Travel and Places  

Slavery Museums And Sightings That Exists Around The World

By Chinelo Eze

09 October 2022   |   8:00 am

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The Queen’s passing undoubtedly had a colonial undertone for some regions of the world, particularly in Africa, where her influence still loomed large. As Nigeria celebrates its 62nd independence from British rule this month, memories of slavery and colonialism are bound to fill the minds and hearts of Nigerians and many Africans alike. Here we…

The Brazilian Barracoon of Seriki Williams Abass

The Queen’s passing undoubtedly had a colonial undertone for some regions of the world, particularly in Africa, where her influence still loomed large.
As Nigeria celebrates its 62nd independence from British rule this month, memories of slavery and colonialism are bound to fill the minds and hearts of Nigerians and many Africans alike.
Here we have listed 5 museums that remind us of the dark period.

The Brazilian Barracoon of Seriki Williams Abass
The Seriki Faremi Slave Museum, situated in Badagry, is named after a man who was captured at 6 and shipped away to Brazil. Being a domestic slave and having to bear the names of his masters, Cenotaph, the name was later changed to Abbas and William, pieces of evidence from his past as a slave.

The Seriki Faremi Williams Abass slave museum is an important museum as the land belongs to a former slave who eventually settled in Badagry when he gained his freedom. It houses articles such as mirrors, plates, cups and more given by the white men in exchange for slaves since they could not trade with the African currency-cowrie.

Residency-Museum-Calabar

Calabar Slave Museum
In Calabar is the Slave History Museum. Being an advantageous location, the slaves were moved to Calabar and then taken to the Esomba creeks where they are sailed away to a strange land. It has on display a Benin bronze that mirrors the blacks’ involvement and practice of selling their people into slavery; images as well as pieces of jewellery and swords that were given as gifts to traditional rulers by the white man. A pictorial display of moulded images showing the life of the slave on another land, like working on the fields after being sailed away into another land, the continuation of their cultural practices, as well as a white man carrying out branding on slaves to show ownership.

A-ship-filled-with-ancestors-during-the-slave-trade-at-the-Slave-History-Museum-Calabar.-Photo-World-News-Group

Badagry
This location, because of its closeness to the Nigerian border, has some historical sightings of the slave trade era just like the places called “The Path of No Return” and the Mobee Family Museum According to history, the white hat Chief Sunbu Mobee exchanged many of his people for treasures with the Portuguese during the height of the trade in Badagry. Until his son assumed the Mobee monarch and outlawed the trade in 1886, this bleak reputation was associated with the family.

Another is the Badagry African Slave Trade Heritage with heart-wrenching depictions that showed the plantation slaves who had their mouths gagged so that they eat nothing from the field.
The Mobee Family Slave Relics Museum houses several of the instruments used to capture and imprison slaves and artefacts from the family’s involvement in slavery. According to history, a huge cannon costs 800 slaves, and a bottle of gin costs 5 to 10 slaves. A pottery bowl costs 5–10 slaves, whereas a huge umbrella costs 40 slaves.

Nkyinkyim-Museum.-Photo-Osramba

Nkyinkyi Museum
Walking through the Nkyinkyi Museum at Nuhalenya-Ada in Ghana will leave you in tears. The founders of the museum established this space to be more than just a repository for information about African origins and history. It is also said to be of personal and spiritual significance, because a tour here is a means of healing. These museums offer an opportunity to learn about Africa’s history of racial injustice and its ongoing legacy.

Stone Town, Zanzibar: East Africa Slave Trade Exhibition
It was one of the largest open slave marketplaces where Dhows were used to transport slaves across the Indian Ocean from the mainland.
Before the slaves were taken for auctioning, the slaves were confined in underground rooms at the Stone Town slave market. An Anglican cathedral currently stands where Zanzibar’s former slave market once stood. The poignant Slave Memorial serves as a reminder of the past, located just outside the cathedral grounds. The East Africa Slave Trade Exhibit includes several in-depth educational framed writings which remember the end of slavery and protect the memory of those who were sailed away and sold. The exhibition is summed up with former slave chambers, where they were held in appalling conditions before being sold on the journey of no return.