Gorée, Île de

Gorée, Île de

 or Gorée Island

Island, Senegal. Inhabited by the Lebu people when it was occupied by the Portuguese in the mid-15th century, it was later occupied by the Dutch and then taken by the French in 1677. It was active in the Atlantic slave trade, but historians debate whether Gorée was a major centre for the trade or simply one of many places from which Africans were taken to the Americas as slaves. Under French control until Senegal's independence in 1960, it later lost importance with the rise of St.-Louis and Dakar on the mainland. It is now a World Heritage site; a museum there displays slavery artifacts.