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116-688: Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is the westernmost country in West Africa , situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to the north , Mali to the east , Guinea to the southeast and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest . Senegal nearly surrounds The Gambia , a country occupying a narrow sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River , which separates Senegal's southern region of Casamance from

232-552: A fertility statuette, created in the region of Senegambia , and may be associated with the emergence of complexly organized pastoral societies in West Africa between 4000 BCE and 1000 BCE. Though possibly developed as early as 5000 BCE, Nsibidi may have also developed in 2000 BCE, as evidenced by depictions of the West African script on Ikom monoliths at Ikom , in Nigeria . Migration of Saharan peoples south of

348-518: A Dutch writer, describing Benin in his book Description of Africa (1668) ". Its craft was the most adored and treasured bronze casting in the history of Africa. It was annexed by the British Empire in 1897 during the invasion and scramble of Africa. Portuguese traders began establishing settlements along the coast in 1445, followed by the French , English , Spanish , Danish and Dutch ;

464-781: A battalion to the Democratic Republic of Congo to participate in MONUC , the United Nations peacekeeping mission, and agreed to deploy a US-trained battalion to Sierra Leone for UNAMSIL , another UN peacekeeping mission. In 2015, Senegal participated in the Saudi Arabian-led military intervention in Yemen against the Shia Houthis . West Africa West Africa , also called Western Africa ,

580-524: A brand of African socialism. After the breakup of the Mali Federation, Senghor and Prime Minister Mamadou Dia governed together under a parliamentary system. In December 1962, their political rivalry led to an attempted coup by Dia. The coup was put down without bloodshed and Dia was arrested and imprisoned. Senegal adopted a new constitution that consolidated the President's power. Senghor

696-471: A common West African rice dish. Now-archaic forms include Volof and Olof . English is believed to have adopted some Wolof loanwords , such as banana , via Spanish or Portuguese , and nyam , used also in Spanish: 'ñam' as an onomatopoeia for eating or chewing, in several Caribbean English Creoles meaning "to eat" (compare Seychellois Creole nyanmnyanm , also meaning "to eat"). Wolof

812-569: A decree, as the effort by the Senegalese ministry of education was to be part of a multi-national standardization effort. This alphabet has been used since pre-colonial times, as the first writing system to be adopted for Wolof, and is still used by many people, mainly Imams and their students in Quranic and Islamic schools. Additionally, another script exists: Garay , an alphabetic script invented by Assane Faye 1961, which has been adopted by

928-652: A faint epenthetic schwa vowel. Of the consonants in the chart above, p d c k do not occur in the intermediate or final position, being replaced by f r s and zero, though geminate pp dd cc kk are common. Phonetic p c k do occur finally, but only as allophones of b j g due to final devoicing . Minimal pairs : Unlike most sub-Saharan African languages, Wolof has no tones . Other non-tonal languages of sub-Saharan Africa include Amharic , Swahili and Fula . In Wolof, verbs are unchangeable stems that cannot be conjugated. To express different tenses or aspects of an action, personal pronouns are conjugated – not

1044-635: A fisheries regulations Act in 2010 and installed a satellite-based monitoring system and Senegal enacted a fisheries code in 2015. In Cape Verde, the fishermen communities of Palmiera and Santa Maria have organized themselves to protect fishing zones. Mozambique finally created a conservation area, including a coastline. West Africa, broadly defined to include the western portion of the Maghreb ( Western Sahara , Morocco , Algeria , and Tunisia ), occupies an area in excess of 6,140,000 km , or approximately one-fifth of Africa. The vast majority of this land

1160-779: A liberal party (the Senegalese Democratic Party ). The 1960s and early 1970s saw the continued and persistent violating of Senegal's borders by the Portuguese military from Portuguese Guinea . In response, Senegal petitioned the United Nations Security Council in 1963 , 1965 , 1969 (in response to shelling by Portuguese artillery), 1971 and finally in 1972 . In 1980, Senghor decided to retire from politics. The next year, he transferred power in 1981 to his hand-picked successor, Abdou Diouf . Former prime minister Mamadou Dia , who

1276-481: A peace treaty with the separatist group in the Casamance region. This, however, has yet to be implemented. There was a round of talks in 2005, but the results have not yet yielded a resolution. In March 2012, the incumbent president Abdoulaye Wade lost the presidential election and Macky Sall was elected as the new President of Senegal. President Macky Sall was re-elected in 2019 elections . The presidential term

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1392-592: A population of around 18 million. The state is a unitary presidential republic ; since the country's foundation in 1960, it has been recognized as one of the most stable countries on the African continent. On the 2023 V-Dem Democracy Indices , Senegal is ranked 52nd in electoral democracy worldwide and 4th in electoral democracy in Africa . The state was formed as part of the independence of French West Africa from French colonial rule . Because of this history, French

1508-612: A result of increasing aridification of the Green Sahara , Central Saharan hunter-gatherers and cattle herders may have used seasonal waterways as the migratory route taken to the Niger River and Chad Basin of West Africa. In 2000 BCE, " Thiaroye Woman", also known as the " Venus of Thiaroye", may have been the earliest statuette created in Sub-Saharan West Africa; it may have particularly been

1624-617: A rich array of biomes , from biodiversity-rich tropical forests to drylands supporting rare and endangered fauna such as pangolins , rhinoceros , and elephants . Because of the pressure for economic development, many of these ecologies are threatened by processes like deforestation , biodiversity loss , overfishing , pollution from mining , plastics and other industries, and extreme changes resulting from climate change in West Africa . The history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods: first, its prehistory, in which

