The Island of Goree was once a key transit center on the western coast of Africa in slave trade.
The tiny island of Senegal, which is not far from Senegal's capital Dakar, dots the azure Atlantic coastline. It is the nearest point on the continent to the Americas.
The island has brightly-colored buildings and lush flora, make it hard to associate this picturesque island with the brutal history of the slave trade.
However, historical remnants reveal a darker past.
The island was successively occupied by the Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain, and France, who used it as a slave warehouse and eventually made it West Africa's largest slave trade center.
At least 20 million Africans were trafficked through this island to the Americas and other places, and 5 million Africans died on the island from the 15th century to the 19th century, statistics showed.
Due to its historic significance in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Goree was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978.
"Why was Goree one of the most important transit centers, because first of all, if you try to compare all the West African coast, you can see from here you could cross more closer to America. And the second [reason], as an island when they brought captees, they couldn't escape. Any European nations based here used to build up a kind of fortification. This was the French one. And they had all this to defend the island. It was so strategical, because from Goree that must help them to make control all along of the West African coast," said Laidi, a local guide.
Today, Goree stands as a poignant reminder of past atrocities and a symbol of the enduring spirit of liberation and justice.
Each year on Dec 2, which is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, the world reflects on these injustices and renews its commitment to ending slavery.
Senegal's Goree Island: from center of slave trade to symbol of freedom
The number of temporary accommodation registrations of foreign nationals in Shanghai hit a record high of 7.139 million in 2025, up 49.6 percent from the previous year, the Exit-Entry Administration Corps of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau said at a press briefing on Thursday.
The figure, which had already doubled in 2024, points to a continued rise in the number of foreign nationals visiting and staying in the city, highlighting the metropolis's growing appeal to international visitors.
Shanghai also issued more than 200,000 visas and residence permits to foreigners for the second consecutive year in 2025.
Long-term permits, including residence permits, accounted for a share 10 percentage points higher than the previous year, reflecting growing demand for extended stays.
Officials said the increase mirrors Shanghai's expanding openness and improving services for foreign visitors and residents.
"In 2025, Shanghai processed 7.139 million temporary accommodation registrations for foreigners. Following a doubling from the year before last, the figure rose by another 49.6 percent year on year, marking a historical high in the number of foreign nationals coming to Shanghai," said Song Weiqi, deputy head of the administration corps.
Accommodation registrations are required for foreigners staying in China. In 2025, 94.7 percent of temporary accommodation registrations were handled directly by hotels, resulting in a convenient check-in process.
Among foreigners residing in Shanghai's residential communities, 84.8 percent opted for online self-reporting via a multilingual platform that offers efficient, flexible registration.
Meanwhile, to ease the surge in passport applications for foreign travel ahead of the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday in mid-February, the administration corps announced plans to extend service hours for residents.
Shanghai hits a record-high 7.14 million expat accommodation registrations in 2025
