HERITAGE RECORD · 026

Island of Gorée

戈雷岛

The official record, selection criteria and sourced cultural context.

World Heritage record

The island of Gorée lies off the coast of Senegal, opposite Dakar. From the 15th to the 19th century, it was the largest slave-trading centre on the African coast. Ruled in succession by the Portuguese, Dutch, English and French, its architecture is characterized by the contrast between the grim slave-quarters and the elegant houses of the slave traders. Today it continues to serve as a reminder of human exploitation and as a sanctuary for reconciliation.

Open the official UNESCO record ↗

Wikidata reference

QIDQ244347 ↗

Area0.182 ha

Administrative areaQ2863759

Named afterQ924091

WikipediaGorée ↗

Chinese Wikipedia戈雷岛 ↗

Imported locally from Wikidata; it does not replace the UNESCO record or editorial copy.

Selection criteria

This property was inscribed under the following World Heritage Convention criteria.

The UNESCO dataset does not currently provide criteria for this property.

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