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 -The Door of No Return- African Slave trade
Less than 2 miles from Dakar, Senegal, lies the island of Gorée. Deeply rooted in the history of the slave trade, now part of the city of Dakar, it served for many centuries as one of the principal factories in the triangular trade between Africa, Europe and the Americas. Centuries ago, it was the place from which millions of able-bodied Africans, brutalized and chained at the neck, unwillingly exited their homeland on their way to a lifetime of slavery.
From the beginning of the 16th century to the 19th, men, women and children, in frighteningly large numbers, were gathered on this small piece of land,locked up, shackled and shipped away to the New World. Gorée was one of the first places in Africa to be settled by Europeans, by the Portuguese in 1444. It was then captured by the United Netherlands in 1588, re-captured by the Portuguese, and again by the Dutch — who named it after the Dutch island of Goeree. Following the French conquest in 1677, the slave trade from Gorée was essentially in the hands of the rich merchant families of Bordeaux and Nantes in France, alongside other Europeans such as Dutch merchants. The tremendous prosperity of Nantes in the 18th century was based in a large measure on the african slave trade. The slaves from Gorée were primarily destined to French colonies in the Caribbean (prominently Haiti) and in Louisiana, as well as the Spanish colonies (mainly Cuba) and Portuguese colonies in Brazil. It should be noted that contrary to popular belief, very few African Americans (U.S.) have ancestors who went through Gorée, as the English colonists had other sources of "import" for their slaves.
The House of Slaves ("Maison des esclaves"), was one the main slave houses, used as a holding and transfer point for human cargo during the slave trade.
Today, Gorée retains and preserves all the traces of its chilling past. Though conscious of this past, Gorée is also a lively little town with numerous cafés, art galleries, and a beautiful beaches. It now serves mostly as a memorial to the slave trade. The built-up urban core of the island is entirely geared to tourism and many of the historic commercial and residential buildings have been turned into restaurants and hotels.
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