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The current "Maison des Esclaves"
was built around 1780 in rue Saint-Germain
by Nicolas Pépin, whose sister, signare
Anne Pépin, was Chevalier
de Boufflers's mistress.
This building may have been the last slaves'
house in Goree. The first ones dated back
to 1536, built by the Portuguese, first
Europeans to set foot on the island
in 1444.
A short message by Joseph Ndiaye, Curator
of the Slaves House :
"Slave Trade was one of the major
genocides humanity has ever known. Black
Africans were relentlessly hounded from
their homes, harassed, torn away from their
native soil, tortured and humiliated.
This massive and brutal trading of Black
people made it possible for almost the whole
of the New World to work out their political,
economic and social realities.
Actually, only the youngest, the most vigorous,
the strongest were taken after being parted
from their mothers, thus disrupting the
demographic balance of the country.
That is how one can assert that Africas
own development is still now years and years
behind... "
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