To discover the Door of No Return is to walk in the footsteps of slaves and live a unique experience, an incredible journey full of emotions. Near this attraction are other tourist places of Benin that you can explore in the city of memories.
The door of no return is located on the beach about five kilometers south of Ouidah. It is a landmark monument that symbolizes the starting point of more than a million slaves deported from West Africa. It is the last stage of the bloody road of slaves, most of whom were captives of the wars between the interior tribes. Discover in the rest of this article the origin, the portrait and the history of the door of no return of Ouidah.
In 1995, Unesco erected this memorial in the shape of a arch lined with carvings testifying to the many slaves who passed here numbering more than a million. The guard box is still present on the beach, like a wound that still shows itself. Of course, it should be noted that the slave trade was possible thanks to the military actions of the small kingdoms of the South coast from the 1st 17th century, then of the kingdom of Dahomey, led by African kings, against their neighbors, and which largely supplied the slave traders.
Bronze sculptures stand on either side of the arch. Some depict enslaved Africans: chained oxidized bronze figures looking out to sea. Nearby stands a cement Egoungoun, a traditional masked figure that recalls the ancestors who disappeared.
The Gate of No Return is simply a collection of powerful images that somehow express the final thoughts of enslaved men and women as their feet sank into the sands of the coast of Ouidah and Africa, for the very last time.
