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[Music]
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so
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[Music]
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i'll say that you all are warmly welcome
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to the london of the ancestors
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well i am going to take you through the
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dungeons of cape coast castle and see
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several other important parts but then i
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want you to know that your questions
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are welcome you can also contribute to
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exactly what we are doing here
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and just in case there is something you
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don't really understand please call my
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attention tourette
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that's what i'm here for the name is
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sebastian
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kwame native but you can call me kwame
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it's much simple and easy where you are
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is called
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cape coast castle but i want you all to
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know that at that time
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while when the europeans were here this
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place wasn't a castle
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but rather a factory why was it a
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factory
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because it had lots of storage spaces
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be it the dungeon or storage space for
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gold ivory spices and several other
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places
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but then africans that were even held in
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the dungeons
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were not seen as humans but rather
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as goods or let's say commodities by the
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white folk
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and they thought that africans do not
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have a soul
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and they are you know that of
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satan's so they are taking them from
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africa to be saved in the americas and
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in egypt in europe
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so looking at the whole thing you
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realize that the europeans elia came to
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africa not only to trade
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but also to spread the gospel converting
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people into becoming christians there to
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counteract the arabs
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from spreading islamic religion
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throughout the african continent
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and also break the arab gold monopoly
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but then there came a time they began
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the trans-atlantic slave trade
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all in the name of labor in the americas
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and in europe
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and so they started taking our ancestors
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from the motherland to the new world
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and this actually went on for a period
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of about 400 years on the continent of
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africa
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but i want each and every one of us here
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to know for a fact
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that without the involvement of some
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africans this transatlantic slave trade
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wouldn't have lasted a period of about
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400 years on the continent of africa
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which means some africans played a very
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important role in everything
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and literally we are going to say that
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there will be no smoke
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without fire if you see a smoke
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somewhere
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there's a fire underneath it somewhere
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so even though it's very sad to hear
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this
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but some of our ancestors also played a
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major role
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in giving our brothers and sisters out
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to the europeans for them to take them
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away
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and whenever they brought people
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european money had
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no value to any african around here that
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is why they practiced the vata system of
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trade
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exchange of materials they received guns
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gun powder whiskey rum teacups ceramic
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plates and
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lots of other european items from these
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europeans they give them gold ivory
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spices african men women
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and several other staff and that is what
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we call the triangular trade between the
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three continents europe africa and the
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americas
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so then the europeans will bring all
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cheap european merchandise down here to
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africa
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then they use these things to get very
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expensive african commodities
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then they remove everything from africa
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they get to the americas what will they
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do
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they will only offload african men and
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women on the fields
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working on sugarcane plantations cotton
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fields and so many other things you name
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them
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and after doing all of that they would
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take sugar and know that
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amongst europeans sugar was a very
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important commodity
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called quite gold at that time as well
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as they would take indigo tobacco coffee
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and other stuff in addition
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move everything to europe to feed the
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industries out there and money that was
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made out of it
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was what they used in building europe
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and the united states of america and so
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that is what we call the triangular
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trade
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and so with the triangle moving from
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europe to africa will be the outward
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passage from africa to the americas will
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be the middle passage
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and africa's america's back to europe
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will be the inward passage
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but wonderful people the people that
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arrived here were not all from ghana
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they brought them from several parts of
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africa but i want you all to know for a
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fact that the biggest
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chunk was taken from west africa
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so from several west african nations
