Focus on Geography最新文献_第10页

Landscapes of the Slave Trade in Senegal and The Gambia 塞内加尔和冈比亚的奴隶贸易景观

Focus on Geography Pub Date : 2014-03-10 DOI: 10.1111/foge.12025

Thomas A. Wikle, Dale R. Lightfoot

{"title":"Landscapes of the Slave Trade in Senegal and The Gambia","authors":"Thomas A. Wikle, Dale R. Lightfoot","doi":"10.1111/foge.12025","DOIUrl":"10.1111/foge.12025","url":null,"abstract":"Upstream from the pier at Albreda a tiny speck of land interrupts the Gambia River's otherwise featureless surface. Shaded by a few baobab trees, crumbling stone walls are all that remain of a 17th century fort built by the British on tiny James Island. Within the fort's outer wall are footprints of former military barracks, administrative areas, and storage rooms. Three hundred years of weathering and erosion have reduced the island's size, sweeping away evidence of gun batteries once guarding the fort's perimeter. Tranquility returns as the last tourist boat returns to Albreda. A hundred miles to the north, near Africa's westernmost point, the rugged cliffs of Gorée Island are visible south of Dakar, Senegal's capital city (Figure 1). Cafés and souvenir vendors greet visitors disembarking from passenger ferries at the island's small harbor. Gorée has no automobiles. Located a short walk from the harbor and waterfront are narrow streets winding among colorful houses built in the French colonial style. The island's population of 1,000 includes artisans, shop owners, and others seeking a reprieve from the traffic and noise of Dakar.The quiet serenity of James Island contrasts sharply with the shouts of children playing near Gorée's harbor. While the human imprint on James Island has changed little since being abandoned by the British in 1829, Gorée has adapted to streams of domestic and international tourists who browse local artwork, dine at picturesque cafés and take leisurely strolls. Although seemingly worlds apart, the islands share a shadowy and ignominious past. Driven by the demand for labor in the Americas, James and Gorée Islands were transformed from early European settlements into prisons for holding and processing tens of thousands of enslaved Africans before their transport overseas. Separated from their families and packed into dim and poorly ventilated rooms, the captives endured weeks of waiting. Some never left these islands, succumbing to suicide, disease, or mistreatment by their captors.This article explores James and Gorée Islands as unique cultural landscapes that reveal and interpret events and places associated with slavery in West Africa. The collection represented by these islands and nearby Fort Bullen, together with associated museums, display every facet of the encounter between Africa and Europe from first contact through the abolition period, including structures, artifacts, documents and stories from slavers and slaves—men, women and children—as well as the role of African middlemen and the impact on and reactions from the local population. While not among Africa's most significant slave ports, James and Gorée Islands have achieved international recognition as symbols of slavery's impacts on Africa and Africans. Both are recognized as UNESCO World Heritage sites. For visitors hoping to understand the legacy of slavery in West Africa, the islands are enduring reminders of incomprehensible","PeriodicalId":100538,"journal":{"name":"Focus on Geography","volume":"57 1","pages":"14-24"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1111/foge.12025","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89480865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}