by Brooke Wolfe

Created on: April 16, 2009   Last Updated: April 21, 2009

Senegal

Many country names are easy to identify as African, but not so easy to locate on a map. Senegal is best described as the tip of the "bulge of Africa," and contains a country within it, the old British colony Gambia, with whom it shares the city Bathurst. Together they are sometimes referred to as Senegambia. The Portuguese were the first to land there then Dutch came to Goree Island in 1588 and the French in 1659. The French took Goree from the Dutch in 1667 and remained the largest colonial power in Senegal with their assimilation theory of colonization, until its independence on April 4th, 1960 though the British also settled on James Island in the Gambia river and created factories. Over the years Senegal has made a well-known name for itself through indigenous farming and production, trade, strong leadership, women's rights, education, and smart economics.

To understand anything about a country today it's beneficial to review its history in order to see it within a timeframe context. The British abolished the slave trade in 1807 and restoration government agreed to make it official in 1815. Julien Schmaltz was the first French governor elected that same year and he controlled the traffic along the Gambia River. Sauvigny, a botanist, explored the coastal regions around 1822 and made thorough observations of the plant life while desiring to develop Gore trade. In 1852, the island of Goree was made a free port and it began to control coastal commerce. Palm oil factories were unsuccessful so the French did not want the island but the British still did. Peanut butter trade at this time in the 19th century was not yet a significant source of revenue. In 1817 the French reoccupied Senegal and Goree asked them to reinstall factories and threaten the British to stop harassing the local ethnic groups (specifically, the tyeddo). A new era in French imperialism began in 1851 when they called for more troops and factories in Senegal.

Louis Faidherbe (1818-1889) was an imaginative French general and colonial administrator who owned St. Louis, a strip of coast in Senegal. His rule accomplished much political advancement including the addition of land between Senegal and Gambia, advancement of French outposts in northern Senegal, breaking of Umar Tall's siege of medina fort, and stemming Muslim advance. By 1857, Pinet-Laprade founded Dakar (Klein 41).

Senegal's economics have long relied on the geography of the region. The two main ports are Dakar and Kaolack. Dakar

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