visit

   The island itself, reached by public ferry, including the House of Slaves.

   Access

   Reached by scheduled ferry from Dakar; sailings can be cut by weather. Historians disagree sharply about how many people passed through Gorée, and the island's meaning as a memorial does not rest on a number. Checked 2026-09-16.

   A place of reflection

   Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

4. 4

   Assin Manso Ancestral Slave River Park

   Assin Manso, Ghana

   Assin Manso sits inland on the route from northern Ghana to the coast. Ghana's tourism authority describes it as the largest slave market supplying the forts and castles, and as the last place captives washed in the river before the final walk to the sea. Two people brought back from the Americas are buried here.

   What counts as a visit

   The riverside site, the memorial garden and the Wall of Return.

   Access

   An open-air site, usually visited on the way to or from the coastal castles. Checked 2026-09-16.

   A place of reflection

   Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

5. 5

   Door of No Return

   Porte du Non-Retour

   Ouidah, Benin

   

   Ouidah was the main embarkation port on the Bight of Benin. A four kilometre road runs from the old auction square to the beach, marked by monuments raised from 1990 onward. The arch on the sand, finished in 1995, stands where people were put into boats. Benin has submitted the route to UNESCO's tentative list.

   What counts as a visit

   The memorial arch on the beach and the marked route through the town.

   Access

   An open-air monument on an open beach. The full route is walked or driven with a guide. Checked 2026-09-16.

   A place of reflection

   Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

6. 6

   Kunta Kinteh Island

   Juffureh, Gambia

   

   A small island in the Gambia River, fortified in the seventeenth century and fought over by European powers. UNESCO inscribed it with related sites on the mainland as a record of the river as a route into and out of Africa. Erosion has taken most of the island.

   What counts as a visit

   The island and its ruins, reached by boat, with the museum at Juffureh.

   Access

   Reached by boat from Banjul or Albreda; trips depend on the tide and the weather. Checked 2026-09-16.

   A place of reflection

   Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

7. 7

   National Museum of African American History and Culture

   Washington, United States

   

   The Smithsonian's museum of African American history opened on the National Mall in 2016. Its lowest galleries begin with the Atlantic trade and work upward through slavery, segregation and the present. It holds objects raised from the wreck of the slave ship Sao Jose.

   What counts as a visit

   The museum galleries, entered with a free timed pass.

   Access

   Open daily. Free timed-entry passes are required and are released in advance. Checked 2026-09-16.

   A place of reflection

   Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

8. 8

   Whitney Plantation

   Wallace, Louisiana, United States

   

   Whitney is a former sugar plantation on the German Coast of Louisiana, opened in 2014 as a museum told from the point of view of the people who were enslaved there rather than the family who owned it. Memorials on the grounds carry the names recorded in the parish registers.

   What counts as a visit

   The guided or self-guided tour of the grounds, cabins and memorials.

   Access

   Open most days with timed tickets; the tour is largely outdoors. Checked 2026-09-16.

   A place of reflection

   Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

9. 9

   The Legacy Museum

   Montgomery, Alabama, United States

   

   Built by the Equal Justice Initiative on the site of a former warehouse where enslaved people were held, the Legacy Museum traces a line from the domestic slave trade through lynching and segregation to mass incarceration. It sits a short walk from the river dock where people arrived.

   What counts as a visit

   The museum galleries in Montgomery.

   Access

   Timed tickets; the museum and the memorial are separate buildings with a shuttle between them. Checked 2026-09-16.

   A place of reflection

   Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

10. 10

    National Memorial for Peace and Justice

    Montgomery, Alabama, United States

    

    The memorial opened in 2018 on a hill above Montgomery. Eight hundred steel columns hang in a square, one for each United States county where a racial terror lynching was recorded, each engraved with names. Duplicate columns wait outside for counties to claim them.

    What counts as a visit

    The open-air memorial square and grounds.

    Access

    Outdoors and exposed to weather; entry is by the same ticket as the Legacy Museum. Checked 2026-09-16.

    A place of reflection

    Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

11. 11

    International African American Museum

    Charleston, South Carolina, United States

    

    The museum stands on Gadsden's Wharf, where a large share of the Africans brought into North America first came ashore. The building is lifted on columns so the ground itself is left open, with a tidal memorial garden beneath it.

    What counts as a visit

    The museum galleries and the African Ancestors Memorial Garden.

    Access

    Open most days with timed tickets; Sunday hours changed in July 2026. Checked 2026-09-16.

    A place of reflection

    Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

12. 12

    Valongo Wharf Archaeological Site

    Cais do Valongo

    Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    

    Valongo was the landing place for hundreds of thousands of Africans brought into Brazil in the nineteenth century. The stone wharf was buried under later paving and uncovered again in 2011. UNESCO inscribed it in 2017 as the most important physical trace of the arrival of enslaved Africans in the Americas.

    What counts as a visit

    The excavated wharf, open to the street in the port district.

    Access

    An open archaeological site in a working part of the city, usually seen with a local guide. Checked 2026-09-16.

    A place of reflection

    Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

13. 13

    Mémorial ACTe

    Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe

    

    The Caribbean centre for the memory of slavery and the slave trade opened in 2015 on the site of the old Darboussier sugar factory. Its permanent exhibition runs from pre-Columbian Guadeloupe through slavery and abolition to the present.

    What counts as a visit

    The permanent exhibition and the memorial grounds.

    Access

    Closed on some public holidays; check the museum's calendar. Checked 2026-09-16.

