SENEGAL QUICK FACTS

Official Name: Republic of Senegal
Size: 75,000 square miles

Location: Western Africa, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania

Population: 9 million

Economy: Agriculture

Ethnic Groups: Wolof, Fulani, Tukulor, Serer, Jola, Mandinke, Peul, Diola, Bassari, Sarakhole, Mandiack, and Mankagne

Official Language: French

Other Languages: Wolof, Pulaar, Jola, and Mandingo

Primary Religion: Islam

Today, Goree Island, home to about 1,000 residents, is an historical tourist attraction, drawing visitors -- including thousands of African Americans -- from all over the world each year.

Start the slideshow above to view panoramas of Goree's people and architecture.

Less than 2 miles from the coast of Dakar, the beauty of Senegal’s Gorée Island betrays its brutal history as one of the busiest ports in the entire African slave trade. As many as 20 million enslaved Africans boarded slave ships through Gorée’s infamous "Point of No Return" on their way to the Americas between the mid-1500s and the mid-1800s.

The Maison Des Eclaves, or "Slave House" was a place of great cruelty and violence. Men, women and children were imprisoned under the most inhumane circumstances, crowded into damp, dark, filthy cells for months at a time.

 

 

 

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