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Maison des Esclaves

P.O. Box 29
Île de Gorée
Senegal

Tel: 221-33-821-7438
Fax: 221-33-821-7438

African Sites of Conscience Network

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How is it Remembered?

Maison des Esclaves, or Slave House, is the focal point for visitors to the Island of Gorée. Located off the shore of Senegal, Gorée was one of the main conduits of African slaves to the New World. It functioned until 1848, when slavery was abolished in the French colonies. In 1978, UNESCO declared the island a World Heritage Site.

The first slave house on Gorée was built in 1536; the Museum is located in one of the last, built between 1780 and 1784. Artifacts are scarce, so Maison des Esclaves tells its story through its architecture – a striking horseshoe-shaped staircase afforded access to a “European country residence,” fitted out for the European slave traders. African-style slave quarters formed the ground floor.

The courtyard between the stairs served as a marketplace; traders and buyers bargained on the balcony above, as the slaves were being weighed and “sorted” by ethnic characteristics. Afterwards, they were sent down a corridor leading to the sea. Any slave who crossed this threshold never returned.

Marks on the walls indicating the placement of scales to weigh the captives, the ball and chains that bound them, and the rooms themselves are a mute reminder of the incalculable evil perpetrated by man’s inhumanity to man.

In April 2001, Maison des Esclaves, in conjunction with the Senegal Government, the British Embassy and others, opened a new exhibit depicting the agonies of the slave trade. Sixteen illustrative panels “maintain the flame of memory of the victims and survivors of the human tragedy.”