Dakar, Senegal

 

Senegal is the Western most country on the mainland of Africa. It has a population of 18 million and is one of the most stable countries on the continent of Africa. While French is the official language, Wolof is the most widely spoken. Unfortunately, it is a relatively poor country.

Gorée island 

Our tour was to Gorée island just off the port of Dakar. This island discovered in 1444 by Diaz and has been ruled by Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and Great Britain over the years. The island is only 300 by 900 meters but it controls this part of the Atlantic Coast. Our first stop was the House of the Slaves. Built by the French in 1780, slaves were imprisoned here and lost their names, becoming just a number. Small rooms held about 15 slaves each. There was a special room for pregnant women, now symbolized with a large water bowl. To be shipped to the Americas, a slave had to weigh at least 60 kilograms. Many children just died here, long before they weighed 60 kilograms. Many women became mistresses of the soldiers, while here. A unique aspect of the island was that some of these mixed blood children became signares owned ships and property. The house was owned by one of these signares after slavery was abolished. We were lectured that only the U.S., Israel, and Brazil voted against the March 25^th, 2026, resolution that declared the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialized chattel enslavement as the gravest crime against humanity, calling for reparations and formal apologies from member states.

Room for pregnant slaves

We learned that the Baobab tree is considered a spirit tree – your ancestors visit these trees. They bear monkey fruit, their sap is used as glue, and the fibers of the tree can form a waterproof container. The leaves of the tree provide the flavoring for the local brand of couscous. We went on to see how sand painting was done using the glue from the Baobab. 

Baobob, a spirit tree

Then climbed the hill on the island for the views and the monument memorializing the Africans who were brutalized during the slave trade. The history museum of the island is in the former Fort. Here were exhibits about the slave trade. The fort also served as a prison for blacks opposing the French colonization in more recent times. 

How slaves were packed into the slave ships

Why did the slave trade get started? Sugar. Sugar started in India and Europeans were introduced to it during the crusades.  As the Ottomans took over the middle east, Europeans started looking for other places to grow sugar and used islands off the Arican coasts and slaves from Africa. Demand increased with the usage of coffee, tea, and coffee. Brazil and the Caribbean had the right climate for sugar, but the native populations  were susceptible to the diseases brought from the Old World. Thus the Atlantic Slave trade was opened up. Slaves from Africa were shipped to America. 40% to the Caribbean,  40% to Brazil, while only 4% went to the US.. Sugar was shipped to Europe, then iron, guns, and fabric to Africa. The biggest traders were the United Kingdom (3.3 million slaves) and Portugal (5.8 Million).  An interesting side note, by 1860 the US had over 50% of the slaves in the Americas. While trade had ended in the early 1800s, slaves in the US had more children and lived longer than those sent to the Caribbean or Brazil. 

Senegal became our 112^th country.