Salaga Slave Market site

The Salaga Slave Market and Heritage Site is a heritage attraction in Salaga, the capital of the East Gonja Municipality in Ghana's Savannah Region. Salaga was one of West Africa's leading market centres from the 16th century. During the Trans-Atlantic slave trade it was an important market from which enslaved people were transported to the coast for export, and it also served as an outpost on the trans-Saharan slave routes. Goods traded here included kola, beads, ostrich feathers, animal hides, textiles and gold; in the 18th century the market became a key centre for trading humans, with captives drawn from the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions and mostly exchanged for kola nuts, cowries and gold.

Enslaved people were kept in a warehouse with a mud roof, which is now protected by an aluminium roof. Wells around the market are associated by oral tradition with slave labour, and a stream known as wanka bayu is said to have been the bathing place of enslaved people. There was also a slave cemetery known as rafia angulu.

The site was commissioned by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and the Ghana Tourism Authority on 22 July 2024 as part of Emancipation Day. The Minister responsible for Tourism described it as more than a remembrance of the past. The inaugurated site includes an information office, the slave wells and statues of enslaved people showing how they were chained and handled in the 18th century.

Local guides, often descendants of people involved in the trade, provide tours. Accommodation in the area ranges from basic guesthouses to more comfortable lodgings, and the town's market offers produce and handicrafts. Opening hours, entrance fees and guided-tour prices are not established by the available sources, so visitors should confirm these locally before travelling.