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african men and women had to be moved
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from all over and they had to walk
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barefooted either tied up or in shackles
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and chains
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know that as they moved to them there
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were people that became so weak and sick
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that they had to be abandoned
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but i am not going to abandon you to go
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back home and tell what i have done to
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you
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that is why i would rather tie you to a
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tree and leave you there
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it's either you die on your own or you
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be killed by an animal
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then i moved down with the very strong
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ones
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whenever they arrived at ascend mountain
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slave market
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they were made to have their last bath
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you take their last bath from over there
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then people that have been bought
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already will be branded and everything
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then they send them down to the various
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forts and castles along the coast
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there are about 66 spots and castles in
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west africa
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i want you all to know that ghana has
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got about 90 percent of it
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it was because ghana was known for its
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gold
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so originally this place was known as
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gold coast that is why most of the
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europeans wanted to live here
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and enjoy from the proceeds of the goal
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they were getting
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so they built most of the forts around
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here but then we have three castles in
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west africa and all of them were built
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in ghana
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so these were the biggest trading posts
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the europeans had in west africa
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and the first one happens to be the
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saint george's castle or el mina castle
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built by the portuguese 1482
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and that is about 536 years but
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originally it wasn't built as a state
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castle
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so there was nothing like a dungeon
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there until the portuguese began the
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trans-atlantic slatery
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where they converted historic rooms into
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dungeons where they held african
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captives
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for more than a century before other
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european nations also decided to go here
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and take part in it and then there is
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another one in accra called
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christiansboro castle
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built by the danes 1661 which is about
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357 years
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second biggest second oldest and it was
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built as a slate castle
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but if you all today are looking to
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visit visiting the biggest
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slave castle in the whole of west africa
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you are at the right place
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at the right time that's cape coast
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castle this place was built at the time
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when trans
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atlantic slave trade was at the highest
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level so then the british chose to build
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much bigger dungeons to accommodate
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about 1
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300 african men and women at a goal
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well my brothers and sisters
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where we are now served as an auction
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block
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a market a place where the europeans
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auctioned off everything
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from african men women gold and
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recycling so many other materials
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and it's named pallava hall the word
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palabra is actually portuguese which
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means argument
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so if it's going to be argument then
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it'll be argument overprices here
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that is why they gave this space that
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name pallava
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hall but if you look at it carefully it
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looks like a ballroom
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well i want you all to know that it
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wasn't a ballroom it was a market
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and so this shows you all that the
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europeans
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as they stayed in this very fort lived
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in very
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nice and beautiful spaces but then when
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we go down
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we start listening to dungeons and
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everything you realize that our
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ancestors
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were treated very differently they would
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have been able to end it quick
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the reason is that the european power
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never got anywhere
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than the fire of their gun
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so then if let's say i'm an african
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these people want to brother get my
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people
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i can you know use some ways to just
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stop them
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so let's talk about benin during the
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trans atlantic slavery the king they at
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that time came to realize that
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everything that has been happening is
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insane
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so he has to stop it what
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his will was i am not going to sell
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african men to you anymore
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i can sell you all of my women but i
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won't give you men
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but the europeans looking at the whole
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thing they needed strong failed hands
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they needed men who can work the fields
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so they were like if you're not going to
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sell us men we don't buy your women
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and that instantly killed the slave
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trade in benin
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and there came a time the people of
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elmina had built that hatred for the
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portuguese
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they wanted the portuguese to leave
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their land
