Indigenously, Goree Island is called Île de Gorée that is in French, which is the official language in Senegal. The Island measures about 0.182 square kilometres equivalent to 45 acres or about 900 by 300 metres and it is located about three kilometres across the sea from the Senegalese shoreline where ships convey people and goods at the seaport around Plateau- the central part of Dakar which has the seat of government, ministries and parastatals, other government and private establishments, hotels etc closely situated. Estimates put the figure of inhabitants in Goree to between 1 million and 1.5 million people- with 10 percent of them said to be permanently based there; the place, though making it the least, and perhaps, smallest of the 19 communes of Dakar.

What really makes the Island of Goree the most famous tourist attraction in Senegal is the slave house located in it, called ‘Maison des Esclaves’ in French. The Island has other attractions with antiquities though.

Cut in the rush to visit Goree, I told Mu’azu Umar Gusau, my brother and host, resident in Dakar that I was ready to go to the famous Island, though it was he who first mentioned the place to me when I arrived Dakar-Senegal on the 4th of October, 2009 on board Arik airline from Lagos en-route Freetown-Sierre Leone and Bonjour- Gmabia. My mission was to spend part of my now ended 42 days leave in Dakar on Mu’azu’s invitation and kindly, his pocket too- perhaps he felt he should spoil his brother a little. In his usual courtesy, he attached me with a car, driver and provided me with the greatest ‘gift’ in Senegal: Mohammed, an extraordinarily nice Nigerian, resident in Dakar, who helped me spoke French to those I interacted with and also took me round to every where I wanted amidst lots of passion, he was like a flexible mother that full of love for an only child and ready to give attention to that child.

Along with Mohammed, I boarded one of the ferries to Goree from the port and yes, Mohammed spoke the French to port workers, obtained our tickets, I think he didn’t pay because he enjoys citizenship in Senegal- I paid 2,500 CFAs though and that reminded me that being a citizen of West Africa can be really good- that policy saved me some bucks because if my country, Nigeria wasn’t part of West Africa, I would have been required to pay twice 5,000 CFAs as was paid by citizens of other parts of the world did.

On board the ferry, were many folks, most of them white guys and ladies, mostly from Europe and Asia. The transport organisation was good but then I spotted one slight but vital safety issue, not in place- none of us was given a safety jacket on board a ship on the high sea. Ironically some 10 persons on rescue boat trailing our ship, whom I presume are professional swimmers, all wore safety jackets while the many passengers on a ship were apparently left to either rely on swimming skills in the bottomless sea in the event of accidents: that’s for those who can swim and for those without swimming skills, they sink faster, before rescuers offer help.

Anyway, there was no accident, not even turbulence or anything scary as we sailed the sea covering about three kilometres from the port. On arrival at Goree Island, we were received by traditional drum beats and songs by the residents who happily looked at us- every one of them wanting to guide tourists- except for communication gap due to the French language which is what most of the residents can speak.

According to some researchers, the island of Gorée was one of the first places in Africa to be settled by Europeans, and was first discovered by a Portuguese explorer called Dias in 1444. Later it was captured by the United Netherlands in 1588, then the Portuguese again, after which the Dutch bought the island from a local chief for a pittance and Goreé became a way station for Dutch ships plying the route between their forts on the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and the Indies. The Dutch gave the island its name, most probably for “Goeree” Island in Holland, or more fancifully – according to some – for its sheltered harbour, “Goode Reede” (good harbour).  Goree changed hands many times. The British took it from the Dutch; the Dutch then recaptured it, but had to give it up again to the French during French maritime expansion. In 1802, by the terms of the Amiens peace agreement, the island became French and remained so until Senegalese independence in 1960. Goree was the principal entry point off the coast of Africa for slavers and merchantmen flying the French flag.  Thousands of Africans passed through this island fortress on the continent’s bulge. After the abolition of the slave trade in France in 1848, Goree was an outpost for policing the seas.  As its role in trade declined, it became a stepping off point for French colonization of the interior of West Africa. Goreé had the first school and the first printing plant in Francophone Africa.

Goree has numerous tourist attractions: The Botanical Gardens founded by the French in 1667; the Church of St. Charles built with public contributions in 1830 in the style of provincial churches in western France; the Castle: Originally built by the Dutch in the 17th century; William Ponty School built in 1913 where many African leaders were educated; historic Museum opened in 1989, with exhibits on anthropology, West African pre-history and the political and religious history of Senegal amongst others.

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Significantly, most people are mostly concerned about the slave house, said to have been built by the Dutch in 1776 and now preserved in its original 18th century Tuscan coloured building. Famously erected around the house, is the statue of an unchained slave being held by a woman. The loosened chains illustrate freedom – a freed slave narrating his ordeals to reflect what Africans went through after being captured as slaves.

The slave house is a prison-like building that is u-shaped in the interior; it was a place where Africans were brought to be held and loaded onto ships bound for the western or New World through the sea.  From the outside, there is nothing really curious about the house but on entering a picture of prison is depicted with one directly faced by an upstairs which has beneath it, rooms as well as by the left and right sides of the upstairs. The rooms, in their diminutive sizes were used to stuff Africans whom were later shipped as slaves across the coast. Location of the house in an island made it very impossible for slaves to escape since there was no way one could swim miles away even if one frees out of the usually locked room. The rooms have very tiny windows despite being crammed with people and doors closed- the sight of the rooms immediately recaps the tragedy of slave trade and the dehumanising treatment Africans faced in the hands of slave merchants mostly from Europe. Upstairs has large and spacious rooms that served as residential areas for slave owners.

“Goree was probably the worst place in the world to be at that time if you were African. Shocking accounts survive of sick slaves being thrown alive into shark-infested waters, while others were ‘fattened’ for their long voyages to places like America, crammed together on overcrowded boats” writes Adam Alexander from South Africa in an article he titled “A tragic reminder of the slave trade” carried on a website: the raw story. He adds that many of those who visit the island of Goree, especially African-Americans, are devastatingly moved to tears having confirmed that slave trade was really tragic for Africans- their grandparents who were cruelly shipped in chains, crammed onto wooden vessels for long and traumatic sailing across the sea, face to face with death towards destinations they were going to serve fellow human beings for the rest of their lives, all for doing no wrong other than being Africans whose strength was to be forcefully squeezed out and tapped for the pleasure of others.

The rooms for the slaves were categorised: for infants or little children captured and held to grow for sale, for ladies and for men with each room hosting far more people than it has capacity to accommodate with door closed for months.

The famous door of no return was used for moving out slaves onto awaiting ships; once out through that door, no slave returned, either shipped to the new world or dies along the way. This tragedy that was lucrative for trade merchants lasted from 1776 until February 1794 during the French Revolution when France was the first country in the world to abolish slavery at the time slave trade was stopped in Goree.

Though claims that millions of Africans had passed through Goree Island as slaves is in contention as some researchers have argued that the size of the slave house in Goree is small and hence doesn’t support the number of victims being claimed, it however seem unanimously believed that unspecified number of slaves have indeed passed through the slave house in Goree and were subjected to cold-blooded treatments; and this traumatic recap surely makes Goree’s slave house one of Africa’s misfortune.