1740-546: A second language. Wolof dialects vary geographically and between rural and urban areas. The principal dialect of Dakar , for instance, is an urban mixture of Wolof, French , and Arabic . Wolof is the standard spelling and may also refer to the Wolof ethnicity or culture. Variants include the older French Ouolof , Jollof , or Jolof , which now typically refers either to the Jolof Empire or to jollof rice ,

1856-561: A small number of Wolof speakers. The first syllable of words is stressed ; long vowels are pronounced with more time but are not automatically stressed, as they are in English. The vowels are as follows: There may be an additional low vowel, or this may be confused with orthographic à . All vowels may be long (written double) or short. /aː/ is written ⟨à⟩ before a long (prenasalized or geminate) consonant (example làmbi "arena"). When é and ó are written double,

1972-554: A subgroup of the Igbo people. The Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over a third of Igboland and was administered by a priest-king called an Eze Nri . The Eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Nri people and possessed divine authority in religious matters. The Oyo Empire

2088-813: A violent separatist movement in the southern region of the Casamance. Nevertheless, Senegal's commitment to democracy and human rights strengthened. Abdou Diouf served four terms as president. During the Gulf War , over 500 Senegalese participated in the Battle of Khafji and the unexpected Liberation of Kuwait campaign , under the command of the U.S.-led coalition. In the presidential election of 1999, opposition leader Abdoulaye Wade defeated Diouf in an election deemed free and fair by international observers. Senegal experienced its second peaceful transition of power , and its first from one political party to another. On 30 December 2004 President Wade announced that he would sign

2204-703: A −ATR root, any further suffixes harmonize with the root. That is, the +ATR suffix/clitic is "transparent" to vowel harmony. An example is the negative -u- in, Door-u-ma-leen-fa /dɔːrumalɛːnfa/ begin- NEG - 1SG - 3PL - LOC Door-u-ma-leen-fa /dɔːrumalɛːnfa/ begin-NEG-1SG-3PL-LOC 'I did not begin them there.' where harmony would predict *door-u-më-léén-fë . That is, I or U behave as if they are their own −ATR analogs. Authors differ in whether they indicate vowel harmony in writing, as well as whether they write clitics as separate words. Consonants in word-initial position are as follows: All simple nasals, oral stops apart from q and glottal, and

2320-476: Is Aïssata Tall Sall . She took office in November 2020. Historically, Senegal has been close to France, its former colonizer, but this had caused a great amount of tension with the people and was one of the reasons why former President Macky Sall lost support. Senegalese often complained that Sall was consistently giving French companies priority contracts to extract Senegal's natural resources rather than giving

2436-497: Is a transnational highway project to link 12 West African coastal states, from Mauritania in the north-west of the region to Nigeria in the east, with feeder roads already existing to two landlocked countries, Mali and Burkina Faso . The eastern end of the highway terminates at Lagos , Nigeria . Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) consider its western end to be Nouakchott , Mauritania , or to be Dakar , Senegal , giving rise to these alternative names for

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2552-403: Is estimated at 419 million people as of 2021, and at 381,981,000 as of 2017, of which 189,672,000 were female and 192,309,000 male. The region is demographically and economically one of the fastest growing on the African continent. Early history in West Africa includes a number of prominent regional powers that dominated different parts of both the coastal and internal trade networks, such as

2668-709: Is known for the Paris–Dakar Rally . The country of Senegal is named after the Senegal River . The name of the river may derive from a Portuguese transliteration of the name of the Zenaga , also known as the Sanhaja . Alternatively, it could be a combination of the supreme deity in Serer religion ( Rog Sene ) and o gal meaning body of water in the Serer language . French author and priest David Boilat put forward

2784-488: Is most often written in this orthography, in which phonemes have a clear one-to-one correspondence to graphemes . Table below is the Wolof Latin alphabet and the corresponding phoneme. Highlighted letters are only used for loanwords and are not included in native Wolof words. The Arabic -based script of Wolof, referred to as Wolofal , was set by the government as well, between 1985 and 1990, although never adopted by

2900-716: Is one of the Senegambian languages , which are characterized by consonant mutation . It is often said to be closely related to the Fula language because of a misreading by Wilson (1989) of the data in Sapir (1971) that have long been used to classify the Atlantic languages. Senegalese/Mauritanian Wolof and Gambian Wolof are distinct national standards: they use different orthographies and use different languages (French vs. English) as their source for technical loanwords. However, both

3016-625: Is plains lying less than 300 meters above sea level, though isolated high points exist in numerous states along the southern shore of West Africa. Benin Burkina Faso The Gambia Ghana Guinea-Bissau Guinea Ivory Coast Liberia Mali Mauritania Nigeria Niger Senegal Sierra Leone Togo The northern section of West Africa (narrowly defined to exclude

3132-404: Is rather majestic and looks like a huge phallus and a deformed animal or thing is protruding from it. It is said to be the dwelling place of a pangool . Ngoye njuli is protected by the Senegalese authorities and attracts visitors. In West Africa, as in other parts of Africa where the baobab tree is found, the leaves are mixed with couscous and eaten, the bark of the tree is used to make ropes, and

3248-461: Is spoken by more than 10 million people and about 40 percent (approximately 5 million people) of Senegal's population speak Wolof as their native language. Increased mobility, and especially the growth of the capital Dakar, created the need for a common language: today, an additional 40 percent of the population speak Wolof as a second or acquired language . In the whole region from Dakar to Saint-Louis , and also west and southwest of Kaolack , Wolof

