October 14, 2019
Senegal Day #7: Visiting Humanity’s Shameful
Past at Goree Island World Heritage Site
April 18, 2019
GOREE ISLAND, Senegal – It’s my final day in Senegal. I spent this afternoon visiting a tragic reminder of the slave trade. Many “merchants” built houses here on Goree Island – just a couple miles off the westernmost part of continental Africa – in which they would live and work in the upper story and store their human cargo on the lower floor. Slaves-to-be awaited their transportation across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.
This island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was an important slave-trading station during the 1700s and 1800s. It’s well known for the infamous “Doorway to Nowhere” in the Slave House – which President Barack Obama visited in 2013 – that opens directly from the holding cells to the sea, where captives would be brought out to ocean-going vessels in small boats.
“The Island of Goree is an exceptional testimony to one of the greatest tragedies in the history of human societies: the slave trade,” according to UNESCO. “The various elements of this ‘memory island’ – fortresses, buildings, streets, squares, etc. – recount, each in its own way, the history of Goree which, from the 15th to the 19th century, was the largest slave-trading center of the African coast.”
Got up at 12:58 p.m. in Dakar. I returned to the capital yesterday after visiting the former French colonial capital of Saint-Louis and popping into Mauritania to register my 129th country. Today’s first task was arranging my bus ride to The Gambia tomorrow. Good news: My Gambian resort got in touch with the bus company, which took my name and said I can just buy my ticket at the bus depot early tomorrow before departure.
Stepped out of Hotel du Plateau at 1:43 and walked 1.5 miles to the Port of Dakar to catch the ferry to Goree Island. I found a long line for the two ticket windows (only one of which was open).
There were lots of young children waiting for the ferry, presumably on field trips to visit one of their country’s most well-known sites.
I managed to purchase my ticket (F5,200; $8.96 roundtrip for non-Africa residents) pretty quickly despite the line. Stepped into the surprisingly large terminal at 2:22, eight minutes before the next ferry was scheduled to depart at 2:30.
Unfortunately time ticked by with no sign of a boat outside. I grew impatient since this is my last day in Senegal, I got a late start today, and after Goree Island, I want to ride Dakar’s new commuter train.
Finally boarding began at 3:18.
We departed at 3:24, 54 minutes behind schedule. The boat was quite full and noisy with all the kids aboard, it was a fun, short trip.
The ferry sailed past large freight vessels docked in the Port of Dakar, then Goree Island came into view.
The weather here all week has been perfect. High temps around 75, humidity relatively low, and sunny blue skies. Probably the most comfortable weather I’ve ever experienced in a tropical country.
Children were removed from the front of the ship as water started splashing up as we made our approach. In addition to the ancient slave house and a couple museums, there is a residential population of about 1,300 on Goree.
The trip from Dakar took only 14 minutes. We arrived at the pier at 3:38.
“From the 15th to the 19th century, [Goree Island] was the largest slave-trading center on the African coast,” according to UNESCO. “Ruled in succession by the Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French, its architecture is characterized by the contrast between the grim slave-quarters and the elegant houses of the slave traders. Today it continues to serve as a reminder of human exploitation and as a sanctuary for reconciliation.”
Visitors to the island pay a fee of F500 (86¢). I walked first to a small plaza with a basketball court funded by Taiwan in 2004, where many people were relaxing in the shade.
Next I headed to the Statue of the Liberation of Slaves.
The statue is outside the La Maison des Esclaves (Slave House), one of the last remaining 18th century buildings of its type on Goree Island. The Slave House was full, so I decided to wander around the island and then return later.
There are some beautiful old colonial pedestrian streets and plazas.
But nearby are wooden shacks with animals grazing outside. Quite an incredible contrast.
“The Island of Goree testifies to an unprecedented human experience in the history of humanity. Indeed, for the universal conscience, this ‘memory island’ is the symbol of the slave trade with its cortege of suffering, tears, and death,” according to UNESCO. “The painful memories of the Atlantic slave trade are crystallized in this small island of 28 hectares lying 3.5 km [2.2 miles] off the coast from Dakar. Goree owes its singular destiny to the extreme centrality of its geographical position between the North and the South, and to its excellent strategic position offering a safe haven for anchoring ships.”
I made my way to the Memorial du Goree du Castel, unveiled December 31, 1999, atop the island’s highest point to celebrate the new millennium. This is a popular stop for school groups.
“The Island of Goree is now a pilgrimage destination for the African diaspora, a foyer for contact between the West and Africa, and a space for exchange and dialogue between cultures through the confrontation of ideals of reconciliation and forgiveness,” according to UNESCO.
The island has a rocky plateau covered with fortifications.
A cliff a couple hundred feet tall towers over the ocean at Goree’s southern tip.
I passed several places selling beautiful artwork and other souvenirs.
I returned to the Slave House at 4:37, finding another huge crowd waiting outside.
I took the opportunity to walk around the side of the building and get some great views of the infamous “Doorway to Nowhere” opening directly from the slave dungeons to the sea, where captives would be brought out to ocean-going vessels in small boats.
The Slave House was built in 1786 and last renovated in 1990. The number of slaves that passed through Goree Island is unknown. But the Slave House is preserved as a monument to the suffering the Atlantic slave trade inflicted on the people of West Africa.
“Since the 15th century, [Goree Island] has been prized by various European nations that have successively used it as a stopover or slave market,” according to UNESCO. “Goree was at the center of the rivalry between European nations for control of the slave trade. Until the abolition of the trade in the French colonies, the Island was a warehouse consisting of over a dozen slave houses.”
With a huge queue still waiting to get inside, I left again, heading to Fort d’Estrees on the north side of the island. I walked through Government Plaza, surrounded by colorful colonial buildings and a sandy soccer field.
A plaque commemorating President Obama’s visit June 27, 2013, hangs on a nearby wall overlooking a small beach and the ferry pier.
Many colorfully dressed kids and adults were waiting for the next boat.
I entered Fort d’Estrees at 4:57.
It was renovated from 1977 to 1989 to host the IFAN Historical Museum, which gives a glimpse of island and regional history dating back to the 400s. Exhibits cover cultural lore, megalithic sites, key figures in resistance against European colonizers, and the slave trade. Admission costs F500 (86¢).
Unfortunately the exhibits are all in French, so I wasn’t able to understand much detail. But I did enjoy the views from atop the fort.
I returned to the Slave House yet again. It was still crowded, but I was able buy a ticket for F500 (86¢) and enter at 5:28. School groups listening to a lecture filled the courtyard and staircases up to the second floor.
I poked around in the empty slave cells (separated for men, women, and children) and saw the “Doorway to Nowhere” from the inside.
Left the Slave House at 5:40 and walked to the pier to await the next ferry back to mainland Dakar. Time is running short for me to get to the train station and take a ride on the new commuter train – my last planned sightseeing adventure here in Senegal.
