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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

What Happened Here?

As early as 1441, a limited slave traffic existed between Africa and Europe. It exploded into unbelievable numbers with the development of the coffee, sugar, cotton and tobacco plantations in the Americas. After the first Native American slaves died in vast numbers from diseases brought by the Europeans, a demand for African slaves was created - the beginning of institutionalized slave trading.

The Island of Gorée, discovered by Portuguese navigators in 1444, was ideally located for trade - it had a sheltered port at the point where the route around Africa met the transatlantic route to the Americas.

A natural “highway” of rivers on the nearby mainland linked Gorée to the inland kingdoms, and an extensive system of trading posts was established. Gorée’s warehouses were crammed with European merchandise and with gold, ostrich feathers and cloth from the African kingdoms. But the chief resource lay in the slave trade.

Slaves came from every African ethnic group. Many had first lost their freedom in tribal wars; wars stimulated, in part, by the introduction of European firearms. Others were abducted, as slave traders traveled from post to post, encouraging the local population to provide human merchandise.

Slave houses provided a way to “warehouse” men, women and children, typically for three months. The captives were segregated by sex and age. Armed guards kept watch over the men. Female guards, selected from the captives, supervised the women and children.

Escape was nearly impossible. Treated like animals, the last shreds of their humanity stripped away, the slaves were branded before being loaded onto sailing vessels bound for the Americas.