3364-568: Is spoken by the vast majority of people. Typically when various ethnic groups in Senegal come together in cities and towns, they speak Wolof. It is therefore spoken in almost every regional and departmental capital in Senegal. Nevertheless, the official language of Senegal is French . In The Gambia , although about 20–25 percent of the population speak Wolof as a first language, it has a disproportionate influence because of its prevalence in Banjul ,

3480-413: Is the official language, but it is understood by only a minority of the population. Over 30 languages are spoken in Senegal. Wolof is the most widely spoken one, with 80% of the population speaking it as a first or second language, acting as Senegal's lingua franca alongside French. Like other African nations, the country includes a wide mix of ethnic and linguistic communities , with the largest being

3596-430: Is the westernmost region of Africa . The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin , Burkina Faso , Cape Verde , The Gambia , Ghana , Guinea , Guinea-Bissau , Ivory Coast , Liberia , Mali , Mauritania , Niger , Nigeria , Senegal , Sierra Leone , and Togo , as well as Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha ( United Kingdom Overseas Territory ). The population of West Africa

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3712-633: The African slave trade began not long after, which over the following centuries would debilitate the region's economy and population. The slave trade also encouraged the formation of states such as the Bono State , Bambara Empire and Dahomey , whose economic activities include but not limited to exchanging slaves for European firearms . In the early 19th century, a series of Fulani reformist jihads swept across Western Africa. The most notable include Usman dan Fodio 's Fulani Empire , which replaced

3828-560: The Benue Trough , and others on a line running from Mount Cameroon to Lake Chad . Colonial boundaries are reflected in the modern boundaries between contemporary West African states, cutting across ethnic and cultural lines, often dividing single ethnic groups between two or more states. In contrast to most of Central, Southern, and Southeast Africa, West Africa is not populated by Bantu -speaking peoples. The West African region can be divided into four climatic sub-regions namely

3944-655: The Casamance in the 19th century. It was only in the 1850s that the French began to expand onto the Senegalese mainland, after they abolished slavery and began promoting an abolitionist doctrine, adding native kingdoms like the Waalo, Cayor, Baol, and Jolof. French colonists under Governor Louis Faidherbe progressively invaded and took over all the kingdoms, except the Serer Kingdoms of Sine and Saloum . Yoro Dyao

4060-586: The Casamance conflict . The 2012 presidential election was controversial due to President Wade's candidacy, as the opposition argued he should not be considered eligible to run again. Several youth opposition movements, including M23 and Y'en a Marre , emerged in June 2011. In the end, Macky Sall of the Alliance for the Republic won, and Wade conceded the election to Sall. This peaceful and democratic transition

4176-578: The Casamance conflict . In the early 21st century, violence has subsided and President Macky Sall held talks with rebels in Rome in December 2012. Abdou Diouf was president between 1981 and 2000. He encouraged broader political participation, reduced government involvement in the economy, and widened Senegal's diplomatic engagements, particularly with other developing nations. Domestic politics on occasion spilled over into street violence, border tensions, and

4292-748: The Community of Sahel–Saharan States . Senegal is the 84th most peaceful country in the world, according to the 2024 Global Peace Index . The Armed Forces of Senegal consist of about 17,000 personnel in the army, air force , navy, and gendarmerie. The Senegalese military receives most of its training, equipment, and support from France and the United States, and to a lesser extent Germany. Military noninterference in political affairs has contributed to Senegal's stability since independence. Senegal has participated in many international and regional peacekeeping missions. Most recently, in 2000, Senegal sent

4408-707: The French Sudan merged to form the Mali Federation , which became fully independent on 20 June 1960, as a result of a transfer of power agreement signed with France on 4 April 1960. Due to internal political difficulties, the Federation broke up on 20 August 1960 when Senegal and French Sudan (renamed the Republic of Mali ) each proclaimed independence. Léopold Sédar Senghor was elected Senegal's first president in August 1960. Pro-African, Senghor advocated

4524-727: The Hausa city-states, Seku Amadu 's Massina Empire , which defeated the Bambara, and El Hadj Umar Tall 's Toucouleur Empire , which briefly conquered much of modern-day Mali. However, the French and British continued to advance in the Scramble for Africa , subjugating kingdom after kingdom. With the fall of Samory Ture's established Wassoulou Empire in 1898 and the Ashanti queen Yaa Asantewaa in 1902, most West African military resistance to colonial rule resulted in failure. Part of

4640-522: The Mali and Gao Empires . West Africa sat at the intersection of trade routes between Arab -dominated North Africa and further south on the continent, the source of specialized goods such as gold , advanced iron-working , and ivory . After European exploration encountered rich local economies and kingdoms, the Atlantic slave trade built on already existing slave systems to provide labor for colonies in

4756-462: The Niger Delta , retained traditions of having an eastern origin. Senegal joined with The Gambia to form the nominal Senegambia Confederation on 1 February 1982. However, the union was dissolved in 1989. Despite peace talks, a southern separatist group ( Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance or MFDC) in the Casamance region has clashed sporadically with government forces since 1982 in

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4872-698: The Senegambia region (Senegal and the Gambia) used to have a diverse wildlife including lions , hippopotamus , elephants , antelopes , leopards etc. However, during colonization, the European colonizers such as the French and British killed most of the wildlife particularly the lions, using their body parts as trophies. By the turn of the 20th century, the Senegambia region had lost most of its lion population and other exotic animals due to poaching . By

