(; "Gorée Island";
Wolof
Wolof or Wollof may refer to:
* Wolof people, an ethnic group found in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania
* Wolof language, a language spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania
* The Wolof or Jolof Empire, a medieval West African successor of the Mal ...
: Beer Dun) is one of the 19 (i.e. districts) of the city of
Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
,
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤠(Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤠ðž ...
. It is an island located at sea from the main harbour of Dakar (), famous as a destination for people interested in the
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
although its actual role in the history of the slave trade is the subject of dispute.
Its population as of the 2013 census was 1,680 inhabitants, giving a density of , which is only half the average density of the city of Dakar. Gorée is both the smallest and the least populated of the 19 of Dakar.
Other important centres for the slave trade from Senegal were further north, at
Saint-Louis, Senegal
Saint Louis or Saint-Louis ( wo, Ndar), is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 km north of Senegal's capital city Dakar, it has a population officially ...
, or to the south in the
Gambia
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
, at the mouths of major rivers for trade.
[''Les Guides Bleus: Afrique de l'Ouest'' (1958 ed.), p. 123] It is a
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
and was one of the first 12 locations in the world to be designated as such in 1978.
The name is a corruption of its original
Dutch name , meaning "good
roadstead
A roadstead (or ''roads'' – the earlier form) is a body of water sheltered from rip currents, spring tides, or ocean swell where ships can lie reasonably safely at anchor without dragging or snatching.United States Army technical manual, TM 5- ...
".
History and slave trade
Gorée is a small island in length and in width sheltered by the Peninsula. Now part of the city of Dakar, it was a minor port and site of European settlement along the coast. Being almost devoid of drinking water, the island was not settled before the arrival of Europeans. The
Portuguese were the first to establish a presence on Gorée , where they built a small stone chapel and used land as a cemetery.
Gorée is known as the location of the
House of Slaves
The House of Slaves (''Maison des Esclaves'') and its Door of No Return is a museum and memorial to the victims of the Atlantic slave trade on Gorée Island, 3 km off the coast of the city of Dakar, Senegal. Its museum, which was opened in 19 ...
(french: Maison des esclaves), built by an Afro-French
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
family about 1780–1784. The House of Slaves is one of the oldest houses on the island. It is now used as a
tourist
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...
destination to show the horrors of the slave trade throughout the Atlantic world.
After the decline of the slave trade from Senegal in the 1770s and 1780s, the town became an important port for the shipment of
peanut
The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible Seed, seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small ...
s,
peanut oil
Peanut oil, also known as groundnut oil or arachis oil, is a vegetable oil derived from peanuts. The oil usually has a mild or neutral flavor but, if made with roasted peanuts, has a stronger peanut flavor and aroma. It is often used in American ...
,
gum arabic,
ivory, and other products of the "legitimate" trade. It was probably in relation to this trade that the so-called was built.
As discussed by historian
Ana Lucia Araujo
Ana Lucia Araujo is an American historian, author, and professor of history at Howard University. She is a member of the International Scientific Committee of the UNESCO Slave Route Project. Her scholarship focuses on the transnational history, p ...
, the building started gaining reputation as a slave depot mainly because of the work of its curator , who was able to move the audiences who visited the house with his performance. Many public personalities visit the House of Slaves, which plays the role of a site of memory of slavery. In June 2013, President of the United States
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
visited the House of Slaves.
The island of Gorée was one of the first places in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
to be settled by
Europeans
Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...
, as the
Portuguese settled on the island in 1444. It was captured by the
United Netherlands in 1588, then the Portuguese again, and again the Dutch. They named it after the Dutch island of , before the British took it over under
Robert Holmes in 1664.
French colonial rule
After the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
invasion in 1677, during the
Franco-Dutch War
The Franco-Dutch War, also known as the Dutch War (french: Guerre de Hollande; nl, Hollandse Oorlog), was fought between France and the Dutch Republic, supported by its allies the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Brandenburg-Prussia and Denmark-Nor ...
