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58-531: Site preparation atop the 100-metre (330 ft) hill began in 2006, and construction of the bronze statue began in 2008. Originally scheduled for completion in December 2009, delays stretched into early 2010, and the formal dedication occurred on 4 April 2010, Senegal's "National Day", commemorating the 50th anniversary of the country's independence from France . It is the tallest statue in Africa . The project

116-415: A Senegalese businessman or state-owned land. The statue was built by Mansudae Overseas Projects , a North Korean sculpting company famous for various projects and large statues throughout Africa since the 1970s. The statue was poorly received by art critics around the world after its much-delayed unveiling in 2010 and was compared by some to the (once-abandoned) Christopher Columbus statue project that

174-668: Is at best highly speculative and at worst counterproductive. The medieval history of the Sahel is characterized by the consolidation of settlements into large state entities – the Ghana Empire , the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empire . The cores of these great empires were located on the territory of the current Republic of Mali , so current-day Senegal occupied a peripheral position. The earliest of these empires

232-416: Is not devoid of economic and political issues and brought in its wake the first real growth of the slave trade . This trade called the trans-Saharan slave trade provided North Africa and Saharan Africa with slave labor. The Tekrur were among the first converts to Islam , certainly before 1040. Two other major political entities were formed and grew during the 13th and 14th century: the Mali Empire and

290-519: Is that of Ghana, probably founded in the first millennium by Soninke and whose animist populations subsisted by agriculture and trade across the Sahara, including gold, salt and cloth. Its area of influence slowly spread to regions between the river valleys of the Senegal and Niger . A contemporary empire of Ghana, but less extensive, the kingdom of Tekrur was its vassal. Ghana and Tekrur were

348-836: The Act of Abjuration in 1581, the United Provinces flouted the authority of the King of Spain . They based their growth on maritime trade and expanded their colonial empire in Asia, the Americas and South Africa. In West Africa trading posts were opened at some points of the current Senegal , Gambia , Ghana and Angola . Created in 1621, the Dutch West India Company purchased the island of Gorée in 1627. The company built two forts that are in ruins today: in 1628 on

406-731: The Company of Cape Vert and Senegal , itself expropriated following the creation by Colbert in 1664 of the French West India Company . The Company of Senegal was in turn founded by Colbert in 1673. It became the major tool of French colonialism in Senegal, but saddled with debt, it was dissolved 1681 and replaced by another that lasted until 1694, the date of creation of the Royal Company of Senegal, whose director, Andre Brue , would be captured by Lat Sukaabe Fall

464-666: The Damel of Cayor and released against ransom in 1701. A third Company of Senegal was founded in 1709 and lasted until 1718. On the British side, the monopoly of trade with Africa was granted to the Royal African Company in 1698. Grand Master of the naval war of Louis XIV , Admiral Jean II d'Estrées seized Gorée on 1 November 1677. The island was taken by the English on 4 February 1693 before being again occupied by

522-598: The Dictionnaire de pédagogie et d'instruction primaire by Ferdinand Buisson in 1887, the first French settlement in Senegal dates back to the Dieppe Mariners in the 14th century. Flattering for Norman sailors, this argument gives credence also to the idea of a precedence of the French presence in the region, but it is not confirmed by subsequent work. In the mid-15th century, several European nations reached

580-590: The Jolof Empire which become the vassal of the first in its heyday. Originating in the Mandinka invasion, Mali continued to expand, encompassing first eastern Senegal, and later almost all the present territory. Founded in the 14th century by the possibly mythical chief of the Wolof Ndiadiane Ndiaye , who was a Serer of Waalo (Ndiaye is originally a Serer surname which is also found among

638-668: The Second Republic in 1848, under the leadership of Victor Schœlcher . In 1815, the Congress of Vienna condemned slavery . But this would not change much economically for the Africans. After the departure of Governor Schmaltz (he had taken office at the end of the wreck of the Medusa ), Roger Baron particularly encouraged the development of the peanut , "the earth pistachio", whose monoculture would be long because of

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696-619: The Upper Paleolithic , while other argue in favor of the Neolithic . In Senegambia, the period when humans became hunters, fishermen and producers (farmer and artisan) are all well represented and studied. This is when more elaborate objects and ceramics emerged. But gray areas remain. Although the characteristics and manifestations of civilization from the Neolithic have been identified their origins and relationship have not yet fully defined. What can be distinguished is: In

