Île de Gorée (French pronunciation: [ildəɡoʁe]; "Gorée Island"; Wolof: Beer Dun) is one of the 19 districts of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is an 18.2-hectare (45-acre) island located two kilometers (1.1 nautical miles; 1.2 miles) from the main harbor of Dakar (14°40′N 17°24′W / 14.667°N 17.400°W), known for its connection to the Atlantic slave trade.

According to the 2013 census, the island had a population of 1,680 people, with a density of 5,802 people per square kilometer (15,030 per square mile). This is about half the average population density of the city of Dakar. Gorée is the smallest and least populated of the 19 districts in Dakar.

Other important centers for the slave trade in Senegal were located farther north, such as Saint-Louis, Senegal, or farther south in the Gambia, near the mouths of major rivers used for trade. Île de Gorée is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was among the first 12 locations in the world to receive this designation in 1978.

The name "Gorée" comes from the Dutch name "Goeree," which was named after the Dutch island of Goeree. The island was also called "Palma" or "Bezeguiche" by the Portuguese.

History and slave trade

Portugal (1444–1588), Dutch Republic (1588), Portugal (1588–1621), West India Company (1621–1663), England (1663–1664), West India Company (1664–1677), France (1677–1758), Great Britain (1758–1763), France (1763–1779), Great Britain (1779–1783), France (1783–1801), Great Britain (1801–1804), France (1804), Great Britain (1804–1815), France (1815–1960), Senegal (1960–present).

Gorée is a small island 900 meters (3,000 feet) long and 350 meters (1,150 feet) wide, protected by the Cap-Vert Peninsula. It is now part of Dakar and was once a minor port and site of European settlement along the coast.

Because there was little drinking water, people did not live on the island before Europeans arrived. However, Portuguese explorers noted domesticated sheep, suggesting the island was visited by nearby mainland communities. Gorée was one of the first places in Africa visited by European traders, as the Portuguese established a presence there in 1444. Portuguese explorer Valentim Fernandes recorded the construction of a chapel with dry stone walls and a straw roof. This chapel was visited by Vasco da Gama in 1502 and possibly by Amerigo Vespucci, Tristão da Cunha, and Afonso de Albuquerque in 1501 and 1506.

Because many records of the First Dutch West India Company were destroyed, it is unclear how or when the Dutch replaced the Portuguese on the island. Olfert Dapper claimed the island was gifted to the Dutch West India Company by local chief Biram in 1617. However, the company was not established until 1621. The first known Dutch account of a landing at Gorée was by Johannes de Laet, who wrote that a fleet led by Dirck Symonsz van Uytgeest anchored there on July 20, 1628. De Laet mentioned the Dutch built a fort and named the island Goeree, possibly after a Dutch island or because "goede reede" (meaning "good roadstead" in Dutch) described the anchorage.

Control of Gorée was important for trade along the coast south of Cap Vert, including key trading posts like Rufisque, Saly-Portudal, Joal, and Cacheu, as well as commerce along the Gambia River. It also served as a stopover on the shortest route from Europe to the Caribbean. Many enslaved people were sent from Gorée to the Dutch colony of Curaçao in the 1660s and 1670s.

In early 1629, the Portuguese attacked Gorée but failed to hold it. This loss cut off their access to coastal trade, weakening Santiago, Cape Verde. The British also tried to control the trade, capturing Gorée in 1663 under Robert Holmes, but the Dutch recaptured it under Michiel de Ruyter. Repeated wars weakened the Dutch West India Company, leading to its bankruptcy in 1674. In 1677, a French fleet led by Jean d'Estrées defeated the Dutch and captured Gorée and its trading posts.

After the French invasion in 1677, during the Franco-Dutch War, Gorée remained French until 1960. Britain briefly occupied the island during wars with France, such as between 1758 and 1763 during the Seven Years' War, and again between 1779 and 1783. The island was returned to France after treaties in 1763 and 1783. During this time, Joseph Wall, a British lieutenant-governor, was executed in England for unlawful actions.

Gorée was primarily a trading post, linked to Saint-Louis, the capital of the Senegal colony. Goods traded included slaves, beeswax, hides, and grain. The population varied, ranging from a few hundred free Africans and Creoles to about 1,500 people. Few Europeans lived there at any time.

After the decline of the slave trade in the 1770s and 1780s, Gorée became a hub for legitimate trade, exporting peanuts, peanut oil, gum arabic, and ivory. The so-called Maison des Esclaves was likely built during this period.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Gorée was home to a Franco-African Creole community, or Métis, connected to Saint-Louis, the Gambia, and France's American colonies. Métis women, called signares, played key roles in business, owning ships and property. One signare, Anne Rossignol, lived in Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti) before the Haitian Revolution.

In 1794, France abolished slavery during the French Revolution, ending the slave trade from Senegal. However, a 1797 engraving suggested the trade continued, possibly due to an error. In 1801, Britain captured Gorée again, and in 1804, a French squadron recaptured it, though Britain took it back in 1804.

