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The Christiansborg Archaeological Heritage Project, led by Professor Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann, has collected 1,800 artifacts in the Osu Castle to educate the public on occurrences during the Danish-Gold Coast slave trade period. The artifacts, including Bristo Schweppes bottles and bottles of mineral water, cowries, beads, writing slates, mugs and saucers, smoking pipes and simple farm tools like hoes, were believed to be items the Danish colonial masters and their servants used while residing at the Castle. The Project, [...]

This year marks four hundred years since slave traders arrived at the Virginia colony with the first captive Africans to be enslaved in what would become the US. It was the start of something that would come to define and divide America. Ghana has declared 2019 the “Year of Return” for African descendants around the globe. Our reporter, Rupa Shenoy, traveled to Ghana to look at how slavery is entangled in both the past and present lives of people [...]

Rachel Engmann’s aunt told her there was something at Christiansborg Castle she should go check out for herself.“She said to me, ‘Oh, you know, you're interested in culture. You should go to the castle and see.’ She said, “See your name on the wall.” So, of course, my surname is her surname, but when she relayed it to me, she didn’t say our surname; she said my surname.” Listen to Podcast

Our view of the trading of enslaved people needs a different perspective.Rachel Engmann, assistant professor of African studies at Hampshire College, discusses why African experiences need to be brought to the fore. Read theAtticle

Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, visited Christiansborg Castle as part of his three country African tour.  The castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, former seventeenth century European trading post, Danish and British colonial seat of government administration, and Office of the President of the Republic of Ghana.  Today, it is locally known as ‘The Castle’ or ‘Osu Castle’. Prince Charles was escorted by Dr. Hon. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, the Member of Parliament for the Klottey Korle constituency, who [...]

As a Ghanaian archaeologist, I have been conducting research at Christiansborg Castle in Accra, Ghana. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the castle is a former seventeenth century trading post, colonial Danish and British seat of government, and Office of the President of the Republic of Ghana. Today, it’s known in local parlance as simply “Osu Castle” or “The Castle”. My research is the first archaeological excavation of the castle. I became interested in the history of the castle when [...]

Engaged Anthropology Grant: Rachel EngmannIn 2014 Rachel Engmann received a Post-Ph.D. Research Grant to aid research on ”Slavers in the Family: The Archaeology of the Slaver in Eighteenth Century Gold Coast”. In 2018 Dr. Engmann had the opportunity to return to her fieldsite when she received an Engaged Anthropology Grant to aid engaged activities on “Excavating Knowledge”. Read the Article

Christainsborg Castle in Accra, Ghana was strategically situated on the West African Coast, formerly - and notoriously - known as the 'Coast of Guinea' and 'White Man's Grave.' A 17th Century former trading post, Danish and British colonial seat of government, and Office of the President of the Republic of Ghana, Christiansborg Castle is a national monument and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Read the Article

Christiansburg Archaeological Heritage Project. In 2015 and 2016, UNESCO provided support for the Christiansburg Castle Heritage Project led by Professor Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann (a direct descendant of Carl Gustav Engmann, a Danish Governor at the castle and a Director of the Danish Slave Trading Organization). The Christiansburg Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was the seat of Danish and British colonial governments and recently, the former Office of the President of the Republic of Ghana. Read [...]