The Atlantic coastline, near Elmina, Ghana

"Elmina is today a settlement of more than 17,000 people crowded among the low hills adjacent to the Atlantic coast. The modern settlement ends at the Benya Lagoon, a narrow inlet that extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the ease to salt pans in the west. The Benya separates the modern settlement from the Elmina peninsula, a thin strip of reddish brown Elminian sandstone that lies between the Atlantic and the Benya Lagoon." [DeCorse Ch., 2001: An Archaeology of Elmina. Smithsonian Institution Press]. During his trip to Ghana, Elisofon visited Cape coast, Accra, Besease, the Kumasi area, and Elmina. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for Westinghouse Film and traveled to Africa from October 26, 1970 to end of March 1971.