Goree Island was evidently a major slave trading center from the 15th to the 19th centuries. It's a small island (3000 feet by 1,150 feet) and is only 1.2 miles from the port of Dakar. Today it is part of the city of Dakar. The importance to the slave trade and the numbers of slaves shipped from here seem to be in wide dispute. There were evidently no records kept so the truth is hard to determine. It was originally occupied by the Portuguese, then the Dutch, but the French took over with short periods of British control. The French controlled Goree Island for the most part from 1677 to 1960.

While its relative importance in the transatlantic slave trade seems to be in question, it seems that its importance in remembrance of the slave trade is not. Today, Goree Island gets over 200,000 tourist visits a year. Some of the past visitors to Goree Island include Pope John Paul II, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, and Michael Jackson.

We took the twenty-minute ferry ride from the Dakar port over to Goree Island. My first photo is from the Ferry. The slave houses were all on the left side in this photo. The harbor is ahead with the white sand beach and the Fort d'Estrees is off to the right and not in this photo.

The next photo is also from the Ferry but focuses on the right side of the photo above. These were the official buildings, schools, homes and such back in slavery times, and today are restaurants and galleries and things.

It's obvious that this is a tourist destination, even before you get off the Ferry. There are vendors on the Ferry, and you get greeted upon arrival here. Most paths are lined with vendors. Some vendors were quite persistent but not all of them. They offered everything from souvenirs to food and drinks to music and more.

We were walking towards the last remaining House of Slaves, built in 1776 as one of the holding centers for enslaved Africans to be shipped to the Americas. It was like walking through a small village or town.

I never got a good photograph of the House of Slaves. It was too large, and I was too close but clearly, they had room for many slaves here. Slaves were separated with men, women, and children in separate quarters. Additionally, slaves that were not up to weight were also kept separately with the hope that they would gain weight. And while slaves were all separated, meaning families were separated, they were shipped out with no regards to family units. In fact, it sounded like families were broken up as part of the plan. Additionally, young girls were kept separately and paraded around the courtyard so enslavers and traders could see them to choose them for sex. If the girls became pregnant, then they had to be held until after having the baby before being shipped out to the Americas.

The photo below is the infamous "Door of No Return." This was the last door slaves went through before being put on a ship and sent to the Americas.

Below was a slave quarter but I think this was perhaps the nicest one. Most had no windows for air, etc. Slaves were chained to the walls and could not move. For that reason, I think this might have been the quarters for slaves that needed to gain weight in order to be sold. But even the nicest rooms here were very unpleasant.

I suppose that after a long week of beating, starving, whipping, and having sex with your slaves, an enslaver or trader would then want to take the very short walk to Saint Charles Church. There, he could attend mass and get all his sins washed away. It was quite a nice church and even had a giant clam shell to hold the holy water.

The fortifications on Goree Island were prominent and another part of the tourist trek. From the photos in my prior post, the Fort d'Estrees would have been on the right side. The fort was on the opposite side of the island from the House of Slaves. You can see the fort below. It looked quite formidable.

The next photo was taken from the fort's upper area where you see the canons. From there, it's looking across the harbor to the area of the House of Slaves.

Next, we can see inside the fort. Of course, it's empty now but there is room for lots of soldiers plus it has rooms all around it.

The following photo is taken from the top, like above, only looking over to the right side of the island. It was quite a nice area to sit and have a drink while contemplating slavery.

Aside from the fort, Goree Island had other fortifications. Our guide told us about them but visiting the highest point of the island was on our own. Vicky and I opted to walk up and see what things looked like from the top. It was a steep uphill walk but the vendors were not as thick here as in other areas of the island. I liked the baobab trees.

Below is a view from the top of the island looking down towards the House of Slaves. Streets wound around the hill with residences and places of business.

One more highlight from the top of Goree Island was the canons we found. We had no guide, but my understanding is that these were from World War II. All I know for sure is that these are the biggest canons I can ever remember seeing. I think they must have had ten-foot barrels.

It also seems to me to indicate the importance of islands and locations such as these in that they were important in slave times and also during our world wars.