The first 22 places joining the network were unveiled at an event at UNESCO headquarters in Paris last week, as part of the 30th Anniversary of Organization’s flagship programme, Routes of Enslaved Peoples.
Ten UNESCO Member States proposed these places to an International Scientific Committee in charge of supervising the network: Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ghana, Haiti, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mauritius, Mexico, Nigeria and the United States of America.
The list of the first 22 places:
The ongoing reconfiguration of the museum aims to highlight the labor of enslaved peoples from the Minas Gerais region. The museum aims to become a known space for education, cultural mediation, and raising awareness about racism and the discrimination endured by people of African descent in Brazil.
The Museu Casa da Hera is a Master’s house, a material vestige of the coffee-growing elite of Vassouras. Its new museographic plan aims to highlight the history of coffee production in 19th-century Brazil, which was carried out by enslaved peoples. The plan includes the restoration of slave quarters on the plantation and the digitization of the estate’s slavery-related archives through an exhibition and online access.
The Museu da República, which once housed the Presidency of the Brazilian Republic, was built with wealth generated by the labor of enslaved peoples. Its future museographic redesign aims to highlight this historical reality and promote it in discussions with federal and local authorities, as well as with the descendants of enslaved people. The museum would thus serve as a tool for cultural mediation and education against racism and discrimination.
Africville is a neighborhood in Halifax (province of Nova Scotia), which stands as a powerful testimony to the practice of slavery in Canada. It is also a remnant of the communities of enslaved people in the United States who fled in search of freedom. Some of them later settled in Sierra Leone. The descendants of enslaved people created a community in Africville, preserving their rites and traditions, which endured despite the neighborhood’s destruction in 1970. The museum, established by the communities is thus the only remaining material vestige of this neighborhood.
Palenque de San José de Uré is a Palenque (meaning a settlement established by maroons in Latin America) from the 16th century, formed by enslaved people who revolted while working in the region’s mines. Its age explains the preservation of certain customs and political practices. A significant place of memory, preserving rituals and cultural practices linked to Africa, it is planned to become a key educational place on the history of slavery in Colombia, with the full involvement of communities.
San Basilio de Palenque is a place of memorial significance—well known in the historiography of resistance to slavery. It was one of the first free African towns in the Americas, and was inscribed in 2008 on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The village of San Basilio is inhabited mainly by Afro-Colombians which are direct descendants of enslaved Africans and have preserved their ancestral traditions and have also developed their own language, Palenquero.
On the coast between Keta and Beyin, the Castles and Forts of Ghana, fortified trading posts founded between 1482 and 1786, are the remains of the trade routes established by the Portuguese. These historic monuments bear witness to the contact between Europe and the African continent and are a reminder of Ghana’s role in the triangular trade and slave trade. Many of these forts and castles were originally built by Europeans to protect their positions and personnel, both against European rivals and African nations. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the Atlantic slave trade reinforced the role of forts as transit zones for enslaved people, which to this day shapes the common perception of forts and castles in Ghana.
Bois Caïman (Bwa Kayiman in Creole) is a symbolic place that hosted the meeting of maroons that led to the abolition of slavery and Haiti’s independence. The date of the uprising sparked by this meeting was chosen by UNESCO to celebrate the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition (August 23). National authorities are committed to promoting the place, particularly through the organization of numerous school visits. Additionally, the National Slavery Museum project will be built at this location.
These two places include plantations and older examples of enslaved cemeteries in the Caribbean, demonstrating that the island of St. Eustatius was not just a transit point, but indeed a destination for thousands of Africans. The Kingdom of the Netherlands’ engagement in the Network reflects the country’s desire to better promote its heritage linked to the history of slavery in its overseas territories.
The municipality of Cuajinicuilapa is situated in one of the most significant regions of Mexico in relation to slavery, both historically and culturally. It is home to the first museum in the country dedicated to the descendants of African slaves in Mexico and their history: the Museo de las Culturas Afromestizas, formerly called the Museo de la Tercera Raíz. In 2016, local authorities installed a plaque in the central square, a location that hosts various cultural and social activities, to commemorate the history of the Transatlantic slave trade.
The Fort of San Juan de Ulúa is part of a large complex of fortresses, prisons and one former palace on an island of the same name in the Gulf of Mexico overlooking the seaport of Veracruz, Mexico. As one of the port’s entrances, it is a significant historical place linked to the slave trade to New Spain.