4988-572: The Wolof , Fula , and Serer people . Senegalese people are predominantly Muslim . Senegal is classified as a heavily indebted poor country , with a relatively low ranking on the Human Development Index (170th out of 191). Most of the population lives on the coast and works in agriculture or other food industries ; other major industries include mining, tourism, and services. The country does not have notable natural resources, but

5104-459: The forest-savanna region, were ultimately acculturated and admixed into the larger groups of West African agriculturalists , akin to the migratory Bantu -speaking agriculturalists and their encounters with Central African hunter-gatherers . The development of the region's economy allowed more centralized states and civilizations to form, beginning with Dhar Tichitt that began in 1600 B.C. followed by Djenné-Djenno beginning in 300 B.C. This

5220-576: The 10th-century Kingdom of Nri , which helped birth the arts and customs of the Igbo people , Bono State in the 11th century, which gave birth to the numerous Akan States, while Ife rose to prominence around the 12th century. Further east, Oyo arose as the dominant Yoruba state and the Aro Confederacy as a dominant Igbo state in modern-day Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri was a West African medieval state in present-day southeastern Nigeria and

5336-494: The 1930s, the Gambian elephant population became extinct. That phenomenon was not only limited to the Senegambia region but affected much of West Africa as the region lost much of its "natural resources once tied so closely to its cultural identity. Poaching has stolen most of its wildlife." The British issued poaching licenses, and although they would later try to reverse the damage that had been done by attempting to preserve what

5452-418: The 1950s. Some have identified the two recent decades as a recovery period. Others refer to this as a period of "hydrological intensification" with much of the annual rainfall increase coming from more severe rain events and sometimes flooding rather than more frequent rainfall, or similarly other works underline the continuity of the drought even though the rainfall has increased. Since 1985, 54 percent of

5568-601: The Americas. After the end of the slave trade in the early 19th century , European nations, especially France and Britain , continued to exploit the region through colonial relationships . For example, they continued exporting a number of extractive goods , including labor-intensive agricultural crops like cocoa and coffee , forestry products like tropical timber , and mineral resources like gold. Since independence, many West African countries, like Ivory Coast , Ghana , Nigeria and Senegal , have played important roles in

5684-559: The Atlantic. Due to Mauritania's increasingly close ties to the Arab World and its 1999 withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in modern times it is often considered, especially in Africa, as now part of western North Africa . Major and principal cities in West Africa include, geographically eastward: Before European colonisation , West African countries such as those from

5800-493: The French. Various European powers—Portugal, the Netherlands, and Great Britain—competed for trade in the area from the 15th century onward. In 1677, France gained control of what had become a minor departure point in the Atlantic slave trade : the island of Gorée next to modern Dakar, used as a base to purchase slaves from the warring chiefdoms on the mainland. European missionaries introduced Christianity to Senegal and

5916-567: The Gambian capital, where 75 percent of the population use it as a first language. Furthermore, in Serekunda , The Gambia's largest town, although only a tiny minority are ethnic Wolofs, approximately 70 percent of the population speaks or understands Wolof. In Mauritania , about seven percent of the population (approximately 185,000 people) speak Wolof. Most live near or along the Senegal River that Mauritania shares with Senegal. Wolof

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6032-464: The Guinea Coast associated with a reduction of the wet spells under both 1.5 °C and 2 °C global warming level. A Trans-ECOWAS project, established in 2007, plans to upgrade railways in this zone. One of the goals of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is the development of an integrated railroad network. Aims include the extension of railways in member countries,

6148-684: The Guinea Coast, Soudano-Sahel, Sahel (extending eastward to the Ethiopian border) and the Sahara, each with different climatic conditions. The seasonal cycle of rainfall is mainly driven by the south-north movement of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) which is characterised by the confluence between moist southwesterly monsoon winds and the dry northeasterly Harmattan. Based on the inter-annual rainfall variability, three main climatic periods have been observed over

6264-561: The Ivory Coast, have lost large areas of their rainforest . In 2005, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ranked Nigeria as the state with the worst deforestation rate in the entire world. Causes include logging, subsistence agriculture , and the collection of fuelwoods. According to a ThoughtCo publication authored Steve Nix (2018), almost 90 percent of West Africa's original rainforest has been destroyed, and

6380-531: The Niger River basin between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria (northern Benin), rice ( oryza glaberrima ) in the Inner Niger Delta region of Mali, pearl millet ( cenchrus americanus ) in northern Mali and Mauritania, and cowpeas in northern Ghana. After having persisted as late as 1000 BP, or some period of time after 1500 CE, remaining West African hunter-gatherers, many of whom dwelt in

6496-499: The Northern African countries were added to the index in 2009, Senegal's 2008 position was retroactively downgraded to 15th place (with Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco placing ahead of Senegal). As of 2012, Senegal's Ibrahim Index rank has declined another point to 16th of 52 African countries. On 22 February 2011, Senegal severed diplomatic ties with Iran , saying it supplied rebels with weapons which killed Senegalese troops in

6612-493: The Sahel: the wet period from 1950 to the early 1960s followed by a dry period from 1972 to 1990 and then the period from 1991 onwards which has seen a partial rainfall recovery. During the dry period, the Sahel experienced a number of particularly severe drought events, with devastating effects. The recent decades, have also witnessed a moderate increment in annual rainfall since the beginning of 1990s. However, total annual rainfall remains significantly below that observed during