754-557: The prehistoric era, the precolonial period, colonialism, and the contemporary era. The earliest evidence of human life is found in the valley of the Falémé in the south-east. The presence of man in the Lower Paleolithic is attested by the discovery of stone tools characteristic of Acheulean such as hand axes reported by Théodore Monod at the tip of Fann in the peninsula of Cap-Vert in 1938, or cleavers found in

812-607: The slave trade , although this "infamous traffic", as it was called at the end of the 18th century, was indeed at the heart of a new economic order, controlled by powerful companies in privilege . Encouraged by Henry the Navigator and always in search of the Passage to India , and not forgetting gold and slaves , Portuguese explorers explored the African coast and ventured still farther south. In 1444 Dinis Dias went off

870-421: The 4th century, at least for the former Tekrur . A variety of archaeological remains have been found: In the absence of written sources and monumental ruins in this region, the history of the early centuries of the modern era must be based primarily on archaeological excavations, the writing of early Arab geographers and travelers, and data derived from oral tradition. Combining these data suggests that Senegal

928-848: The African Renaissance Monument was unveiled in Dakar in front of 19 African heads of state, including President of Malawi and the African Union , Bingu wa Mutharika , Jean Ping of the African Union Commission , and the Presidents of Benin , Cape Verde , Republic of the Congo , Ivory Coast , The Gambia , Liberia , Mali , Mauritania and Zimbabwe , as well as representatives from North Korea , and Jesse Jackson and musician Akon , both from

986-664: The Caribbean, in Brazil and in the south of the United States raised a great need for cheap labor, the area received more attention. The Papacy , who had sometimes opposed slavery , did not condemn it explicitly to the end of the 17th century; in fact the Church itself has an interest in the colonial system. Traffic of "ebony" was an issue for warriors who traditionally reduced the vanquished to slavery. Some people specialized in

1044-642: The English, who occupied it three times, first for a few months in 1693, second during the Seven Years' War from 1758 until it was retaken for the French by Armand Louis de Gontaut in 1779, and lastly from 1809 to 1816 during the Napoleonic wars. After the 1763 Treaty of Paris, the British united their colony of The Gambia with Senegal into Senegambia . The British retook Gorée during the Anglo-French War ; however, British possession of Gorée

1102-525: The French four months later. In 1698 the Director of the Company of Senegal, Andre Brue , restored the fortifications. But Gorée was again captured by the British in 1758 during the Seven Years' War . However, under the 1763 Treaty of Paris ending the war, although Senegal was given to the British, the island of Gorée was returned to France. The excellent location of St. Louis caught the attention of

1160-739: The North-West. The project of the monument was entrusted to the Senegalese architect Pierre Goudiaby Atepa, author "in particular" of the Door of the Third Millennium, which overhangs the road of the Corniche. The work was "drawn" by President Wade, who owns 35% of the copyright , but the work was initiated by the Senegalese artist Ousmane Sow , who withdrew from the project following a disagreement with Abdoulaye Wade. On 3 April 2010,

1218-474: The Sahara and "Negro agricultural peoples" who were "essentially Serer" although its kings after 1000 CE might have been Soninke (northern Mande). The name, borrowed from Arabic writings, may be linked to that of the ethnicity Toucouleur . Trade with the Arabs was prevalent. The Kingdom imported wool , copper and pearls and exported gold and slaves . Indeed, the growth of a vast empire by Arab-Muslim Jihads

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1276-592: The Senegalese mainland, at the expense of the native kingdoms. The Four Communes of Saint-Louis , Dakar , Gorée , and Rufisque were the oldest colonial towns in French controlled west Africa . In 1848, the French Second Republic extended the rights of full French citizenship to their inhabitants. While those who were born in these towns could technically enjoy all the rights of native French citizens, substantial legal and social barriers prevented

1334-428: The United States, all of whom were given a tour. President Wade said, "It brings to life our common destiny. Africa has arrived in the 21st century standing tall and more ready than ever to take its destiny into its hands." President Bingu said, "This monument does not belong to Senegal. It belongs to the African people wherever we are." Thousands of people protested against "all the failures of President Wade's regime,

1392-577: The Wolof). Djolof expanded its dominance of small chiefdoms south of the Senegal River ( Waalo , Cayor , Baol , Sine  – Saloum ), bringing together all the Senegambia to which he gave religious and social unity: the "Grand Djolof" which collapsed in 1550. The Jolof Empire was founded by a voluntary confederacy of States; it was not an empire built on military conquest in spite of what