, the island remained chiefly French until 1960. There were brief periods of British occupation during the various wars fought by France and Britain. The island was notably taken and occupied by the British between 1758 and 1763 following the
Capture of Gorée
The Capture of Gorée occurred in December 1758 when a British naval expedition led by Augustus Keppel against the French island of Gorée off the coast of Senegal during the Seven Years' War.
Keppel bombarded the fortress and then landed his ...
and wider
Capture of Senegal during the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754†...
before being returned to France at the
Treaty of Paris (1763). For a brief time between 1779 and 1783, Gorée was again under British control, until ceded again to France in 1783 at the
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of George III, King George III of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and representatives of the United States, United States of America on September 3, 1783, officially ended the Ame ...
. During that time, the infamous
Joseph Wall served as Lieutenant-Governor there, who had some of his men unlawfully flogged to death in 1782; for these crimes, Wall was later executed in England.
Gorée was principally a trading post, administratively attached to
Saint-Louis, capital of the
Colony of Senegal. Apart from slaves, beeswax, hides and grain were also traded. The population of the island fluctuated according to circumstances, from a few hundred free Africans and Creoles to about 1,500. There would have been few European residents at any one time.
![Attack on Goree 29 decembre 1758](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Attack_on_Goree_29_decembre_1758.jpg)
In the 18th and 19th century, Gorée was home to a Franco-African Creole, or ''
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
'', community of merchants with links to similar communities in Saint-Louis and the Gambia, and across the Atlantic to France's colonies in the Americas. Métis women, called from the Portuguese descendants of African women and European traders, were especially important to the city's business life. The owned ships and property and commanded male clerks. They were also famous for cultivating fashion and entertainment. One such
signare,
Anne Rossignol, lived in
Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...
(the modern
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
) in the 1780s before the
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...
.
![L'Isle de Gore Schley 1772](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/L%27Isle_de_Gore_Schley_1772.jpg)
In February 1794 during the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, France abolished slavery, and the slave trade from Senegal was said to have stopped. A French engraving of about 1797 (pictured) shows it still going on, but this may be an anachronism. In April 1801, Gorée was captured by the British again.
In January 1804 a small French squadron from Curaçao
captured Gorée, but the British recaptured it in March.
In March 1815, during his political comeback known as the
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...
, Napoleon definitively abolished the slave trade to build relations with Great Britain. This time, abolition continued.
As the trade in slaves declined in the late eighteenth century, Gorée converted to legitimate commerce. The tiny city and port were ill-situated for the shipment of industrial quantities of peanuts, which began arriving in bulk from the mainland. Consequently, its merchants established a presence directly on the mainland, first in (1840) and then in Dakar (1857). Many of the established families started to leave the island.
Civic franchise for the citizens of Gorée was institutionalized in 1872, when it became a French with an elected mayor and a municipal council. , the first African deputy elected to the
French National Assembly
The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known a ...
(served 1914 to 1934), was born on Gorée. From a peak of about 4,500 in 1845, the population fell to 1,500 in 1904. In 1940 Gorée was annexed to the municipality of Dakar.
From 1913 to 1938, Gorée was home to the , a government teachers' college run by the French Colonial Government. Many of the school's graduates would one day lead the struggle for independence from France. In 1925
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
historian, sociologist, and
Pan-Africanist
Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...
W. E. B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...
wrote of the school "On the picturesque island of Goree whose ancient ramparts face modern and commercial Dakar I saw two or three hundred fine black boys of high school rank gathered in from all Senegal by competitive tests and taught thoroughly by excellent French teachers in accordance with a curriculum which, as far as it went, was equal to that of any European school," while faulting Colonial France for how limited its public education infrastructure was in the country overall and expressing pessimism about further investment.
Gorée is connected to the mainland by regular 30-minute ferry service, for pedestrians only; there are no cars on the island. Senegal's premier tourist site, the island was listed as a
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
in 1978. It now serves mostly as a
memorial
A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...
to the slave trade. Many of the historic commercial and residential buildings have been turned into restaurants and hotels to support the tourist traffic.
