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Today, a quiet and quaint haunt for tourists with about 1,000 permanent residents, Goreé played an important role in the history of Africa, particularly in the development of the slave trade. Only three kilometers from Dakar at its nearest point, the island is make up of a flat plain that ends in a steep basaltic hill (the Castle), and is only 900 meters by 300. Possibly sighted by Phoenicians and others in antiquity, it was probably first discovered by the Portuguese explorer Dias in 1444.
The island was colonized in 1817. As with Manhattan Island, the Dutch bought the island from a local chief for a pittance. Goreé became a way station for Dutch ships plying the route between their forts on the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and the Indies. The Dutch gave the island its name, most probably for "Goeree" Island in Holland, or more fancifully - according to some - for its sheltered harbor, "Goode Reede" (good harbor). Goreé changed hands many times. The British took it from the Dutch; The Dutch then recaptured it, but had to give it up again to the French during French maritime expansion under Colbert. In 1802, by the terms of the Amiens peace agreement, the island became French and remained so until Senegalese independence in 1960.

Goreé was the principal entry point off the coast of Africa for slavers and merchantmen flying the French flag. Thousands of Africans passed through this island fortress on the continent's bulge. After the abolition of the slave trade in France in 1848, Goreé was an outpost for policing the seas. As its role in trade declined, it became a stepping off point for French colonization of the interior of West Africa.

Goreé had the first school and the first printing plant in French Africa. It was also one of the "four communes" which in the 19th century were electing deputies tot he French National Assembly. Like Zanzibar off the East Coast of Africa, Goreé is important in the early history of American relations with Africa. The United States established a consulate in Senegal in 1885. Many buildings on Goreé are currently undergoing renovations, sponsored by Senegal and many other governments and international organizations.