1450-591: The age of 81. Sow was inspired by photographs by Leni Riefenstahl of the Nuba peoples of southern Sudan , and from 1984 began to work on a series of larger-than-life sculptures of muscular Nuba wrestlers. To make them, he developed a series of new techniques and materials. They were shown at the Centre Culturel Français de Dakar in 1987. Sow later made series of sculptures of Maasai people , of Zulu people , of Peul or Fulani people, and, in

1508-450: The area from the 15th century onward, until in 1677, France ended up in possession of what had become a minor slave trade departure point—the infamous island of Gorée next to modern Dakar . In 1758 the French settlement was captured by a British expedition as part of the Seven Years' War , but was later returned to France. It was only in the 1850s that the French, under the governor, Louis Faidherbe , began to expand their foothold onto

1566-642: The arrival of Europeans, who organized the mass exodus of young Africans to the New World. Ghazis , wars, epidemics and famine afflicted the people, along with the Atlantic slave trade , in exchange for weapons and manufactured goods. Under the influence of Islam , these kingdoms were transformed and marabouts played an increasing role. In Casamance , the Baïnounks , the Manjaques and Diola inhabited

1624-456: The case of Senegal, the periodization of prehistory remains controversial. It is often described as beginning with the age of metallurgy , thus placing it between the first metalworking and the appearance of writing . Other approaches exist such as that of Guy Thilmans and his team in 1980, who felt that any archeology from pre-colonial could be attached to that designation or that of Hamady Bocoum , who speaks of "Historical Archaeology" from

1682-590: The coast of West Africa, vested successively or simultaneously by the Portuguese, the Dutch, the English and French. Europeans first settled along the coasts, on islands in the mouths of rivers and then a little further upstream. They opened trading posts and engaged in the "trade:" – a term which, under the Ancien Régime , means any type of trade (wheat, pepper , ivory ...), and not necessarily, or only,

1740-471: The coastal area while the mainland – unified 13th century under the name of Kaabu  – was occupied by the Mandingo . In the 15th century, the king of one of the tribes, Kassas gave his name to the region: Kassa Mansa (King of Kassas). Until the French intervention The Casamance was a heterogeneous entity, weakened by internal rivalries. According to several ancient sources, including occasions by

1798-643: The colony, while engaged in the smuggling of gum arabic and gold with signares . In 1789 the people of St. Louis wrote a List of Grievances . The same year the French were driven out of Fort St. Joseph in Galam (Gajaaga) and the Kingdom of Galam . The Europeans were sometimes disappointed because they hoped to find more gold in West Africa, but when the development of plantations in the Americas, mainly in

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1856-556: The downfall of the French Second Empire , the Four Communes was again allowed a parliamentary seat which was granted by law on 1 February 1871. On 30 December 1875 this seat was again abolished, but only for a few years as it was reinstated on 8 April 1879, and remained the single parliamentary representation from sub-Saharan Africa anywhere in a European legislature until the fall of the third republic in 1940. It

1914-442: The earliest inhabitants might be identified most closely with one of several related groups—Bainunk, Kasanga, Beafada... To these were added Serer, who moved southward during the first millennium A.D. from the Senegal River valley, and Mande-speaking peoples, who arrived later still from the east." He also cautions, however, that attempting to project modern-day ethnic definitions onto people who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago

1972-457: The empire was more like a voluntary confederacy than an empire built on military conquest. The arrival of Europeans engendered autonomy of small kingdoms which were under the influence of Djolof . Less dependent on trans-Saharan trade with the new shipping lanes, they turn more readily to trade with the New World . The decline of these kingdoms can be explained by internal rivalries, then by

2030-440: The face of Nassau Cove and 1639 at Nassau on the hill, as well as warehouses for goods destined for the mainland trading posts . In his Description of Africa (1668), the humanist Dutch Olfert Dapper gives the etymology of the name given to it by his countrymen, Goe-ree Goede Reede , that is to say "good harbor"., which is the name of (part of) an island in the Dutch province of Zeeland as well. The Dutch settlers occupied

2088-550: The full exercise of these rights, especially by those seen by authorities as full blooded Africans. Most of the African population of these towns were termed originaires : those Africans born into the commune, but who retained recourse to African and/or Islamic law (the so-called "personal status"). Those few Africans from the four communes who were able to pursue higher education and were willing to renounce their legal protections could "rise" to be termed Évolué ("Evolved") and were nominally granted full French citizenship, including

