Dakar Senegal

Dakar History

Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland. Its position, on the western edge of Africa, is an advantageous departure point for trans-Atlantic and European trade; this fact aided its growth into a major regional port.According to 2005 official estimates, the city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 2.45 million people.Dakar is a major administrative centre, home to the National Assembly of Senegal and Senegal's President's Palace.

The Cape Verde Peninsula was settled, no later than 

Dakar Senegal

the 15th century, by the Lebou, an ethnic group related to the neighboring Wolof and Sereer.Gorée, including Dakar, was recognised as a French commune in 1872. Dakar itself was split off from Gorée as a separate commune in 1887. The citizens of the city elected their own mayor and municipal council and helped send an elected representative to the National Assembly in Paris. Dakar replaced Saint-Louis as the capital of French West Africa in 1902. A second major railroad, the Dakar-Niger built from 1906–1923, linked Dakar to Bamako and consolidated the city's position at the head of France's West African empire. In 1929, the commune of Gorée Island, now with only a few hundred inhabitants, was merged into
Dakar.

Dakar Senegal

In its colonial heyday Dakar was one of the major cities of the French Empire, comparable to Hanoi or Beirut. French trading firms established branch offices there and industrial investments (mills, breweries, refineries, canneries) were attracted by its port and rail facilities. It was also strategically important to France, which maintained an important naval base and coaling station in its harbor and which integrated it into its earliest air force and airmail circuits, most notably with the legendary Mermoz airfield.

During the Battle of Dakar, which took place off the coast of Dakar on September 23–25, 1940, the British navy attempted to rally the colonial administration in Dakar to the Allied cause and detach it from Vichy. In November 1944 West African conscripts of the
French army mutinied against poor conditions at the Thiaroye camp, on the outskirts of the city. The mutiny was seen as an indictment of the colonial system and constituted a watershed for the nationalist movement.

Dakar was the capital of the short-lived Mali 

Dakar Senegal

Federation from 1959 to 1960, after which it became the capital of Senegal. The poet, philosopher and first President of Senegal Léopold Sédar Senghor tried to transform Dakar into the "Sub-Saharan African Athens" as his vision was for it.

Dakar is a major financial center, home to a dozen national and regional banks (including the BCEAO which manages the unified West African CFA currency), and to numerous international organizations, NGOs and international research centers. Dakar has a large Lebanese community (concentrated in the import-export sector) that dates to the 1920s, a community of Moroccan business
people, as well as Mauritanian, Cape Verdean, and Guinean communities. The city is home to as many as 20,000 French expatriates.

France still maintains an air force base at Yoff and the French fleet is serviced in Dakar's port.

Geography and climate

Senegal Presidential Palace Dakar

The Dakarian climate is warm. Dakar has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh), with a short rainy season and a lengthy dry season. Dakar's rainy season lasts from July to October while the dry season covers the remaining eight months. The city sees approximately 540 mm of precipitation per year.

Dakar between December and April is usually pleasantly warm. Nights during this time of the year are comfortable. Between May and November, the city becomes decidedly warmer. However, Dakar's weather is not quite as hot as that of African cities inland, such as Niamey and N'Djamena.

Attractions

• The Dakar Railway Station

  

  African Renaissance Monument

• The Dakar Cathedral
• Markets
• Dakar Grand Mosque (built in 1964),
• Dakar Cathedral
• Gorée Island
• the IFAN Museum of West African culture
• African Renaissance Monument
• Clifftop walks and beaches
• Hann Park, 
• Senegal Zoo
•  Cheikh Anta Diop University

Famous Citizens

• Abdoulaye Salam Fall, Founder Seneweb.com
• Akon, R&B singer, Real name - Alioune Thiam
• Assane Ndiaye, Singer and songwriter, cousin of Thione Seck
• Baaba Maal, singer and guitarist
• Cheikh Samb, basketball player, former Los Angeles Clippers
• Issa, R&B singer
• Kalidou Kasse, visual artist, President of the International Association of Visual Artists of Senegal
• Mamadou Barry, CEO/Founder, World Sun Technology, San Antonio, Texas, USA
• Mame Biram Diouf, footballer, Manchester United
• Marc Lièvremont, Former Rubgy player and current head coach of the France national rugby union team
• Ségolène Royal, French politician born in Dakar
• Thione Seck, Singer and songwriter
• Youssou N'Dour, singer and percussionist
• Hamady Ndiaye, Basketball player Washington Wizards
•