Administration
![Map of Goree](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Map_of_Goree.svg)
With the foundation of Dakar in 1857, Gorée gradually lost its importance. In 1872, the French colonial authorities created the two communes of
Saint-Louis and Gorée, the first western-style municipalities in West Africa, with the same status as any
commune in France
The () is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French are analogous to civil townships and incorporated municipalities in the United States and Canada, ' in Germany, ' in Italy, or ' in Spain. The United Kingdom's equi ...
. Dakar, on the mainland, was part of the commune of Gorée, whose administration was located on the island. However, as early as 1887, Dakar was detached from the commune of Gorée and was turned into a commune in its own right. Thus, the commune of Gorée became limited to its tiny island.
In 1891, Gorée still had 2,100 inhabitants, while Dakar only had 8,737 inhabitants. However, by 1926 the population of Gorée had declined to only 700 inhabitants, while the population of Dakar had increased to 33,679 inhabitants. Thus, in 1929 the commune of Gorée was merged with Dakar. The commune of Gorée disappeared, and Gorée was now only a small island of the commune of Dakar.
In 1996, a massive reform of the
administrative and political divisions of Senegal was voted by the
Parliament of Senegal
The National Assembly (french: Assemblée nationale) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Senegal. The Assembly was previously part of a bicameral legislature from 1999 to 2001 and from 2007 to 2012, with the indirectly elected Senate ...
. The commune of Dakar, deemed too large and too populated to be properly managed by a central municipality, was divided into 19 to which extensive powers were given. The commune of Dakar was maintained above these 19 . It coordinates the activities of the , much as
Greater London
Greater may refer to:
*Greatness, the state of being great
*Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality
*Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film
*Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record
*Greater (song), "Greate ...
coordinates the activities of the
London borough
The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at ...
s.
Thus, in 1996 the of Gorée was resurrected, although it is now only a (but in fact with powers quite similar to a ). The new of Gorée (officially, the ) took possession of the old (town hall) in the center of the island. This had been used as the of the former commune of Gorée between 1872 and 1929.
The of Gorée is ruled by a municipal council () democratically elected every 5 years, and by a mayor elected by members of the municipal council.
The current mayor of Gorée is
Augustin Senghor
Augustin Senghor is a Senegalese politician. A member of the Rally of the Ecologists of Senegal, he became the mayor of Gorée in 2002, prominently featuring anti-erosion measures in his platform.[UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...]
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
, since September 1978.
Most of the main buildings in Gorée were constructed during the second half of the eighteenth century. The main buildings are the Slave house, 1786; William Ponty School, 1770; (Maritime museum), 1835; , originally called the northern battery, which now contains the
Historical Museum of Senegal, built between 1852 and 1865; (Government Palace), 1864, occupied by the first
governor-general of Senegal from 1902 to 1907.
The Gorée Castle and the seventeenth-century Gorée Police Station, formerly a dispensary, believed to be the site of the first chapel built by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century, and the beach are also of interest to tourists.
![François d'Orléans - Tam-tam à Gorée (1837](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Fran%C3%A7ois_d%27Orl%C3%A9ans_-_Tam-tam_%C3%A0_Gor%C3%A9e_%281837.jpg)
This historical site is a rare example of a European colony where we see free and enslaved Africans (making up half of Gorée's population), Europeans and Afro-Europeans living alongside each other, even as the island was a prominent center in the Atlantic slave trade. Archaeology on Gorée Island leads to many contradictory and contrasting conclusions. On one end of the spectrum, enslaved peoples on Gorée were treated poorly, like animals, on the other there is evidence for enslaved peoples being welcomed as part of families. The (free African or Afro-European women) were recorded preferring to eat on the floor with a spoon and
communal bowl, as their domestic slaves, but European men kept tradition and used a table.
