History of Atorkor Slave Market.

Atorkor is a small village in the Anlo district of the Volta Region (South Eastern) part of Ghana. It is located on the Atlantic coast with beautiful sandy beach

In the days of the slave trade, Atorkor and Keta became important slave markets.

Atorkor was part of what was formally known as the Upper Slave Coast. Because of its location on the Atlantic Coast it became a port for the shipment of captives procured.

There is some consensus that 10-12 million people are estimated to have been exported as slaves from West Africa.

Slaves were punished by whipping, shackling, hanging, beating, burning, mutilation, rape, imprisonment etc. Punishment was meted out in response to disobedience but often, abuse was performed to re-assert the dominance of the master (or overseer) over the slave.

Pregnancy was not a barrier to punishment; Slave masters would dig a hole big enough for the woman's stomach to lie in and proceed with the lashings.

The slaves were brought to Fort Prinzenstein at Keta and were subjected to a through physical examination by a medical expert. It was followed by the barbaric European practice of branding. A red-hot iron with the name or coat of arms of the company was used to burn a mark on the bodies of the slaves. The fort served as a transit point for slaves from Accra, Northern Volta, Togo and Dahomey in Benin.

The monument was built years ago in memory of this unfortunate trade, with funds provided by a group of Anlo citizens in America to remember the hardships of the slave’s journey. 

The interior walls of the monument tells the story of a popular white trader who lived in Atorkor. As the story goes: “One day, the Trader announced a dancing competition for the best dancers and drummers amongst the youth on his ship. The best dancer in the village was a beautiful young girl, but her parents forbade her from attending the party, as she had not completed her chores for the day. All the other young people in the village went to the dancing competition on the boat, where they were plied with rum before being shackled and sold into slavery.” As artist and educator Senam Okudzeto notes, “There are many versions of the story. 

This particular one corresponds with the official government version and was sourced from a website put up by the present chief of Atorkor, Samuel Adjorlorlo, who runs the Atorkor Development Foundation (ADF), an NGO for the development of the region”

ORIGIN OF THE NAME ATORKOR

The original name of the village was Adelako’s hamlet (“Adelako kope”).

Adelako was one of the sons of Togbui Tsatsu Adeladza 1, the second Awoamefia of Anlo. Adelako erected hamlets for hunting& fishing purposes at the spot we now call Atorkor, hence the name Adelako’s Hamlet. During that time, River Volta had suitable tributary flowing from Anyanui to Keta lagoon and thus very suitable for navigation. The hamlet was erected at the bank of the flowing River and it became an attractive trading spot.

The spot brought in Akan speaking traders who transacted business with the natives. However, due to the swarm of mosquitoes, the traders demanded in Akan language “metor mekor ntem” meaning “let’s buy and leave quickly”. This Akan saying had changed the original name of Adelako’s hamlet to Atorkor, a corrupted version of “metor mekor ntem”.