About thirty kilometers from Pointe-Noire, in the Kouilou department, Loango Bay still bears the traces of a painful chapter in the history of humanity. Here lies the former Slave Route, a path once taken by thousands of men and women captured in the interior of the continent and led to slave ships. Today, this site of memory is at the heart of a heritage development project, with plans for the construction of a museum dedicated to the history of slavery.
The Loango Slave Path is one of the most emblematic sites of the slave trade in Central Africa. Between the 17th and 19th centuries, Loango bay was a major departure point for captives bound for the Americas. Brought from the interior by caravans, enslaved people passed along a path lined with mango trees before reaching the Atlantic coast. This symbolic path, known as the slave path, remains a powerful reminder of this dark period in history.
“Loango was once a threshold, the threshold of departure, the threshold of separation. From here, millions of captive men and women crossed the Atlantic. They left the shores of their world to enter the unknown, leaving behind their languages, their gods, and their families, but carrying with them the memories of Congo and of Africa.”
Lydie Pongault, Minister of Cultural and Tourism Industries – Congo
To strengthen the promotion of this historical heritage, Congolese authorities launched the construction of a museum of slavery in Loango in November 2025. The future building, covering about 3,300 square meters, will host permanent exhibitions, cultural spaces, as well as a memorial path intended to retrace the history of the slave trade in the region.
“Our memorial, which proudly stands overlooking its surroundings, is a historical and cultural complex designed to be multidimensional, with a wide range of disciplines. It will serve as an instrument to engrave history in eternal stone.”
Jean-Jacques BOUYA, Minister of Land Planning – Congo
The Loango site is currently on the UNESCO world heritage preliminary list as part of the international program titled “The Slave Route,” which aims to preserve emblematic sites linked to the history of the slave trade. With the project for the new museum and the gradual restoration of the Slave Path, Loango could become one of the major memorial sites of the slave trade in Central Africa, similar to historic sites such as Gorée Island and Ouidah.