Archaeological research on Gorée has been undertaken by Dr Ibrahima Thiaw (Associate Professor of Archaeology at the ; and the
University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar, Senegal); Dr Susan Keech McIntosh (Professor of Archaeology,
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
, Houston, Texas); and Raina Croff (PhD candidate at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, New Haven, Connecticut). Dr Shawn Murray (
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
) also contributed to archaeological research at Gorée through a study of local and introduced trees and shrubs, which aids in identifying the ancient plant remains found in the excavations. Excavations at Gorée have also uncovered numerous European imports: bricks, nails, bottles from alcoholic beverages such as wine, beer and other liquor, beads, ceramics and
gunflints.
Gorée Archaeological Project
The Gorée Archaeological Project, or GAP, started its undertakings (survey, testing, mapping, and excavations) in 2001. The project, extending over a period of several years, aimed to collect artifacts pertaining to the historical time periods of the pre- and post- European settlement, as well as identify the use of the different quarters on the island using the material culture excavated from those areas. In his preliminary results, Ibrahima Thiaw also discusses the difficulties of excavation on a primarily tourist island.
Background
Portuguese Major Captain and his crew were the first to make Afro-European relations with Gorée Island in 1445. After sighting Gorée approximately off the shore from modern day
Dakar, Senegal
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 20 ...
, and his officers sent ashore a few officers to leave peace offerings to the natives of the island.
They deposited on Gorée soil a cake, a mirror and a piece of paper with a cross drawn on it, all of which were intended to be symbols for peaceful actions. However, the Africans did not respond in the desired way and tore up the paper and smashed the cake and the mirror, thus setting the tone for future relations between the Portuguese and Africans of Gorée Island.
However, history shows even if the Africans has accepted the offerings they would have still been slaughtered and enslaved .
As of the early 18th century, Gorée settlements were segregated into quarters: the Bambara quarter (slaves), (Christianized Africans), and a quarter for the residents of Gorée, including free Africans. By the later half of the 18th century, the segregation was between and their families and the rest of the island as well as the previous instated quarters.
Pre-European settlement
According to preliminary results by Ibrahim Thiaw, the levels between the pre and post European contact deposits were characterized by an obvious infestation of
termite nests. One interpretation of this is the possibility that these termite nests were cause of the abandonment of Gorée before Dutch arrival.
Deposits of the pre-European period are dense with pottery decorated with twine and fish vertebrae motifs and could be found in the domestic settlement context, under or at the same levels of floors and fireplaces. The pottery near the settlements suggests that these settlements were semi-permanent or permanent. Fishing tools and equipment were rare although deposits were dense with fish remains. There was also no sign of iron or its usage before the eighteenth century.
Due to a plethora of features containing ritual pots found in the core of the pre European settlement, Thiaw has concluded that the island may have been primarily used for ritual activity and practices. Nevertheless, abandonment is archaeologically evident by the middle of the fifteenth century, possibly due to a mighty termite invasion. There is no archaeological or physical evidence of a struggle or conflict between the eventual Europeans or any other cultural group. Thiaw's hypothesis suggest the possibility that when the Portuguese used the island to bury their dead, the island, in the eyes of the natives, became haunted or was negatively impacted by the mysterious powers of the spirits of the sea.
European settlement
![Le prince de Joinville sur l'île de Gorée en 1842](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Le_prince_de_Joinville_sur_l%27%C3%AEle_de_Gor%C3%A9e_en_1842.jpg)
There is some speculation of how Gorée came to be under European or Dutch control. There is some textual evidence that states that the Dutch purchased the island from the chief of Dakar or from local fisherman on the island. While there is little archaeological evidence of this transaction, all European deposits are relatively abundant.
On Gorée there are four distinct deposits found through excavation and testing. The first kinds of deposition are located on the northwestern and western part of the island, and were typically three metres of domestic debris and shell midden.
Surrounding the area that was once Fort Nassau, these depositions were determined in correlation with Fort Nassau activity, which was seen to be relatively unfluctuating.
