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Island of Gorée
| Site number: | 26 |
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| Type of site: | Cultural | |
| Date: | 15-19th century | |
| Date of Inscription: | 1978 | |
| Location: | Africa, Senegal, Cape Verde Region | |
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| Description: | Lying off the coast of Senegal, opposite Dakar is the island of Gorée, the largest slave-trading centre on the African coast from the 15th to the 19th century. Ruled sequentially by the Portuguese, Dutch, English and French, its architecture depicts the contrast of the dismal slave-quarters and the graceful slave trader houses. In the present day it serves as a reminder of human abuse as well as a safe haven for reconciliation. --WHMNet paraphrase from the description at WHC Site, where additional information is available. | |
| Île de Gorée (i.e. "Gorée Island") (pronounced /goʀe/, not /gɔɹi/) is one of the 19 communes d'arrondissement (i.e. "commune of arrondissement") of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is a 0.182 km² (45 acres) island located a mere 1 km. at sea from the main harbor of Dakar ( 14°40′0″N, 17°24′0″W). Its population as of 31 January 2005 official estimates is 1,056 inhabitants, giving a density of 5,802 inh. per km² (15,028 inh. per sq. mile), which is only half the average density of the city of Dakar. Gorée is both the smallest and the least populated of the 19 communes d'arrondissement of Dakar. Gorée is famous as a former center of the Atlantic slave trade from where many Africans were deported to the Americas. --Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. | ||
| Source: | http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/26 | |
| Reference: | 1. UNESCO World Heritage Center, Site Page. | |