Pics from my first day in Senegal on Goree Island. Goree Island was one of the first settlements built by the Europeans in West Africa. The Porteguese were the first to make use of the island in the 14th century. Later the Dutch captured it, and gave it its name. But over the last few hundred years it has mainly been a possession of the colonial power of Senegal, the French.

Slavery is dramatized in great detail on the island. Although it has been disputed that the tales are greatly exaggerated by the 1,000 or so locals who live on the island and benefit off its tourism. Studies have shown that it was a major settlement and trading post, however human slaves were only a minor commodity on the island compared to the other goods being transported, such as beeswax, hides and grain.

However it has been so well-preserved over the years, in comparison to other European settlements in Africa, that it is still considered one of the best locations to visit for people seeking to better understand the history of the slave trade. The slave house located on the island is very well-preserved as you can see in the following picture...



^^^The top floor is said to be where the slave masters lived, while the bottom level is said to be where the blacks were divided up by groups. Then in the back is the place they call "point of no return" where they say the slaves were tragically shipped off to America, and "goodbye Africa".



This is the ferry ride over to Goree island, behind me you can see the whole width of the island off the coast of Senegal, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.



This is one of the beautiful local girls on the island. The locals are known as some of the nicest people you will find, many of them have lived their whole life and never even been off of the island. The small island has it's own economy, some people have homes deep inside bunkers that were originally built by the European slave masters to defend the island from other competing European Nations.



Here is just some of the beautiful artwork they create for sale on Goree island.

This is a canon that was built around the 17th Century and used by the slave traders in defending the island from other European rivals.



Here's a Rasta spot we found on the island where we sat down for some tea (ataya).


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...The first day I was just happy to be there, and get as far away as I could from the stress and monotony of American life. Even after an 11 hour plane ride I still couldn't sleep for the first day and a half in Africa. I was just so eager to get out and start seeing a different life. I was pretty close to euphoria during my first couple days in Senegal.

The first thing I did was went for a walk. I walked to the beach and I looked off into the ocean and tried to realize how far I was from America. At the time it felt America was still very close, but with every day that passed America became farther and farther away as I looked off into the ocean