A rare deposition was found near the Castel at G18, the sole site excavated in the area. Depositions in this area were typically shallow and right on top of a limestone bedrock. However, this one site produced three burials, all of which were dug into the limestone bedrock.
G13, a site located on the eastern side of the island, has produced cultural debris from one of its trash pits. This debris includes nails, European late pearlware and early whiteware with similar patterns dating from 1810 to 1849, sardine cans, and window glass, among other artifacts. Located near the military barracks from a military occupation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the analysis of these ceramics suggests that many of them were replacements coinciding with the occupation.
Deposits like this were not common around the island.
![Gorée-Landing stage-Fort-1892](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Gor%C3%A9e-Landing_stage-Fort-1892.jpg)
As with many archaeological sites around the globe, modern influences and activities affect the sites and lead to disturbances in the archaeological record or unintentional site destruction.
The European government imposed strict rules regarding the use of space and overall settlement development on the island. Archaeology shows this development in the soil; the constructions, levelling, reconstructions, some of which can be linked to a change in the European ruler at the time.
However, this evidence of development too show results of the consequences from contemporary activity, thus it is an intricate puzzle to determine complex social identities and groups, such as slave or free or African or Afro-European.
An overall deduction can be made however: Atlantic trade significantly impacts the lives of those on Gorée, seen in the influx of ideas, complex identities and settlement structure.
Atlantic trade also influenced the physiological aspects of Gorean society. Archaeology has uncovered a plethora of evidence for massive imports of alcoholic beverages on the island. The massive import of alcoholic beverages naturally suggests a high level of consumption which its effects have been recorded as drunken conflicts, commonly between the military inhabitants.
The previously mentioned Dr Ibrahima Thiaw is also the author of ''Digging on Contested Grounds: Archaeology and the Commemoration of Slavery on Gorée Island''.
In this article, Thiaw discusses the difference between the historical accounts full of slavery and shackles and the lack of archaeological evidence to support those accounts. Raina Croff, one of Thiaw's colleagues, states that she personally has never found any evidence of slavery on Gorée Island, however she also includes that archaeological evidence such as shackles and chains would not be found on an island, because there is no need.
![Gorée - Maison des esclaves (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Gor%C3%A9e_-_Maison_des_esclaves_%282%29.JPG)
, or the
House of Slaves
The House of Slaves (''Maison des Esclaves'') and its Door of No Return is a museum and memorial to the victims of the Atlantic slave trade on Gorée Island, 3 km off the coast of the city of Dakar, Senegal. Its museum, which was opened in 19 ...
, was built in 1780–1784 by . Although it is the home of the infamous "Door of No Return", which is said to be the last place exported slaves touched African soil for the rest of their lives, there is little evidence at to suggest a "large-scale trans-Atlantic slave trade" economy.
According to census records obtained from the 18th century, the majority of enslaved population fell under the category of domestic slaves, rather than slaves to be exported.
and his heiress may have had domestic slaves, but again there is little archaeological evidence that they were involved in any slave exportation business. Despite this lack of evidence, has become a pilgrimage site to commemorate forcible removal of Africans from their homeland, also known as the
African diaspora
The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...
. This contrasts with the role of the site of on Gorée. At , as the name suggests, there is a presence of
dungeons, which can clearly be associated with the confinement of the slaves to be exported. Historian Ana Lucia Araujo has said "it’s not a real place from where real people left in the numbers they say." Conversely, UNESCO claims that "from the 15th to 19th century, Gorée was the largest slave trading centre on the African coast."
Bambara Quartier
On the southcentral end of Gorée, in the Bambara quarter, although less abundant in artifacts, the deposits from this area differ in sediment inclusions from the rest of the island. Inclusions such as limestone, red bricks, shell, or stones in these two to three meter depositions are no older than the eighteenth century and shows frequent building up and tearing down processes.
This could be correlated to the extensive settlement of this area maybe by domestic slaves beginning in the eighteenth century.