In 1815, Napoleon abolished the slave trade to improve relations with Britain. As the slave trade declined, Gorée shifted to legitimate commerce. Its merchants moved to the mainland, first to Rufisque (1840) and then Dakar (1857). Many families left the island as its population dropped from about 4,500 in 1845 to 1,500 in 1904. In 1940, Gorée was annexed to Dakar.

From 1913 to 1938, Gorée housed the École normale supérieure William Ponty, a French colonial teacher training school. Many graduates later led independence movements. In 1925, African-American scholar W. E. B. Du Bois praised the school’s quality but criticized France’s limited education system in Africa.

Gorée is connected to the mainland by a 30-minute ferry for pedestrians only; no cars are allowed on the island. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978, it is Senegal’s top tourist attraction and now serves primarily as a historical and cultural site.

Administration

In 1857, when Dakar was founded, Gorée gradually became less important. In 1872, French colonial leaders created two communes, Saint-Louis and Gorée, which were the first Western-style municipalities in West Africa. These communes had the same status as communes in France. At that time, Dakar, located on the mainland, was part of the Gorée commune, which was governed from the island. However, in 1887, Dakar was separated from the Gorée commune and became its own commune. This left the Gorée commune limited to the small island.

In 1891, Gorée had 2,100 people, while Dakar had 8,737 people. By 1926, Gorée’s population had dropped to 700, while Dakar’s had grown to 33,679. Because of this, in 1929, the Gorée commune was merged into Dakar. The Gorée commune no longer existed, and Gorée became just a small island within the Dakar commune.

In 1996, the Parliament of Senegal passed a major reform to reorganize the country’s administrative and political divisions. The Dakar commune, which was considered too large and too crowded to manage effectively, was divided into 19 special districts called communes d’arrondissement. These districts were given significant powers, and the Dakar commune remained above them to oversee their activities, similar to how Greater London oversees its boroughs.

In 1996, the Gorée commune was recreated as a commune d’arrondissement, even though it now has powers similar to a regular commune. The new Gorée commune d’arrondissement (officially called the Commune d’Arrondissement de l’île de Gorée) took over the old town hall on the island, which had been used by the former Gorée commune from 1872 to 1929.

The Gorée commune d’arrondissement is governed by a municipal council, which is elected every 5 years, and by a mayor chosen by the council members. The current mayor of Gorée is Augustin Senghor, who was elected in 2002.

Archaeology of Gorée Island

The island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since September 1978. Many important buildings on Gorée were built in the late 1700s. These include the Slave House (built in 1786), William Ponty School (built in 1770), the Maritime Museum (built in 1835), Fort d'Estrées (originally called the Northern Battery, now housing the Historical Museum of Senegal, built between 1852 and 1865), the Government Palace (built in 1864, where the first governor-general of Senegal lived from 1902 to 1907), Gorée Castle, the 17th-century Gorée Police Station (once a dispensary and possibly the site of the first chapel built by the Portuguese in the 1400s), and the beach. These places are popular with tourists.

This historical site is unique because it shows how free and enslaved Africans (half of Gorée’s population), Europeans, and Afro-Europeans lived together on the island, even though it was a major center for the Atlantic slave trade. Archaeological studies on the island have found conflicting evidence. Some records suggest enslaved people were treated poorly, while others show they were sometimes welcomed into families. Free African or Afro-European women, called signares, preferred to eat on the floor with a spoon and a shared bowl, unlike European men who used tables.

Archaeological research on Gorée has been led by Dr. Ibrahima Thiaw (an archaeology professor at the Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire and the University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar, Senegal), Dr. Susan Keech McIntosh (an archaeology professor at Rice University in Texas), and Raina Croff (a PhD candidate at Yale University in Connecticut). Dr. Shawn Murray (from the University of Wisconsin–Madison) studied local and introduced plants to help identify ancient plant remains found during excavations. Excavations also uncovered European items such as bricks, nails, bottles of alcohol (like wine and beer), beads, ceramics, and gunflints.

The Gorée Archaeological Project (GAP) began in 2001. Over several years, the project aimed to collect artifacts from before and after European settlement and to understand how different areas of the island were used based on findings. Dr. Thiaw noted challenges in excavating the island because it is a popular tourist destination.

Portuguese Major Captain Lançarote and his crew were the first Europeans to contact Gorée Island in 1445. After spotting the island near modern-day Dakar, Senegal, they sent officers to leave gifts for the island’s native people, including a cake, a mirror, and a paper with a cross. However, the Africans destroyed these items, which set a difficult tone for future interactions.

By the early 1700s, Gorée settlements were divided into areas: the Bambara quarter (for enslaved people), the gourmettes (Christianized Africans), and a section for free Africans. By the late 1700s, the island was divided further between signares and their families and the rest of the population.

