After the first World Festival of Black Arts was organized here in Dakar Senegal in 1966, several institutions reoriented themselves towards African traditions and others were created such as the Musée Dynamique, the Daniel Sorano Theater and the Thiès Tapestry Factory. Quite a few intellectual and cultural institutions also sprang up. The Fundamental Institute of Black Africa (Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire; IFAN) Museum in Dakar explores the anthropology of Africa and has a collection of African art, while the IFAN Museum in Saint-Louis focuses on studying and preserving the history of the Senegambian region. Other areas, such as the artisan village of Soumbédioune and Gorée Island in Dakar, have become popular markets and centers for Senegalese artisans.
Much richness of the human spirit and culture was evident everywhere when we were in Dakar some time ago for the 73rd Congress of PEN International. Then it was time for the first excursion in the International PEN Congress programme. This was on a Saturday. Actually, my biggest dream of paying for my trip to Dakar was not only to be in Congress and make useful contacts, but also to have the privilege of seeing the famous Gorée slave enclaves that I had read so much about and seen in movies. and exhibits in numerous museums during his recent visit to the United States. However, in the morning there were mixed feelings as we were not quite sure if it was part of the official program or just part of the additional tourism that the delegates had to pay for in gross physical cash, euros for that matter, which I had in serious scarcity, since the exchange rate of our depressed lion is even more disadvantageous than that of the dollar. I had almost given up when someone came and certified that indeed all the participants, as well as the delegates, were entitled to make the trip.
As the hour approached, we all piled into two Daimler Benz buses that were scheduled to take us to the ferry. We were granted the rare opportunity to sail as tourists that we were in a sense by being transported to the well-preserved and inhabited island of Gorée, where memories of the greatest dehumanization of man were perpetrated. Goree clearly reminds any human being of such violations of human beings and the need to always remain vigilant and united in the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood to combat tyranny that would deny another human’s humanity. But the island itself has been transformed into a tourist center, a paradise for lovers and a village of artists. However, it also has a large number of houses with schools, churches, mosques, shopping centers, which were very abundant, as well as countless restaurants and motels.
However, it took us a while to walk the sandy paths before we could reach the main point of our visit, the House of Slaves, now transformed into a museum.
The House of Slaves is a small fort built in 1776 by the Dutch that was then used as one of the slave warehouses where Africans passed through on their way to the Americas. However, records show that slaves were shipped from here as early as the 16th century. Indeed, millions of young Africans have passed through this island and similar trading posts to provide slave labor on New World plantations.
This slave house is one of several sites on the island where Africans were taken to be loaded onto ships bound for the New World. The owner’s residential quarters were on the top floor where most of us stood as we listened to a welcome from the museum’s curator. The lower deck was reserved for the slaves who were weighed, fed, and held before leaving through the infamous gate on the grueling transatlantic voyage. The House of Slaves with its infamous “Door of No Return” has been preserved in its original state.
The Portuguese, and the Europeans who followed them to Guinea, built forts and castles like this one to store their goods as well as the slaves they purchased. The coastline of today’s Republic of Ghana is read with the highest concentration of such forts and castles than any other coastline in Africa. These include Elmina Castle, Cape Coast Castle, Christianborg Castle, Fort Crevecour, James Fort, Axim Fort. Others were Factories or Baracoons.
The shipment of slaves from Gorée lasted from 1536 when the Portuguese started the slave trade at the time the French stopped it 312 years later. Sugar cane, coffee, and cotton products from American plantations were shipped to Europe as raw material to feed factories. From Europe, cheap manufactured goods, such as cotton cloth, brass, rum, inferior weapons, and gunpowder, were shipped to West Africa and traded for captured Africans and sold by Africans to be transported to work on plantations in the Americas. while Africa gave its most important resource, its people to build Europe’s economies and prosperity, it got consumer goods in return, which did not help its growth and development.
Just 3 kilometers off the Senegalese coast, the island’s diminutive size made it easy for traders to control their captives. Because the surrounding waters are so deep that any attempt to escape would mean sure drowning. With a five-kilogram metal ball permanently attached to his feet or neck, a captured African would know the sure calamity that jumping into the depths of the sea would bring.
The Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British all fought and killed each other over the trade from there.
Other historical points of interest here include:
The Botanical Gardens: Located on Rue du Port by the French founded in 1667.