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but you know the portuguese were doing
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so many things to them that
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they didn't want to stand out because
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what shows that the guns you have given
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you've been giving me are better guns
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because most of these materials they
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brought were second-hand materials
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oh yeah and so they decided we are going
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to hold on
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but they realize that the dutch have
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been trying to fight the portuguese
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two consecutive times they did not
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succeed then the people of elmina rose
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up
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and said we are going to join the dutch
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to fight the portuguese to defeat them
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maybe when the dutch come they will not
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do the same things the portuguese have
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been doing to us
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so they joined forces with the
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portuguese the that story
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they afforded the portuguese they
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defeated them hands down
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and when the dutch took over el mina
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castle around 1637 they started making
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expansions
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and they started fueling everything the
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more in el nino castle
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so the people went back to zero so
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if people do say that africans never
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fought i would just say that
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they are just lying there came a time
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africans fought but hey
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there were majority of them that were so
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much addicted to power
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and riches and everything that they were
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not ready to going back
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uh is it so that uh not just the
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transatlantic is where the slaves were
00:10:59
actually sent but also went around
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africa to india
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and china actually okay yes that's very
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true
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but then there came a time these
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europeans
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even started moving indians from their
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own home to africa
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so much so that today if you go to south
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africa they have the biggest indian
00:11:18
population outside of
00:11:19
outside of india and so they did a whole
00:11:22
lot of crazy stuff rather
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they did a whole lot i want all of us
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to exercise a minute silence
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and say a prayer for all the souls that
00:11:35
were lost in the air
00:11:46
you can call the spirit of your
00:11:48
ancestors
00:11:50
you can say their names and you know
00:11:53
anybody that comes into mind that is
00:11:55
very important
00:11:57
that made some changes please you can
00:12:01
talk about all of them
00:12:25
right so this is the men's
00:12:28
dungeon which starts from this room all
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the way down to the other side
00:12:33
there are five of such rooms in the
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men's dungeon
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it was all designed for at least 700
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men or 1000 men
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so if we are going to say 1 000 men in
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all
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then mathematically we will state that
00:12:52
each of these
00:12:53
rooms held about 200 african men
00:12:58
but then there were buckets provided in
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the rooms
00:13:02
so if the men and women will want to
00:13:05
defecate and everything they will have
00:13:06
to reach to that bucket
00:13:08
and do it in it but for 24 hours and
00:13:12
three months of this day in the dungeons
00:13:15
all the african men were in shackles and
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chains
00:13:20
if you are in shackles and chains holes
00:13:23
around here which will be the only
00:13:24
source of light and air will have no net
00:13:26
cover in it so there were flies
00:13:28
that always entered the dungeons
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[Music]
00:13:33
diarrhea this century malaria fever
00:13:37
and several other diseases will be very
00:13:38
much in abundance i miss the people
00:13:42
you are going to make an effort moving
00:13:44
from where you are to that market but
00:13:45
because of the shackles and chains on
00:13:47
you you'll be slowed down the population
00:13:48
will slow you down
00:13:49
you have diarrhea defecating yourself is
00:13:51
very easy
00:13:55
that is why majority of the african men
00:13:57
and women had to even stay where they
00:13:58
are defecate their urinate there and
00:14:00
sleep there
00:14:02
and they'll be fed twice a day
00:14:06
but you don't eat with a plate
00:14:09
you eat using your palm and know that
00:14:12
these hats
00:14:13
will never be washed because their last
00:14:16
path was taken about 31 kilometers away
00:14:19
from here at the place called asymmetry
00:14:21
market
00:14:22
you take your last bath from there you
00:14:24
walk from there to here even driving to
00:14:26
that place takes about an hour
00:14:28
how much more walking by the time you
00:14:30
end up here you are already filthy
00:14:32
[Music]
00:14:34
and who they gave them was nothing to
00:14:36
satisfy anybody but to keep them going
00:14:38
from time to time
00:14:41
because of all these you will sometimes
00:14:42
find african men and women dead in the
00:14:45
dungeons they will never bury them they
00:14:47
just pick up the dead bodies
00:14:48
take them out of here and drop them into
00:14:50
the sea
00:14:52
but if i'm going to drop a dead body
00:14:54
into the sea i know very well that the
00:14:56
next day the body will be lying on the
00:14:57
shore that is why they would rather tie
00:14:59
the bodies up with cannonballs and drop
00:15:00
it so it sinks
00:15:06
and because it was so dark in the
00:15:07
dungeons whatever african men and women
00:15:10
were taken
00:15:10
out they normally became partially blind
00:15:14
they couldn't see properly
00:15:18
but wonderful guests once they trip was
00:15:20
almost over the europeans decided to
00:15:22
stop cleaning the dungeons of the castle
00:15:25
so african serpents were supposed to
00:15:27
clean whenever they moved
00:15:29
the population in the dungeons out they
00:15:32
came here instead of cleaning rather to
00:15:33
cover everything up with sand
00:15:36
know that what you are standing on is
00:15:38
the original floor made enough of bent
00:15:40
bricks
00:15:41
and trenches but then in the other rooms
00:15:45
everything you are going to walk on will
00:15:46
not be the original floor
00:15:48
because it's covered up with faces urine
00:15:51
food particles and so many things
00:15:53
which there came a time they covered it
00:15:55
up with sand and whenever they brought
00:15:57
african men and women back into the
00:15:58
dungeons everything was so high
00:16:00
that they are going to walk on top of it
00:16:01
but it will be at your uncle level
00:16:05
and that is what we have all over the
00:16:06
place is solidly piled up on the floor
00:16:09
so hard that when you walk on it it
00:16:10
feels like you're walking on a normal
00:16:12
floor
00:16:12
but it's not normal that is what i call
00:16:14
the dna of the ancestors that stayed
00:16:17
here
00:16:21
well wonderful people
00:16:24
the flaws of the dungeons were built a
00:16:26
bit higher than each other
00:16:29
so the first floor is higher than the
00:16:30
second and it continues in that order
00:16:34
there are trenches all over the place
00:16:36
which moved liquid waste
00:16:37
from each room
00:16:40
so looking at the whole thing it means
00:16:43
that every liquid was from the first
00:16:45
room enters the second third
00:16:46
fourth fifth before it enters the sea
00:16:50
how much more the waste from all the
00:16:52
other rooms which will end up in the
00:16:53
fifth room
00:16:56
the stench from it the heat from it
00:17:01
and all of that because of all these
00:17:04
things
00:17:06
people felt really sick and as i said
00:17:09
people died
00:17:11
but they know that the mortality rate
00:17:13
was so high because
00:17:15
all these africans that came here were
00:17:18
very strong men and women
00:17:21
they survived this and when they
00:17:25
survived this
00:17:26
they ended up surviving the ships
00:17:30
ended up in the americas and survived it
00:17:34
and today we are here
00:17:40
so this tells all of us here that we
00:17:43
are from the strongest of the stuff they
00:17:46
took
00:17:50
that is why i will always say to
00:17:52
brothers and sisters that come here
00:17:54
that we are so strong that the sky is
00:17:57
not even our limit it's our starting
00:17:59
point
00:18:02
so we will continue in the other rooms
00:18:05
and see more of the place
00:18:06
and please as i said ellia your
00:18:08
questions are warmly welcome
00:18:10
please come
00:18:15
[Music]
00:18:20
you