Dr. Thiaw’s preliminary findings show that layers of soil before and after European contact had many termite nests. This might explain why the island was abandoned before the Dutch arrived.

Artifacts from the pre-European period include pottery decorated with patterns made from twine and fish bones, found in homes, under floors, or near fireplaces. These suggest the settlements were long-term. Fish remains were common, but few fishing tools were found. There was no evidence of iron use before the 1700s.

Dr. Thiaw believes the island may have been used mainly for rituals before Europeans arrived. However, by the middle of the 1400s, the island was abandoned, possibly due to a large termite infestation. There is no evidence of battles or conflicts between Europeans and the island’s original inhabitants. Thiaw suggests that when the Portuguese buried their dead on the island, the local people may have believed it became haunted by the spirits of the sea.

Some written records say the Dutch bought the island from the chief of Dakar or local fishermen. While there is little archaeological proof of this, European items found on the island are plentiful. Four types of deposits were discovered: domestic debris and shell midden in the northwestern and western parts of the island, near Fort Nassau; shallow layers on limestone bedrock near the Castel at G18, which included three burials; and trash pits at G13 with items like nails, European ceramics, sardine cans, and window glass. These items date to the 1810s to 1840s and may have been used during a military occupation.

Modern activities and European rules about land use have changed the island’s landscape. Archaeological evidence shows changes in construction, leveling, and rebuilding linked to shifts in European rulers. However, these changes also reflect the impact of modern life, making it hard to fully understand the social groups on the island, such as slaves, free people, Africans, and Afro-Europeans. Overall, the Atlantic trade influenced Gorée’s society, bringing new ideas, identities, and settlement patterns.

The Atlantic trade also affected the health of people on the island. Archaeology has found many imported items, including…

Disputing Gorée as amajortrading post for slaves

In the 1990s, a discussion began about the accuracy of the story about the Gorée slave trade, as told by conservator Boubacar Joseph Ndiaye. In an article in the French newspaper Le Monde, Emmanuel de Roux questioned Ndiaye’s claims that Gorée, specifically the place called "Maison des Esclaves," was a major center for trading enslaved people. De Roux based his argument on research by Abdoulaye Camara and Father Joseph-Roger de Benoist. Historical records show that fewer than 500 enslaved people were traded there each year, a small number compared to the much larger slave trade along the coasts of modern-day Benin, Guinea, and Angola. In total, about 4 to 5 percent (or around 500,000) of enslaved Africans sent to the Americas came from Senegal, while the remaining 11.5 million were from other parts of West Africa. Ndiaye’s descriptions of harsh conditions for enslaved people at "Maison des Esclaves" are not supported by historical evidence. De Roux suggested these stories might have been used to attract visitors, especially African-American tourists. In response, Senegalese and European researchers held a meeting at the Sorbonne in April 1997, titled Gorée dans la traite atlantique: mythes et réalités. The results of this meeting were later published.

Recently, Hamady Bocoum and Bernard Toulier wrote an article titled The Fabrication of Heritage: the case of Gorée (Senegal), explaining how Gorée became a powerful symbol of the transatlantic slave trade for tourism. This effort was led by the Senegalese government, starting under President Léopold Sédar Senghor, who assigned Ndiaye to promote this goal. In 2013, journalist Jean Luc Angrand reported that Ndiaye began trying to connect with African-American communities in the United States in the 1970s, as these groups sought to learn more about their African heritage. This interest grew after the TV series Roots, which was especially meaningful to African-American viewers. For this reason, Ndiaye exaggerated the role of Senegal and Gorée, claiming that as many as 20 million enslaved Africans were sent from there.

Although some English-language media, like the Seattle Times and Washington Post, have written about the false history of Gorée, other English-language sources, such as the BBC, still report that Gorée was a major center of the slave trade.

In popular culture

Gorée Island was the Pit Stop for Leg 4 of The Amazing Race 6, and the Slave House was visited during Leg 5.

Gorée Island has appeared in many songs because of its history with the slave trade. These songs include:

• 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 – "La Lune de Goree," composed by Gilberto Gil and José Carlos Capinam

The father of French rapper Booba (born Elie Yaffa) is from Gorée. In his song "Garde la pêche," he mentions the island, saying "Gorée c'est ma terre" (Gorée is my land/hometown). In his song "0.9," he says "À dix ans j'ai vu Gorée, depuis mes larmes sont eternelles" (When I was 10 I saw Gorée, since then my tears have been eternal).

• Marcus Miller – "Gorée (Go-ray)"

In 2007, the Swiss director Pierre-Yves Borgeaud made a documentary called Retour à Gorée (Return to Gorée).

Greek avant-garde classical composer Iannis Xenakis wrote a musical piece for harpsichord and a group of musicians called A l’ile de Gorée (1986).

Gallery

• Harbor at Gorée Island
• View of Dakar's city skyline from Gorée Island
• A young boy from Senegal on Gorée Island
• A street located on Gorée Island
• Memorial commemorating the history of slavery