The Church of San Carlos: Located in the Place de l’Eglise built with public contributions in 1830 in the style of the provincial churches of western France.
the castle: Originally built by the Dutch in the 17th century, it has been torn down and rebuilt several times. In the 18th century, this fortress housed the residence of the Governor of Senegal and in 1940, a combined British and Free French naval force bombarded it.
The William Ponty School Building: From 1913 to 1937 it housed the Ecole Normale William Ponty, where many African leaders were educated.
StricklandHouse: It was the home of American businessman Peter Strickland, who came to Africa in 1878 as a representative of the Boston trading firm and was appointed US Consul in 1883, leading to the transformation of Strickland House into the site of the first US consulate established in West Africa. .
mutant university: Founded by former President Senghor, it was established to bring together the best minds in Africa. It has hosted frequent conferences on current cultural and economic issues for developing nations.
Hostellerie du Chevalier de Boufflers: This is a well-known restaurant named after the first French governor of Senegal, a colorful figure who moved to Goreé from the capital of St. Louis (northwest coast) and is said to have broken many hearts upon his return to France in 1788.
The island has three other museums, one dedicated to women, one to the history of Senegal and another to the sea. The Historical Museum in the former Fort Estrees opened in 1989 with exhibits on anthropology, West African prehistory, and the political and religious history of Senegal. The Women’s Museum building was owned by Victoria Albis. The house itself was built in 1776 on the corner of rue Saint Germain and rue Malavois. In the 19th century it was used as an island court and prison.
There’s also the 17th-century Goree Police Station, Goree Castle, the church, the picturesque ruins of Fort Nassau, Saint Michel (the castle), and a small swimming beach near the ferry dock.
Many eminent personalities of the world have been moved enough to make solemn proclamations, denunciations and promises on their visits here.
During his visit in 1981, former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard said: “It is not easy for a white man, in all honesty, to visit this House of Slaves without feeling uncomfortable.”
The Pope who visited in 1992 apologized for the massive involvement of Catholic missionaries in the slave trade. But the records seem to show that the complicity of the Catholic Church was far-reaching. Because it was a papal bull that authorized the opening of the slave market in Lisbon. and it is said that in 1452, the Pope even declared that the ownership of slaves was the right of all Christians.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela, who toured the island three years before his election, insisted on getting into a crowded holding cell as he toured the slave house.
Two US presidents, Bill Clinton and George Bush, have visited the island. During President Bush’s 20-minute visit, he gave a very moving speech. We should be looking forward to a visit from President Obama, who would definitely make the most revealing statement yet on the subject, as it embodies the culmination of Black people’s lifelong struggle to reclaim his dignity.
The island, despite witnessing such human deprivation, is quiet with no cars, no crime. It seems that a strict control over public hygiene is maintained with the strict prohibition of urinating in the streets as well as the indiscriminate depositing of garbage. Visitors seem to behave more like pilgrims visiting a holy shrine. Although it is a quiet and picturesque place for tourists with around 1,000 permanent residents, Goreé remains important in the history of Africa and the slave trade. Just three kilometers from Dakar at its closest point, the island is a plain that ends in a steep basalt hill (the Castle), and is only 900 by 300 meters.
Possibly sighted by Phoenicians and others in ancient times, it was probably first discovered by the Portuguese explorer Dias in 1444. The island was then settled in 1817. The Dutch bought it from a local chief for a pittance and gave it its current name. , most likely after the island of “Gorée” in the Netherlands. According to some, it is named for its sheltered harbour, “Goode Reede” (good harbour).
Goreé thus became a way station for Dutch ships sailing the route between their forts on the Gold Coast and the Indies. Goreé changed hands many times. The British took it from the Dutch. The Dutch later took it back. But they had to give it back to the French during the French maritime expansion under Colbert. In 1802, under the terms of the Amiens peace agreement, the island became French and remained so until independence from Senegal in 1960.
Goréé was the main point of entry off the coast of Africa for slave ships and merchants flying the French flag. Thousands of Africans who had been captured as slaves passed through this island fortress on the bulge of the continent. Then, after the abolition of the French slave trade in 1848, Goréé became an outpost to police the seas. And as its role in trade declined, it became a jumping-off point for the French colonization of the West African interior.
The first school and the first printing press in French Africa were located here on the island of Gorée. Many buildings here have been renovated, by Senegaesel and other governments and international organizations, all culminating in 1978 when UNESCO designated it as a World Heritage Site.