Quartier Bambara was a segregated settlement, which suggests domestic slavery rather than exportation. The maps of this settlement has segregated boundary lines that eventually, by the mid-eighteenth century, were shown to be reduced.
Found in the center of the island, Bambara was inhabited by the Bambara people. The
Bambara people
The Bambara ( bm, ߓߡߊߣߊ߲, italics=no, ''Bamana'' or ''Banmana'') are a Mandé ethnic group native to much of West Africa, primarily southern Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal. They have been associated with the historic Bambara Emp ...
had an unfavorable stereotype; found in the mainland of Senegal and Mali, the Bambara were known for being excellent slaves. Brought to Gorée by the French, the Bambara people were set to build roads, forts and houses.
These buildings (, , and ), made of stone or brick, contrasted with the structures built by the Africans made of straw and mud. This contrast aided in the segregation and status separation between the Africans and the European inhabitants and followed the common association that masonry was a European influence. However, the construction of these architectural buildings were most likely built by the slaves, and without floor plans, as indicated by the haphazard city layout and irregular angles in the rooms. Settlement analysis demonstrates the possibility that with time, the masters' and the enslaved peoples' statuses evened out enough to work and live side by side on the island by the second half of the eighteenth century.
Disputing Gorée as a ''major'' trading post for slaves
In the 1990s a debate ensued on the veracity of the Gorée slave trade as narrated by the conservator . In an article, published in the French newspaper ''Le Monde'', Emmanuel de Roux challenged Ndiaye's repeated claims that Gorée, at the so-called "Maison des Esclaves", was an important slave depot (which was largely based on the false interpretations of French visitors in the 18–19th century and afterwards). De Roux based his critique on the works of the researchers Abdoulaye Camara and Father Joseph-Roger de Benoist. According to historical accounts, no more than 500 slaves per year were traded there, a trickle in comparison to the scale of the slave trade along the coasts of modern-day Benin, Guinee and Angola: in total 4–5% (or around 500 000) of the slaves were shipped from Senegal to the Americas, whereas the remaining 11.5 million enslaved Africans came from the other (West) African shores. Ndiaye's graphic descriptions of the conditions of the slaves allegedly kept at the "Maison des Esclaves" are not supported by any historical documentation and according to De Roux, they may have served to drum up business, especially from African-American tourists. In response to these accusations, several Senegalese and European researchers convened a symposium at the Sorbonne in April 1997, entitled "''Gorée dans la traite atlantique : mythes et réalités''", whose proceedings were published afterwards.
Recently, Hamady Bocoum et Bernard Toulier published an article "The Fabrication of Heritage: the case of Gorée (Senegal)" (in French: "La fabrication du Patrimoine : l’exemple de Gorée (Sénégal)") documenting the elevation of Gorée to an emotionally charged memorial of the transatlantic slave trade for touristic reasons. This was spearheaded by the Senegalese government, begun under President Léopold Sédar Senghor, who had tasked his special appointee Ndiaye with this goal. In 2013, journalist Jean Luc Angrand chronicled how Ndiaye began his lobbying campaign among African-American communities in the US, as he tried to capitalize on their desire to look for their own heritage in Africa that arose in the 1970s. This interest surged after the impact of the TV series ''
Roots
A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients.
Root or roots may also refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...
'', which was most acutely felt among African-American viewers. For this reason Ndiaye exaggerated the importance of Senegal, and Gorée in particular, by claiming that no less than 20 million enslaved Africans were shipped from there.
Although several English-written media sources have reported on the invented history of Gorée, notably John Murphy in the ''Seattle Times'' and Max Fischer in the ''Washington'' ''Post'', some English news sources, such as the BBC, still cling to the invented narrative of Gorée as a major center of the slave trade.
Notable residents
*
Latyr Sy, djembe musician
*
France Gall
Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall (9 October 1947 – 7 January 2018), known professionally as France Gall, was a French ''yé-yé'' singer. In 1965, aged 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg. Between 1973 and 1992, s ...
