(; "Gorée Island"; ) is one of the 19 (i.e. districts) of the city of Dakar, Senegal. 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.

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, or to the south in the Gambia, at the mouths of major rivers for trade. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site 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 Goeree, named after the Dutch island of Goeree. The island was also known as Palma, or in Portuguese.

History and slave trade

thumb|Drawing of the castle, fort and harbor of Gorée from the [[Atlas Blaeu-Van der Hem.]]

thumb|The Dutch established the forts of Nassau (1628) and Orange (1639). Coloured engraving, Holland, 17th century

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, although the presence of domesticated sheep noted by Portuguese explorers indicates the island was frequented by local peoples of the nearby mainland. The island of Gorée was one of the first places in Africa to be frequented by European traders, as the Portuguese traders established themselves on the island in 1444. According to Valentim Fernandes, the Portuguese established a chapel with dry stone walls and a roof made out of straw on the island. This chapel was visited by Vasco da Gama in 1502 and probably also by Amerigo Vespucci, Tristão da Cunha and Afonso de Albuquerque in 1501 and 1506, respectively.

Dutch West India Company rule

Due to the destruction of much of the archive of the First Dutch West India Company, it is unknown when and how the Dutch replaced the Portuguese on the island. According to Olfert Dapper, the island was gifted to the Dutch West India Company by the local chief Biram in 1617. This statement is problematic, not the least because the Dutch West India Company was only established in 1621. The first contemporary Dutch account of a landing at Gorée is by Johannes de Laet, who reported that a fleet of Dirck Symonsz van Uytgeest destined for Brazil anchored at Gorée on 20 July 1628. De Laet mentions that the Dutch West India Company had built a fort on the island and had named the island Goeree. This could either be after the Dutch island of or, as is the case for the Dutch island itself, be an allusion to the quality of the anchorage at the island, as goede reede means "good roadstead" in Dutch.

Possession of Goree was the key to accessing the trade of the entire coast south of the Cap Vert, including the important trading posts at Rufisque, Saly-Portudal, Joal, and Cacheu, in addition to the commerce of the Gambia River, as it served as a warehousing and transshipment point. In addition, it was a convenient stopover on the shortest route from Europe to the Caribbean. Many slaves were shipped through Goree to the Dutch colony of Curaçao in the 1660s and 70s.

The island was attacked by the Portuguese in early 1629, but they were not able to hold it. With this loss, their access to the lucrative coastal trade was cut off, and the importance and wealth of Santiago, Cape Verde, withered. The British also attempted to control this trade, capturing the island with a fleet under Robert Holmes in 1663, but it was soon recaptured by Michiel de Ruyter.

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.

After the decline of the slave trade from Senegal in the 1770s and 1780s, the town became an important port for the shipment of peanuts, peanut oil, gum arabic, ivory, and other products of the "legitimate" trade. It was probably in relation to this trade that the so-called was built.

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, 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 (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 historian, sociologist, and Pan-Africanist W. E. B. Du Bois 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.

Post-independence

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 World Heritage Site in 1978. It now serves mostly as a memorial to the slave trade. Many of the historic commercial and residential buildings have been turned into restaurants and hotels to support the tourist traffic.

Gorée is known as the location of the House of Slaves (), built by an Afro-French Métis family about 1780–1784. The House of Slaves is one of the oldest houses on the island. It is now used as a tourist destination to show the horrors of the slave trade throughout the Atlantic world. As discussed by historian Ana Lucia Araujo, 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 visited the building.

The Dakar-Gorée Swim was launched in 1985 as a homage to the victims of slavery who displayed resilience by attempting to swim towards freedom. It has been a recurring event throughout its history, except in 2020 and 2021 when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Administration

thumb|Map of Gorée

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. 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 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 coordinates the activities of the London boroughs.

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, elected in 2002.

Archaeology of Gorée Island

The island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, 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.

thumb| (1837)

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, Houston, Texas); and Raina Croff (PhD candidate at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut). Dr Shawn Murray (University of Wisconsin–Madison) 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.

European settlement

thumb|Artist representation of Gorée in 1842

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. 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. 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."

thumb|La Maison des Esclaves (House of Slaves). Gorée, Senegal.

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. 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, 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, the French singer, owned a home there

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 (2004)
  • Doug E. Fresh– "Africa"
  • Akon – "Senegal"
  • Burning Spear– "One Africa" on Jah Is Real (2008)
  • Alpha Blondy & Solar System– "Goree (Senegal)" on Dieu (1994)
  • Nuru Kane – "Goree"
  • Sinsemilia - "De l’histoire"
  • Gilberto Gil – "", composed by Gilberto Gil and José Carlos Capinam
  • 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 – "Gorée (Go-ray)"

In 2007 the Swiss director made a documentary called Retour à Gorée (Return to Gorée).

Greek avantgarde classical composer Iannis Xenakis wrote a piece for harpsichord and ensemble entitled A l`ile de Gorée (1986).

<gallery>

File:SENEGAL.jpg|Harbor of Gorée

File:Dakar, glavni grad Senegala.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

File:Memorial to slavery (Île de Gorée, Senegal).jpg|Memorial to slavery

</gallery>

Notes

References

  • UNESCO
  • Photos of Goree on Flickr
  • Archaeological Research on Gorée , Rice University
  • Gorée and the Slave Trade, Philip Curtin, African Threads, History Net
  • George W. Bush's visit