Island of Gorée

The Island of Gorée is known as a former center of the Atlantic slave trade from where many Black slaves were deported to the Americas.

The island of Gorée was one of the first places in Africa to be settled by Europeans, the Portuguese setting foot on the island in 1444. It was captured by the United Netherlands in 1588, then the Portuguese again, again the Dutch — who named it after the Dutch island of Goeree, and the British took it over under Robert Holmes in 1664.

After the French gained control in 1677, the island remained continuously French until 1960, when Senegal was granted independence. There were brief periods of English occupation during the various wars fought by France and England between 1677 and 1815.

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.

Year	Decision	Comments
1978	Inscribed	Reasons for inscription

Reviews

Helene Toure (Senegal):
I have lived in Goree for 8 years and this is really one of most important testimony of the slave trade that history has to offer

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