6728-511: The Sahelian region resulted in seasonal interaction with and gradual absorption of West African hunter-gatherers, who primarily dwelt in the savannas and forests of West Africa. In West Africa, which may have been a major regional cradle in Africa for the domestication of crops and animals, Niger-Congo speakers domesticated the helmeted guineafowl between 5500 BP and 1300 BP; domestication of field crops occurred throughout various locations in West Africa, such as yams (d. praehensilis) in

6844-420: The Senegal's presidential election over candidate of the ruling coalition, becoming the youngest president in Senegal's history. Senegal is a republic with a presidency; the president is elected every five years as of 2016, previously being seven years from independence to 2001, five years from 2001 to 2008, and seven years again from 2008 to 2016, by adult voters. The first president, Léopold Sédar Senghor ,

6960-453: The West African regions underwent an increase in the numeracy level throughout the 19th century. The reason for such a growth was predetermined by a number of factors. Namely, the peanut production and trade, which was boosted by the demand of the colonial states . Importantly, the rise of numeracy was higher in the regions which were less hierarchical and had less dependence on the slavery trade (e.g. Sine and Salum). Whereas areas with

7076-522: The accent mark is often only on the first letter. Vowels fall into two harmonizing sets according to ATR : i u é ó ë are +ATR, e o a are the −ATR analogues of é ó ë . For example, Lekk-oon-ngeen /lɛkːɔːnŋɡɛːn/ eat- PAST - FIN . 2PL Lekk-oon-ngeen /lɛkːɔːnŋɡɛːn/ eat-PAST-FIN.2PL 'You (plural) ate.' Dóor-óon-ngéen /doːroːnŋɡeːn/ hit- PAST - FIN . 2PL Dóor-óon-ngéen /doːroːnŋɡeːn/ hit-PAST-FIN.2PL 'You (plural) hit.' There are no −ATR analogs of

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7192-436: The agreement to convene a World Constituent Assembly. Senegal is subdivided into 14 regions, each administered by a Conseil Régional (Regional Council) elected by population weight at the Arrondissement level. The country is further subdivided by 45 Départements , 113 Arrondissements (neither of which have administrative function) and by Collectivités Locales , which elect administrative officers. Regional capitals have

7308-435: The archaeology of the city of Kumbi Saleh in modern-day Mauritania, the Mali empire came to dominate much of the region until its defeat by Almoravid invaders in 1052. Three great kingdoms were identified in Bilad al-Sudan by the ninth century. They included Ghana, Gao and Kanem . The Sosso Empire sought to fill the void but was defeated ( c.  1240 ) by the Mandinka forces of Sundiata Keita , founder of

7424-401: The basis of its development lies in education, where almost half the state's budget is spent. Senegal is a member state of the African Union , the United Nations, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , and the Community of Sahel–Saharan States . In the world of motor sports , Senegal

7540-463: The colony of Guinea-Bissau , while Germany claimed Togoland , but was forced to divide it between France and Britain following First World War due to the Treaty of Versailles . Only Liberia retained its independence, at the price of major territorial concessions. Following World War II , nationalist movements arose across West Africa. In 1957, Ghana, under Kwame Nkrumah , became the first West African colony to achieve its independence, followed

7656-452: The contracts to whoever offered Senegal the best deal. They also believed France was pushing Macky Sall to run for an unconstitutional third term. After debating whether to run a third time for months, Sall did not. Senegal enjoys mostly cordial relations with its neighbors. In spite of clear progress on other issues with Mauritania (border security, resource management, economic integration, etc.), an estimated 35,000 Mauritanian refugees (of

7772-401: The earliest pottery in Africa – by at least 9400 BCE, and along with their pottery, as well as wielding independently invented bows and arrows , migrated into the Central Sahara, which became their primary region of residence by 10,000 BP. The emergence and expansion of ceramics in the Sahara may be linked with the origin of Round Head and Kel Essuf rock art, which occupy rockshelters in

7888-457: The empires to the east; the Jolof Empire of Senegal was also founded during this time. In the Senegambia region, between 1300 and 1900, close to one-third of the population was enslaved , typically as a result of being taken captive in warfare. In the 14th century the Jolof Empire grew more powerful, having united Cayor and the kingdoms of Baol , Siné , Saloum , Waalo , Futa Tooro and Bambouk , or much of present-day West Africa. The empire

8004-456: The end of colonialism, the region has been the stage for some brutal conflicts, including: Geopolitically , the United Nations definition of subregion Western Africa includes the preceding states with the addition of Mauritania (which withdrew from ECOWAS in 1999), comprising an area of approximately 6.1 million square km. The UN region also includes the United Kingdom Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in

8120-695: The entire region; and fifth, the post-independence era, in which the current nations were formed. West African populations were considerably mobile and interacted with one another throughout the population history of West Africa . Acheulean tool-using archaic humans may have dwelled throughout West Africa since at least between 780,000 BP and 126,000 BP ( Middle Pleistocene ). During the Pleistocene , Middle Stone Age peoples (e.g., Iwo Eleru people , possibly Aterians ), who dwelled throughout West Africa between MIS 4 and MIS 2 , were gradually replaced by incoming Late Stone Age peoples , who migrated into West Africa as an increase in humid conditions resulted in

8236-420: The estimated 40,000 who were expelled from their home country in 1989) remain in Senegal. Morocco–Senegal relations have also been courteous, as the new Bassirou Diomaye Faye invited the king of Morocco on his swearing ceremony in 2024. Senegal is well integrated with the main bodies of the international community, including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU), and