, the French singer, owned a home there
*
Léa Seydoux, was partially raised on the island
In popular culture
Gorée Island was the Pit Stop for Leg 4 of ''
The Amazing Race 6'', and the Slave House itself was visited during Leg 5.
Gorée Island has been featured in many songs, due to its history related to the slave trade. The following songs have significant references to Gorée Island:
*
Steel Pulse– "Door Of No Return" on ''
African Holocaust
The ''Maafa'', the African Holocaust, the Holocaust of Enslavement, or the Black Holocaust are political neologisms which have been popularized since 1988Barndt, Joseph. ''Understanding and Dismantling Racism: The Twenty-First Century''. 2007 ...
'' (2004)
*
Doug E. Fresh– "Africa"
*
Akon – "Senegal"
*
Burning Spear– "One Africa" on ''
Jah Is Real
''Jah Is Real'' is a studio album by Jamaican reggae singer Burning Spear. It was released on August 19, 2008 through Burning Music. Recording sessions took place at The Magic Shop in New York City.
The album peaked at number 3 on the Reggae Al ...
'' (2008)
*
Alpha Blondy & Solar System– "Goree (Senegal)" on ''
Dieu
''Dieu'' ("God", 1891) is a long religious epic by Victor Hugo, parts of which were written between 1855 and 1862. It was left unfinished, and published after his death.
When it was rejected by his publisher in 1857, Hugo tried to integrate it ...
'' (1994)
*
Nuru Kane
Nuru Kane (born Papa Nouroudine Kane) is a Senegalese singer/songwriter who plays guitar, bass and guimbri, a three-stringed bass in the band Bayefall Gnawa.
Nuru's debut CD, ''Sigil'', which was released in the UK on March 14, 2006 and the r ...
– "Goree"
*
Sinsemilia
Sinsemilia (), also known as Sinsé, is a French reggae band that was formed in Grenoble, Isère in 1990. The name of the group is very similar to sinsemilla, referring to cannabis which is unfertilised and hence seedless (literally "without se ...
- "De l’histoire"
*
Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Minister of Culture in the administration ...
– "", composed by
Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Minister of Culture in the administration ...
and
José Carlos Capinam
José Carlos Capinam (born 19 February 1941), better known as Capinam or Capinan, is a Brazilian lyricist and poet. He was active in Brazil's tropicália movement in the 1960s, and he wrote lyrics for various tropicália musicians.
Biography
Born ...
* The father of French rapper
Booba (born Elie Yaffa) is from Gorée. In his song "" he mentions the island, saying "" (Gorée is my land/hometown). Also, in his song "0.9", he says "" (When I was 10 I saw Gorée, since then my tears have been eternal."
*
Marcus Miller
William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work as a bassist. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandros ...
– "Gorée (Go-ray)"
In 2007 the Swiss director made a documentary called ''
Retour à Gorée
''Retour à Gorée'' (English: ''Return to Gorée'') is a 2007 musical documentary road movie directed by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud, featuring singer Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour (, wo, Yuusu Nduur; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born ...
'' (''Return to Gorée'').
Greek
avantgarde classical composer
Iannis Xenakis wrote a piece for
harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecÃn; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
and ensemble entitled ''A l`ile de Gorée'' (1986).
Gallery
File:2007-02-13 Ile de Goree D Bruyere.JPG, Harbor of Gorée
File:Senegal Gorée island harbor.jpg, Harbor of Gorée
File:Dakar skyline da gorè 2.jpg, Dakar's skyline as seen from Gorée
File:Senegalese boy in Gore Island.jpg, Senegalese boy on Gorée Island
File:Street in Goree.jpg, Street in Gorée
File:Musée de la mer de l'île de Gorée.jpg
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
UNESCOPhotos of Goreeon
Flickr
*
Archaeological Research on Gorée,
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
Gorée and the Slave Trade Philip Curtin, African Threads, History Net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goree
Populated places established in the 15th century
Atlantic islands of Senegal
Archaeological sites in Senegal
Archaeological sites of Western Africa