2146-434: The island for nearly half a century, dealing in wax, amber , gold, ivory and also participated in the slave trade , but kept away from foreign trading posts on the coast. The Dutch were dislodged several times: in 1629 by the Portuguese, in 1645 and 1659 by the French and in 1663 by the English. The "trade" and the slave trade intensified in the 17th century. In Senegal, the French and British competed mainly on two issues,

2204-483: The island of Gorée and St. Louis . On 10 February 1763 the Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years' War and reconciled, after three years of negotiations, France, Great Britain and Spain. Great Britain returned the island of Gorée to France. Britain then acquired from France, among many other territories, "the river of Senegal, with forts & trading posts St. Louis, Podor, and Galam and all rights & dependencies of

2262-715: The late 1990s, of Native Americans . Sow had many international exhibitions, including at documenta IX in Kassel in 1992, at Palazzo Grassi in Venice during the Biennale of 1995, and on the Pont des Arts in Paris in 1999. In the 2008 Prince Claus Awards , on the theme of Culture and the human body , he was one of the eleven laureates. On 11 April 2012 Sow was elected a Membre Associé Etranger ("foreign associate member") of

2320-495: The least of which is this horrible statue" on the city's streets beforehand, with riot police deployed to maintain control. Deputy leader of the opposition Ndeye Fatou Toure described the monument as an "economic monster and a financial scandal in the context of the current [economic] crisis". The colossal statue has been criticized for its cost at US$ 27 million ( £ 16.6m). The payment was made in kind, with 30 to 40 hectares of land that has variously been reported as sponsored by

2378-457: The mouth of Maissa Wali (the King of Sine). In the epics of Ndiadiane and Maissa Wali, it is well acknowledged that Maissa Wali was pivotal in the founding of this Empire. It was he who nominated Ndiadiane Ndiaye and called for the other states to join this confederacy, which they did, and the "empire" headed by Ndiadiane, who took residence at Djolof. It is for this reason scholars propose that

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2436-466: The mouth of the Senegal River to reach the westernmost point of Africa he calls Cabo Verde , Cape Vert, because of the lush vegetation seen there. He also reached the island of Gorée , referred to by its inhabitants as Berzeguiche , but which he called Ilha de Palma , the island of Palms. The Portuguese did not settle there permanently, but used the site for landing and engaged in commerce in

2494-403: The only organized populations before Islamization. The territory of Tekrur approximates that of the current Fouta Toro . Its existence in the 9th century is attested by Arabic manuscripts. The formation of the state may have taken place as an influx of Fulani from the east settled in the Senegal valley. John Donnelly Fage suggests that Takrur was formed through the interaction of Berbers from

2552-412: The president cannot claim copyright over ideas conceived as a function of his public office. Ousmane Sow , a world-renowned Senegalese sculptor, also objected to the use of foreign builders, saying it was anything but a symbol of African Renaissance and nothing to do with art. History of Senegal The history of Senegal is commonly divided into a number of periods, encompassing

2610-666: The region. They built a chapel there in 1481. Portuguese trading posts were installed in Tanguegueth in Cayor , a town they renamed Fresco Rio (the future Rufisque ) because of the freshness of its sources in the Baol Sali (later the seaside town of Saly ) which takes the name of Portudal , or to Joal in the Kingdom of Sine . They also traversed the lower Casamance and founded Ziguinchor in 1645. The introduction of Christianity accompanied this business expansion. After

2668-526: The said River of Senegal.". Under Louis XIII and especially Louis XIV , the privileges were quite extensively granted to certain French shipping lines, which still faced many difficulties. In 1626 Richelieu founded the Norman Company , an association of Dieppe and Rouen merchants responsible for the operation in Senegal and the Gambia . It was dissolved in 1658 and its assets were acquired by

2726-541: The severe economic backwardness of Senegal. Despite the ferocity of the Baron, the company was a failure. The colonization of Casamance also continued. The island of Carabane , acquired by France in 1836, was profoundly transformed between 1849 and 1857 by the resident Emmanuel Bertrand Bocandé , a Nantes businessman. Various European powers – Portugal, the Netherlands, and England – competed for trade in