8352-471: The executive. By 2014, it had recovered its Free status. In 2008, Senegal finished in 12th position on the Ibrahim Index of African Governance . The Ibrahim Index is a comprehensive measure of African governance (limited to sub-Saharan Africa until 2008), based on a number of different variables which reflect the success with which governments deliver essential political goods to their citizens. When

8468-536: The famed Lawrence of Arabia . French and British diplomacy in the area were thrown into disarray. The Battle of Dakar (September 23–25, 1940) was an unsuccessful attempt by the Allies to capture the strategic port and overthrow the pro-German Vichy French administration in the colony. On 25 November 1958, Senegal became an autonomous republic within the French Community . In January 1959, Senegal and

8584-498: The fifth democratically elected president. Senegal has more than 80 political parties. The unicameral parliament consists of the National Assembly , which has 150 seats (a Senate was in place from 1999 to 2001 and 2007 to 2012). An independent judiciary also exists in Senegal. The nation's highest courts that deal with business issues are the constitutional council and the court of justice, members of which are named by

8700-478: The first human settlers arrived, developed agriculture , and made contact with peoples to the north; the second, the Iron Age empires that consolidated both intra-Africa, and extra-Africa trade, and developed centralized states; third, major polities flourished, which would undergo an extensive history of contact with non-Africans; fourth, the colonial period, in which Great Britain and France controlled nearly

8816-489: The first round. On 2 April 2024, his successor Bassirou Diomaye Faye was sworn in. Senegal has been one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution . As a result, in 1968, for the first time in human history, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth . Léopold Sédar Senghor , then president of Senegal signed

8932-579: The fruit and seeds are used for drinks and oils. West Africa is greatly affected by deforestation and has one of the worst deforestation rate. Even "the beloved baobab tree" which is viewed as sacred by some West African cultures are under threat due to climate change , urbanization and population growth. "Huge swaths of forest are being razed to clear space for palm oil and cocoa plantations. Mangroves are being killed off by pollution. Even wispy acacias are hacked away for use in cooking fires to feed growing families." Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea, Ghana and

9048-426: The high vowels i u . They trigger +ATR harmony in suffixes when they occur in the root, but in a suffix, they may be transparent to vowel harmony. The vowels of some suffixes or enclitics do not harmonize with preceding vowels. In most cases following vowels harmonize with them. That is, they reset the harmony, as if they were a separate word. However, when a suffix/clitic contains a high vowel (+ATR) that occurs after

9164-595: The human population relies. West Africa is west of an imagined north-south axis lying close to 10° east longitude . The Atlantic Ocean forms the western as well as the southern borders of the West African region. The northern border is the Sahara Desert , with the Ranishanu Bend generally considered the northernmost part of the region. The eastern border is less precise, with some placing it at

9280-649: The interconnection of previously isolated railways and the standardization of gauge, brakes, couplings, and other parameters. The first line would connect the cities and ports of Lagos , Cotonou , Lomé and Accra and would allow the largest container ships to focus on a smaller number of large ports, while efficiently serving a larger hinterland . This line connects 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge and 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) metre gauge systems, which would require four rail dual gauge , which can also provide standard gauge . The Trans–West African Coastal Highway

9396-629: The mid-17th to the late 18th century, holding sway not only over most of the other kingdoms in Yorubaland , but also over nearby African states, notably the Fon Kingdom of Dahomey in the modern Republic of Benin to the west. The Benin Empire was a post-classical empire located in what is now southern Nigeria . Its capital was Edo, now known as Benin City , Edo . It should not be confused with

9512-460: The mighty French colonial empire , where the French decided to take revenge against Sine following their humiliating defeat at the Battle of Djilor . The Battle of Logandème was the first battle on Senegambian soil where the French decided to employ cannonball. In 1915, over 300 Senegalese came under Australian command, ahead of the taking of Damascus by Australians, before the expected arrival of

9628-474: The modern-day country called Benin , formerly called Dahomey . The Benin Empire was "one of the oldest and most highly developed states in the coastal hinterland of West Africa, dating perhaps to the eleventh century CE". The Benin Empire was governed by a sovereign Emperor with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and a powerful council rich in resources, wealth, ancient science and technology with cities described as beautiful and large as Haarlem . " Olfert Dapper ,

9744-655: The new Mali Empire. The Mali Empire continued to flourish for several centuries, most particularly under Sundiata's grandnephew Musa I , before a succession of weak rulers led to its collapse under Mossi , Tuareg and Songhai invaders. In the 15th century, the Songhai would form a new dominant state based on Gao , in the Songhai Empire , under the leadership of Sonni Ali and Askia Mohammed . Meanwhile, south of Sudan, strong city-states arose in Igboland , such as

9860-514: The next year by France's colonies (Guinea in 1958 under the leadership of President Ahmed Sekou Touré); by 1974, West Africa's nations were entirely autonomous. Since independence, many West African nations have been submerged under political instability, with notable civil wars in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ivory Coast, and a succession of military coups in Ghana and Burkina Faso . Since

9976-490: The number of registered trawlers operating in African waters, increase the monitoring and control and set up regional fisheries organizations. Some steps have already been taken in the form of WARFP (the World Bank's West Africa Regional Fisheries Program which empowers west-African countries (i.e. Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, and Senegal) with information, training and monitoring systems. Furthermore, Liberia enacted

