From the 17th and 18th centuries Ouidah, capital of the Kingdom of Whydah, became a major departure point for enslaved Africans, with European trading forts established there. The commemorative Route des Esclaves runs about four kilometres from the town to the beach, ending at the Door of No Return memorial arch raised in the 1990s. Ouidah is also regarded as a spiritual centre of Vodun and home to the Temple of Pythons, which keeps royal pythons sacred to the deity Dangbe, and it hosts an annual Vodun festival. Its slave-route sites stand on Benin's UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.
360° · Ouidah — Door of No Return