The Slave Route
Ouidah
is one of the milestones of the slave trade in West Africa. In other
words, Ouidah was a large slave port. The Slave Route is a memorial tour
that allows you to experience the route taken by the captives as well
as the conditions they endured before they embarked for an unknown
destination. Over a distance of about 4km, this route can be summed up
in 6 main stages namely: the auction market also called "place Chacha":
place of negotiation and sale of captives; "The tree of oblivion" where
men walk around this tree 9 times and women 7 times in order to forget
their origins; "Zomayi Square" which means "the place where fire does
not go" to annihilate the captives; "Zoungbodji Memorial" which housed a
mass grave into which the unfit are thrown; "Tree of Return" to allow a
spiritual return of the souls of slaves to the land of their ancestors
once they have passed away; "The door of no return" which marks the
departure for an uncertain destination.