10092-453: The opposite trends illustrated opposite tendencies (e.g. central and northern Senegal). Those patterns were further even more stimulated by the French colonial campaign. Britain controlled the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Nigeria throughout the colonial era, while France unified Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, and Niger into French West Africa . Portugal founded

10208-452: The population has been affected by five or more floods in the 17 Sahel region countries. In 2012, severe drought conditions in the Sahel were reported. Governments in the region responded quickly, launching strategies to address the issue. The region is projected to experience changes in rainfall regime, with climate models suggesting that decreases in wet season rainfall are more likely in

10324-539: The president. Currently, Senegal has a quasi-democratic political culture, one of the more successful post-colonial democratic transitions in Africa. Local administrators are appointed and held accountable by the president. Marabouts , religious leaders of the various Muslim brotherhoods of Senegal , have also exercised a strong political influence in the country especially during Wade's presidency. In 2009, Freedom House downgraded Senegal's status from "Free" to "Partially Free", based on increased centralisation of power in

10440-415: The region's wildlife populations, there are still some protected nature reserves within the region. Some of these include: West Africa is also home to several baobab trees and other plant life . Some baobab trees are several centuries old and form part of the local folklore, for example, a mythical baobab tree named Ngoye njuli in Senegal which is regarded as a sacred site by the Serer . The tree itself

10556-524: The regional and global economies. West Africa has a rich ecology , with strong biodiversity and several distinct regions. The area's climate and ecology are heavily influenced by the dry Sahara to the north and east, which provides dry winds during the Harmattan , as well as the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west, which provides seasonal monsoons. This mixture of climates gives West Africa

10672-453: The rest is "heavily fragmented and in a degraded state, being poorly used." Overfishing is a major issue in West Africa. Besides reducing fish stocks in the region, it also threatens food security and the livelihoods of many coastal communities that largely depend on artisanal fishing . The overfishing generally comes from foreign trawlers operating in the region. To combat the overfishing, Greenpeace has recommended countries reduce

10788-525: The rest of the country. It also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde . Senegal's economic and political capital is Dakar . Senegal is the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World , or Afro-Eurasia . It owes its name to the Senegal River , which borders it to the east and north. The climate is typically Sahelian , though there is a rainy season . Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres (76,000 sq mi) and has

10904-414: The road: The capitals' airports include: Of the sixteen, the most important hub and entry point to West Africa are Kotoka International Airport , and Murtala Muhammed International Airport , offering many international connections. Wolof language Wolof is the most widely spoken language in Senegal, spoken natively by the Wolof people (40% of the population) but also by most other Senegalese as

11020-672: The same name as their respective regions: Senegal has a high profile in many international organizations and was a member of the UN Security Council in 1988–89 and 2015–2016. It was elected to the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1997. Friendly to the West, especially to the United States, Senegal has vigorously advocated for more assistance from developed countries to the Third World . The Foreign Minister of Senegal

11136-736: The same regions (e.g., Djado , Acacus , Tadrart ). Hunters in the Central Sahara farmed, stored, and cooked undomesticated central Saharan flora , underwent domestication of antelope , and domesticated and shepherded Barbary sheep . After the Kel Essuf Period and Round Head Period of the Central Sahara, the Pastoral Period followed. Some of the hunter-gatherers who created the Round Head rock art may have adopted pastoral culture, and others may have not. As

11252-414: The sonorants l r y w may be geminated (doubled), though geminate r only occurs in ideophones . (Geminate consonants are written double.) Q is inherently geminate and may occur in an initial position; otherwise, geminate consonants and consonant clusters, including nt, nc, nk, nq ( [ɴq] ), are restricted to word-medial and -final position. In the final place, geminate consonants may be followed by

11368-899: The south Atlantic Ocean . In the United Nations scheme of African regions , the region of Western Africa includes 16 states and the United Kingdom Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha : Mali , Burkina Faso , Senegal and the Niger are mostly in the Sahel , a transition zone between the Sahara desert and the Sudanian Savanna ; Benin , Ivory Coast , The Gambia , Ghana , Guinea , Guinea-Bissau , Liberia , Sierra Leone , Togo and Nigeria compose most of Guinea ,

11484-569: The spoken and written languages are mutually intelligible. Lebu Wolof , on the other hand, is incomprehensible to standard Wolof speakers, a distinction that has been obscured because all Lebu speakers are bilingual in standard Wolof. Note: Phonetic transcriptions are printed between square brackets [] following the rules of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The Latin orthography of Wolof in Senegal

11600-538: The subsequent expansion of the West African forest . West African hunter-gatherers occupied western Central Africa (e.g., Shum Laka ) earlier than 32,000 BP, dwelled throughout coastal West Africa by 12,000 BP, and migrated northward between 12,000 BP and 8000 BP as far as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania. During the Holocene , Niger-Congo speakers independently created pottery in Ounjougou , Mali –

11716-430: The theory that the name derives from the Wolof phrase "sunuu gaal", which means "our canoe". Archaeological findings throughout the area indicate that Senegal was inhabited in prehistoric times and has been continuously occupied by various ethnic groups. Some kingdoms were created around the seventh century: Takrur in the sixth century, Namandiru and the Jolof Empire during the 13th and 14th centuries. Eastern Senegal

11832-661: The traditional name for the area near the Gulf of Guinea ; Mauritania lies in the Maghreb , the northwestern region of Africa that has historically been inhabited by West African groups such as the Fulani , Soninke , Wolof , Serer and Toucouleur people , along with Arab-Berber Maghrebi people such as the Tuareg ; Cape Verde is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean ; and Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha consists of eight main islands located in four different parts of

