Îles De Los
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The Îles de Los () are an island group lying off
Conakry Conakry ( , ; ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its population as of the 2014 Guinea census was 1,660,973. The current population of C ...
,
Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...
, on the west coast of Africa. Their name is derived from the Portuguese ''Ilhas dos Ídolos'', meaning "islands of the idols". They are located about off the headland limiting the southern side of Sangareya Bay. The islands are best known for their beaches and forested interiors and are popular with tourists. Ferries sail to the Los from Conakry.


Geography

There are three main islands: Tamara (Fortoba), Kassa and Roume. Île de Corail, Île Blanche, Île Cabris, Île Poulet, Îlot Cabri and Îlot de la Bouteille are smaller islands and islets located in the southern half.


Tamara

Tamara is home to the
Île Tamara Lighthouse The Île Tamara Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Guinea. It was constructed on Île Tamara, outermost of the Îles de Los, in 1906, and has been active since that time. It serves as the landfall light for Conakry Conakry ( , ; ; ; ) is the Ca ...
. The island used to have a prison.


Kassa

Formerly known as Factory Island, the current name is derived from the Portuguese word "''casa''", meaning "house".


Geology

The ring shape of the Îles de Los belie their origins as a volcanic structure, an
igneous intrusion In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...
amid the sediments of the West African continental shelf, which dates to the Cretaceous Period during the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean. The same processes formed nearby Mount Kakoulima, in Guinea, and the hills in and around Freetown, Sierra Leone. The archipelago is composed of the uncommon rock syenite, also found in similar volcanic structures such as the Monteregian Hills in
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
or the Ilimaussaq intrusive complex in
Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
.


History

The islands have been inhabited for a long time and rose to prominence for their role in the
Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...
. The ''Kaloum'' or ''Kalum'' dialect of the Baga language was originally spoken on the island by a group of Baga people. In 1755, Miles Barber of the African Company of Liverpool established a
trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...
(then known as a
factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...
) there employing workers skilled in ship repair as well as pilots for the local rivers. This led to Kassa being known as "Factory Island". English-language sources in the 18th century gave various corrupted names for the islands including "Isles of Loss", "the Edlesses", "The Idols", or "Las Idolas". In 1812 Samuel Samo, a Dutch slave trader, was seized by the British there and taken to
Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...
,
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
, where he appeared before the Vice Admiralty Court. He was the first person tried under the British Slave Trade Felony Act 1811. (See for context the 1818 Anglo-Dutch Slave Trade Treaty which established Mixed Commission Courts.)


British possession (1818–1904)

Charles MacCarthy, the Governor of Sierra Leone, signed a treaty with Mangé Demba on 6 July 1818, whereby the islands were ceded to the
British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
for the payment of an annual rent. McCarthy then asked Peter Machlan, a surgeon with the 2nd West Indian Regiment to write an account of the islands and surrounding areas. This was published as ''Travels into the Baga and Soosoo country during the year 1821''.


Part of French Guinea (1904–1958)

Following a visit by
Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...
to France, and a return visit by the French President
Émile Loubet Émile François Loubet (; 30 December 183820 December 1929) was the 45th Prime Minister of France from February to December 1892 and later President of France from 1899 to 1906. Trained in law, he became Mayor (France), mayor of Montélimar, w ...
, the French and British governments signed the Entente Cordiale on 7 April 1904: among many other matters, Îles de Los was handed over to France in exchange for France relinquishing fishing rights in Newfoundland. The islands were incorporated into French Guinea, one of the constituent parts of
French West Africa French West Africa (, ) was a federation of eight French colonial empires#Second French colonial empire, French colonial territories in West Africa: Colonial Mauritania, Mauritania, French Senegal, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guin ...
, in July 1904. Scipio O'Connor was the first colonial administrator appointed by the French.


See also

*


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iles De Los Conakry Extinct volcanoes Islands of Guinea Landforms of Guinea Volcanic islands Archipelagoes of the Atlantic Ocean Archipelagoes of Africa Islands of the North Atlantic Ocean