Guide du Sénégal

Gorée and the traces of history

Fifteen minutes by boat just enough to connect Gorée to the mainland. Covering 28 hectares, the island has a charm and specially fascinates visitors who feel a particular emotion when wandering through its narrow and quiet streets. 

During three centuries, many Africans were enslaved and shipped, from Gorée Island to the American continent. The famous house of slaves, one of the most visited museums in Senegal, yet retains all the poignant reality of this part of world history. 

Alternately occupied by the Portuguese, the Dutchman, the French, the English who went to France in 1817, Gorée was a stopover for European ships going to America and Asia. Since the abolition of slavery in 1848, the decline of the island is inevitable, especially with the creation of Dakar in 1857 and Rufisque in 1859. From 1929, Gorée was annexed to the capital. 

Today the island is daily opened for visitors. Several sites are of interest: the historical museum in the Estrees fort where the history of Senegal is reviewed, from prehistory to independence through the colonial period, the Women Museum which presents very original windows on the role of Senegalese women in traditional societies and the modern sea museum, famous for its collection of marine fish and shellfish. 

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