Which Senegalese island off Dakar is known for the House of Slaves museum?

Gorée Island is the Senegalese island off Dakar known for the House of Slaves museum. The small island lies about three kilometres from Dakar and is reached by a regular passenger ferry.

The House of Slaves, or Maison des Esclaves, was built in the late eighteenth century and is now a museum and memorial associated with the Atlantic slave trade. Its famous Door of No Return has become a powerful symbol of forced departure and the African diaspora. The museum’s modern interpretation was shaped especially by curator Boubacar Joseph Ndiaye.

Historians debate how central Gorée and the House of Slaves were to the large-scale export of enslaved Africans, and some traditional visitor narratives overstate the numbers connected with the building. That debate does not change the island’s importance as a place of remembrance. Gorée itself was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 and contains forts, colonial buildings, museums, and historic residences.