Yanga is a municipality located in the southern area of the Mexican state of Veracruz. It was formerly known as San Lorenzo de los Negros (after a colony of cimarrons in the early 17th century). In 1932 it was renamed after Yanga, the cimarron leader who in 1609 resisted attack by Spanish forces trying to regain control of the area. The municipality of Yanga continues to be home to a significant maroon community. Yanga is a major pilgrimage place for people of African descent in Mexico, as well as for tourists of African descent from around the world. Cultural activities are regularly organized in collaboration with the local population.
To recognize the history of slavery in Mexico, a commemorative plaque was installed in 2016 in Santo Domingo Square, located in the Historic Center of Mexico City. This plaque highlights the contributions of people of African descent, both enslaved and free, to the formation of New Spain and Mexican society. This initiative is supported by several active anti-racist organizations in the city.
Building on the example set by Mexico City, Acapulco plans to install two plaques to commemorate its historical connection to slavery: one at the Fort of San Diego and another in the Historic Center.
Located on the site of a 15th-century slave-trading warehouse, the port of Calabar was the final embarkation point for a significant percentage (20%) of captives leaving the African coast during the transatlantic slave trade and is considered a ‘Point of No Return’. The Esuk Mba Beach Slave Market was one of the most important points of the slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries.
This town in Lagos State was one of the most important transatlantic routes for the export of enslaved Africans to Europe and the Americas. In the 18th century, Abass Ifaremilekun Fagbemi, a native of the region, was captured by a Dahomean slave trader during one of the conflicts between Dahomey and the Egba, then taken to Brazil and sold as a servant. After gaining his freedom, he returned to Nigeria as a business partner of his former master and settled in Badagry. In the early 1840s, he built and managed a barracks containing 40 slave cells. This historic place, now a museum, comprises 40 cells where enslaved individuals were locked up and sold. Other monuments include the Mobee Slave Relics Museum, the Badagry Heritage Museum, the Vlekete Slave Market and Shrine, as well as the Slave Port and Route and the Tomb of George Freemingo.
The International African American Museum (IAAM) in Charlestown, South Carolina, is situated at the most significant slave trade port in North America. It emphasizes cultural mediation, welcoming a diverse audience and fostering inclusive dialogue. Throughout the year, the museum hosts a variety of cultural and memorial events focused on the Transatlantic slave trade. One of its notable projects is the creation of “The African Ancestors Memorial Garden,” designed to commemorate the history of the slave trade port. This garden will feature art installations, an ethnobotanical garden where visitors can learn about the seeds and plants brought by the deported Africans, and a soundscape that explores diverse African languages. The garden will be free and open to the public, enhancing the museum’s commitment to accessibility and education.
The Penn Center is a 50-acre historic district comprising 25 historic buildings and structures on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. St. Helena Island was once a large plantation for indigo and cotton until the Civil War, which led to the collapse of the slave system in the United States. The Penn Center was the first school dedicated to educating newly freed individuals and building a post-slavery future.
President Lincoln’s Cottage is a historic place and museum located in Northwest Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the place where the Emancipation Proclamation was developed. It has been designated as a ‘National Monument,’ ‘National Historic Landmark,’ and ‘Site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.’ The guided tours focus on themes of freedom, equality, and justice, while also addressing the legacies of slavery.
The Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia, based in Richmond, Virginia focuses on the history of African American people in the state. The first-floor galleries feature digitally enhanced permanent exhibitions exploring critical stories and artifacts detailing Emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Desegregation, Massive Resistance, and Civil Rights eras. Through its contents, it highlights and intertwines the lives of enslaved individuals with the testimonies of their descendants.
UNESCO’s initiatives to safeguard the History and Memory of Slavery and Enslaved Peoples
UNESCO created its programme Routes of Enslaved Peoples: Resistance, Liberty and Heritage in 1994 on the initiative of Benin and Haiti. It has contributed to the production of innovative knowledge and education programmes, the development of high-level scientific networks and to remembering the experiences of enslaved peoples. This important work of remembrance began by the Organization in 1964 with an ambitious 8-volume General History of Africa aiming to present the continent’s history, including the history of the slave trade and colonization from an African perspective. This masterful work was continued in 2023 with the publication of a new volume. Several cultural practices and traditions associated with slave communities have been inscribed on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in recent years, participating in their safeguarding and transmission.
Six Dialogues on Reparatory Justice
UNESCO will convene a series of six dialogues on Reparatory Justice, the first taking place at its Paris Headquarters on Thursday 10 October. The goal of the dialogues is to work towards a common definition of reparatory justice among the stakeholders, notably between the descendants of enslaved peoples and the descendants of enslavers, as well as policymakers, academia, civil society groups and artists. These dialogues will contribute to the African Union Theme for the year 2025 entitled “Justice for Africans and the Persons of African descent through Reparations”.
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