I didn't conclude from any of the early postings about Goree,
including P. Curtin's, that anyone was trying to undermine the
importance of Goree or deny its role in the slave trade in the manner
of the disbelievers in the Holocaust. I thought that some people were
saying that to link the importance of Goree necessarily to the claim
that millions of slaves passed through the island is actually to
undermine that importance.
There's a thoughtful analysis of the importance of Goree in James
Searing, *West African Slavery & Atlantic Commerce: The Senegal River
Valley, 1700-1860* (1993), ch. 4., "Merchants & Slaves: Slavery on
Saint Louis & Goree." The analysis has nothing to do with large
numbers of slaves in transit on Goree or sold there.
In general, although historians would always like to have accurate
accounting, we shouldn't, I think, hang the significance of our
studies only on large numbers of people or goods or whatever. One of
my interests is in the movement of African Americans to Sierra Leone
& Liberia. The number of people who moved is small, but they were
involved in mighty affairs in religion, social thought, & economic
relations.
We can understand Goree as important & interesting without
extravagant claims about numbers.