388 



ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1942 



This paradox is explained by the nature of the chief business of 

 West Africa during most of this period. Goree was, nearly all the 

 time, the most important point in Senegal for the Negro slave trade.^ 

 For this traffic the island had notable advantages. Habitual forays 

 engendered unceasing v^arfare between the raiding coastal tribes and 

 their victims of the interior. The European trading companies, in 

 spite of superior weapons, had relatively slight military strength and 

 therefore prized an offshore location. Goree harbor lies 2.35 kilo- 



FiGUEE 2. — Gor6e in 1932. Condition of buildings noted by Sergeant Costel : ex- 

 isting structures, solid ; ruined structures, barred ; sites of former structures, 

 outlined. Key to principal buildings : 1, fort ; 2, barracks ; 3, church ; 4, hospital ; 

 5, boys' school ; 6, normal school ; 7, AOF printery ; 8, town hall ; 9, west battery ; 

 10, north battery ; 11, reservoir. (Reduced from map in Gor^e, capital d6chue, 

 by Robert Gaffiot.) 



meters off Dakar Point, close enough for canoes loaded with slaves to 

 be brought out conveniently under surveillance by batteries flanking 

 the cove. The shark-infested waters denied escape to imprisoned 

 Negroes. The flat-topped cliff lent itself to fortification against trade 

 rivals from Europe sailing under enemy flags. Transfer of slaves 

 and the small volume of minor exports and imports between continent 

 and island entailed only a somewhat longer lighterage than at any 

 other ports of the Petite Cote. 



The relations of island to continent were but slightly affected by 

 successive changes in political affiliation, because Goree and the Petite 

 Cote always went together. That the Cape Verde area was an impor- 

 tant element in the new world pattern being laid out as a result of 

 the discoveries and the creation of colonial empires is indicated by 

 repeated change of hands. 



More important for the fortunes of the island was its rivalry for 

 the seat of French colonial administration in Senegal. At times it 

 was supreme. Generally it administered the Petite Cote and the 

 Southern Rivers. Occasionally it was subject to Saint-Louis. 



' Robert Gafaot, Gor«5e, capitale dficbue. Paris, 1933. 