11948-470: The western Maghreb) is composed of semi-arid terrain known as Sahel , a transitional zone between the Sahara and the West Sudanian savanna . Forests form a belt between the savannas and the southern coast, ranging from 160 km to 240 km in width. The northwest African region of Mauritania periodically suffers country-wide plagues of locusts which consume water, salt and crops on which

12064-545: The western Sahel, and increases more likely in the central to east Sahel, although opposite trends cannot yet be ruled out. These trends will affect the frequency and severity of floods, droughts, desertification , sand and dust storms, desert locust plagues and water shortages. However, irrespective of the changes in seasonal mean rain, the most intense storms are expected to become more intense, amplifying flood frequency. Enhanced carbon emissions and global warming may also lead to an increase in dry spells especially across

12180-513: Was Senghor's rival, ran for election in 1983 against Diouf, but lost. Senghor moved to France, where he died at the age of 95. In the 1980s, Boubacar Lam discovered Senegalese oral history that was initially compiled by the Tuculor noble, Yoro Dyâo , not long after World War I , which documented migrations into West Africa from the Nile Valley ; ethnic groups, from the Senegal River to

12296-517: Was a Yoruba empire of what is today Western, North Central Nigeria and Southern Republic of Benin . Established in the 14th century, the Oyo Empire grew to become one of the largest West African states. It rose through the outstanding organizational skills of the Yoruba, wealth gained from trade and its powerful cavalry . The Oyo Empire was the most politically important state in the region from

12412-624: Was a poet and writer, and was the first African elected to the Académie française . Senegal's second president, Abdou Diouf , later served as general secretary of the Organisation de la Francophonie . The third president was Abdoulaye Wade , a lawyer. The fourth president was Macky Sall , elected in March 2012 and reelected in February 2019 . On March 25, 2024, Bassirou Diomaye Faye became

12528-461: Was a voluntary confederacy of various states rather than being built on military conquest. The empire was founded by Ndiadiane Ndiaye, a part Serer and part Toucouleur, who was able to form a coalition with many ethnicities, but collapsed around 1549 with the defeat and killing of Lele Fouli Fak by Amari Ngone Sobel Fall. In the mid-15th century, the Portuguese landed on the Senegal coastline, followed by traders representing other countries, including

12644-695: Was considerably more tolerant of opposition than most African leaders became in the 1960s. Nonetheless, political activity was somewhat restricted for a time. Senghor's party, the Senegalese Progressive Union (now the Socialist Party of Senegal ), was the only legally permitted party from 1965 until 1975. In the latter year, Senghor allowed the formation of two opposition parties that began operation in 1976—a Marxist party (the African Independence Party ) and

12760-523: Was hailed by many foreign observers, such as the EU as a show of "maturity". On 19 September 2012, lawmakers voted to do away with the Senate to save an estimated $ 15 million. In August 2017, the ruling party won a landslide victory in the parliamentary election . President Macky Sall's ruling coalition took 125 seats in the 165-seat National Assembly. In 2019 president Macky Sall easily won re-election in

12876-539: Was in command of the canton of Foss-Galodjina and was set over Wâlo (Ouâlo) by Louis Faidherbe, where he served as a chief from 1861 to 1914. Senegalese resistance to the French expansion was led in part by Lat-Dior , Damel of Cayor, and Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Famak Joof (the Maad a Sinig , King of Sine), resulting in the famous Battle of Logandème ―the battle in which the Serer King of Sine went to war against

12992-499: Was left of the local wildlife, but by that time, it was too late. During the 1930s, the elephant population in the Gold Coast was about 300, and Sierra Leone between 500 and 600. Although a small number of elephants survived in Nigeria, hunting, agricultural expansion and clearing of forest in that country drastically affected its wildlife population, particularly elephants. Despite the historical damage that has been done to

13108-629: Was once part of the Ghana Empire . Islam was introduced through Toucouleur and Soninke contact with the Almoravid dynasty of the Maghreb , who in turn propagated it with the help of the Almoravids and Toucouleur allies. This movement faced resistance from ethnicities of traditional religions, the Serers in particular. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the area came under the influence of

13224-548: Was reduced from seven years to five. Since 3 March 2021, Senegal has been rocked by a series of mass protests in response to the arrest of Ousmane Sonko for alleged rape and mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic . In June 2023, the response to the protests turned increasingly violent, with Amnesty International counting 23 fatalities, most of which were caused by bullets fired by police or armed police collaborators. In March 2024, Opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye won

13340-434: Was set by government decrees between 1971 and 1985. The language institute " Centre de linguistique appliquée de Dakar " (CLAD) is widely acknowledged as an authority when it comes to spelling rules for Wolof. The complete alphabet is A, À, B, C, D, E, É, Ë, F, G, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ñ, Ŋ, O, Ó, P, Q, R, S, T, U, W, X, Y. The letters H, V, and Z are not included in native Wolof words. They are only used in foreign words. Wolof

13456-565: Was then succeeded by the Ghana Empire that first flourished roughly between the 2nd and 12th centuries C.E., which later gave way to the Mali Empire . In current-day Mauritania, there exist archaeological sites in the towns of Tichit and Oualata that were initially constructed around 2000 B.C., and were found to have originated from the Soninke branch of the Mandé peoples . Also, based on

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