    A place of reflection

    Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

14. 14

    Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery

    Mémorial de l'abolition de l'esclavage

    Nantes, France

    

    Nantes was the busiest slave-trading port in France. The memorial, opened in 2012, runs underground along the quay where the ships fitted out. Glass plaques set into the walkway carry the name and date of each expedition that left the city.

    What counts as a visit

    The underground passage and the esplanade along the Loire.

    Access

    Open air and free; the underground passage has its own hours and closes in bad weather. Checked 2026-09-16.

    A place of reflection

    Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

15. 15

    National Slavery Monument

    Nationaal Monument Slavernijverleden

    Amsterdam, Netherlands

    

    Erwin de Vries's bronze stands in the Oosterpark and was unveiled in 2002. It shows people bent under captivity, a figure passing through a gate, and a figure with arms raised. The national commemoration of the abolition of slavery in the Dutch kingdom is held here every 1 July.

    What counts as a visit

    The monument and its surrounding square in the Oosterpark.

    Access

    An open park monument, always approachable. The City of Amsterdam has been reworking the setting around it. Checked 2026-09-16.

    A place of reflection

    Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

16. 16

    International Slavery Museum

    Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Liverpool ships carried a large share of the British slave trade. The museum opened in 2007 on the Albert Dock, in the buildings the trade helped pay for, and covers West African life before the trade, the crossing, and the legacies that followed.

    What counts as a visit

    The museum galleries at the Royal Albert Dock.

    Access

    Closed to visitors since January 2025 for repairs and a major redevelopment, with National Museums Liverpool pointing to a reopening later this decade. Parts of the museum's holdings are on tour elsewhere in the meantime. Checked 2026-09-16.

    A place of reflectionClosed

    Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

17. 17

    Bunce Island

    Freetown, Sierra Leone

    

    A British trading castle on an island in the Sierra Leone River. Rice-growing regions of South Carolina and Georgia drew heavily on people shipped from here, which is why the site matters so much to Gullah Geechee families. It is protected by Sierra Leone's Monuments and Relics Commission and stands in ruins.

    What counts as a visit

    The island ruins, reached by boat from Freetown, usually with a guide.

    Access

    Reached only by boat; trips are arranged in Freetown and depend on weather and river conditions. Checked 2026-09-16.

    A place of reflection

    Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

18. 18

    Kurá Hulanda Museum

    Willemstad, Curaçao

    

    Curaçao was a Dutch depot where captives were landed, held and sold on to the wider Caribbean and the mainland. The museum sits in restored Otrobanda buildings a short walk from the harbour and covers the trade, African cultures of origin, and Curaçao's own history of slavery and revolt.

    What counts as a visit

    The museum buildings and courtyards in Otrobanda.

    Access

    Hours have changed several times in recent years; check before going. Checked 2026-09-16.

    A place of reflection

    Check access · last checked September 16, 2026

Respect and access

These are places where people suffered and died. Many are also places of prayer and of local daily life. Keep your voice low, follow the guides, and ask before photographing other visitors, who may be having a hard day. This app does not know where anyone's ancestors were taken from, and this journey never claims otherwise. Visiting a named place does not connect you to it by blood, and not visiting it takes nothing away from you.

Closed

The place is closed, temporarily or otherwise. It stays on this journey because the journey is a historical list, not a list of what is open today.

A place of reflection

This is a memorial or a site of atrocity. Visitors are asked to be quiet, to follow the custodian's guidance on photography, and to treat it as somewhere people grieve.

Opening times, prices, permits and eligibility change. Nothing on this page is a statement about today. Follow the Check access link on a place before you plan around it.

Sources

• gmmb.gov.ghhttps://gmmb.gov.gh/cape-coast-castle-cape-coast-1653/ · checked September 16, 2026
• gmmb.gov.ghhttps://gmmb.gov.gh/forts-and-castles/ · checked September 16, 2026
• iaamuseum.orghttps://iaamuseum.org/ · checked September 16, 2026
• kurahulandamuseum.comhttps://kurahulandamuseum.com/ · checked September 16, 2026
• memorial.nantes.frhttps://memorial.nantes.fr/ · checked September 16, 2026
• museumandmemorial.eji.orghttps://museumandmemorial.eji.org/ · checked September 16, 2026
• nmaahc.si.eduhttps://nmaahc.si.edu/visit · checked September 16, 2026
• sierraleoneheritage.orghttps://sierraleoneheritage.org/sites/monuments/bunce/ · checked September 16, 2026
• visitghana.comhttps://visitghana.com/assin-manso-slave-river/ · checked September 16, 2026
• whc.unesco.orghttps://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1548 · checked September 16, 2026
• whc.unesco.orghttps://whc.unesco.org/en/list/26 · checked September 16, 2026
• whc.unesco.orghttps://whc.unesco.org/en/list/761 · checked September 16, 2026
• whc.unesco.orghttps://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6512/ · checked September 16, 2026
• amsterdam.nlhttps://www.amsterdam.nl/projecten/nationaal-monument-slavernijverleden/ · checked September 16, 2026
• liverpoolmuseums.org.ukhttps://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/international-slavery-museum · checked September 16, 2026
• memorial-acte.frhttps://www.memorial-acte.fr/ · checked September 16, 2026
• whitneyplantation.orghttps://www.whitneyplantation.org/ · checked September 16, 2026

TravelDay selected and grouped these places. Naming a custodian, a government agency or UNESCO as a source is not a claim that any of them endorsed this journey.