2784-669: The slave trade, for example the Dyula in West Africa. States and kingdoms competed, along with private traders who became much richer in the triangular trade (although some shipments resulted in real financial disaster). Politico-military instability in the region was compounded by the slave trade. The Black Code , enacted in 1685, regulated the trafficking of slaves in the American colonies. In Senegal, trading posts were established in Gorée , St. Louis , Rufisque , Portudal and Joal and

2842-434: The south-east. There were also found stones shaped by the Levallois technique , characteristic of the Middle Paleolithic . Mousterian Industry is represented mainly by scrapers found in the peninsula of Cap-Vert, as well in the low and middle valleys of the Senegal and the Falémé. Some pieces are explicitly linked to hunting, like those found in Tiémassass , near M'Bour , a controversial site that some claim belongs to

2900-422: The upper valley of the Senegal River , including Fort St. Joseph, in the Kingdom of Galam , was in the 18th century a French engine of trafficking in Senegambia . In parallel, a mestizo society develops in St. Louis and Gorée. Slavery was abolished by the National Convention in 1794, then reinstated by Bonaparte in 1802. The British Empire abolished slavery in 1833; in France it was finally abolished in

2958-399: The vote. Despite this legal framework, Évolués still faced substantial discrimination in Africa and the Metropole alike. On 27 April 1848, following the February revolution in France, a law was passed in Paris enabling the Four Communes to elect a Deputy to the French Parliament for the first time. On 2 April 1852 the parliamentary seat for Senegal was abolished by Napoleon III . Following

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3016-429: The word "empire" implies. The Serer tradition of Sine attests that the Kingdom of Sine never paid tribute to Ndiadiane Ndiaye nor to any member of his descendants that ruled Djolof. Historian Sylviane Diouf states that "Each vassal kingdom—Walo, Takrur, Kayor, Baol, Sine, Salum, Wuli, and Niani—recognized the hegemony of Jolof and paid tribute." It went on to state that, Ndiadiane Ndiaye himself received his name from

3074-499: Was a Senegalese sculptor of larger-than-life statues of people and groups of people. Sow was born in Dakar , Senegal, on 10 October 1935. After the death of his father in 1956, he left Dakar to study in France , where he obtained a diploma in physiotherapy . He returned to Senegal after it became independent in 1960 and started a practice in physiotherapy . He later went back to France and practised there, but returned to Senegal in 1978. He died in Dakar on 1 December 2016 at

3132-459: Was brief. In 1783 the Treaty of Versailles returned Senegal to France, and Senegambia was no more. Nine companies, in succession, received the African monopoly of gum acacia from the French Crown. Seven of them went bankrupt. Among them were the Compagnie d’Afrique and the Compagnie du Sénégal . The last was the Compagnie de la Gomme which failed in 1793. Appointed governor in 1785, Knight Boufflers focuses for two years to enhance

3190-446: Was first populated from the north and east in several waves of migration, the last being that of the Wolof , the Fulani and the Serer who dominate the area today. Oral traditions relate that in much of northern Senegal Mande people were the earliest inhabitants, although archaeological evidence of this is slim. Africanist historian Donald R. Wright has suggested that place-names in the Gambia and Casamance regions indicate "that

3248-483: Was launched by then Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade , who considered it part of Senegal's prestige projects, aimed at providing monuments to herald a new era of African Renaissance . It shows a family drawn up towards the sky, the man carrying his child on his biceps and holding his wife by the waist, "an Africa emerging from the bowels of the earth, leaving obscurantism to go towards the light". The monument indeed represents an African family resolutely turned towards

3306-550: Was only in 1916 that originaires were granted full voting rights while maintaining legal protections. Blaise Diagne , who was the prime advocate behind the change, was in 1914 the first African deputy elected to the French National Assembly . From that time until independence in 1960, the deputies of the Four Communes were always African, and were at the forefront of the decolonisation struggle. The French Second Republic : The French Third Republic : Ousmane Sow Ousmane Sow (10 October 1935 – 1 December 2016)

3364-505: Was unveiled in Arecibo , Puerto Rico in 2016. Local imams argued that a statue depicting a human figure is idolatrous and objected to the perceived immodesty of the semi-nude male and female figures. The project has also attracted controversy due to Wade's claim to the intellectual property rights of the statue, and insisting that he is entitled to 35 percent of the profits raised. Opposition figures have sharply criticised Wade's plan to claim intellectual property rights, insisting that

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