Saint-Louis (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ lwi] ⓘ) or Saint Louis (Wolof: Ndar), is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 kilometres (200 mi) north of Senegal's capital city Dakar. It had a population of 254,171 in 2023. Saint-Louis was the capital of the French colony of Senegal from 1673 until 1902 and French West Africa from 1895 until 1902, when the capital was moved to Dakar. From 1920 to 1957, it also served as the capital of the neighboring colony of Mauritania.
The town was an important economic center during the period of French West Africa, but it is less important now. Nonetheless, it still has important industries, including tourism, a commercial center, sugar production, and fishing. The tourism industry is in part due to the city being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. However, the city is also vulnerable to climate change—where sea level rise is expected to threaten the city center and potentially damage historical parts of the city; according to a Senegalese government study, up to 80% of the city could be at risk of flooding by 2080. Moreover, other issues such as overfishing are causing ripple effects in the local economy.
Etymology
Saint Louis (French: Saint-Louis) is named after Louis IX, a canonized 13th-century king of France. Obliquely, the name also honored Louis XIV, the reigning king of France at the time of the island's settlement in 1659. It was originally known as Saint Louis of the Fort (St-Louis-du-Fort) after its stronghold and to distinguish it from other places of the same name. The Langue de Barbarie takes its name from the French for "Barbary Tongue", after an old name for the land of the Berbers.
The local name Ndar or N'dar is Wolof for a kind of island and has been borne by the island since before the French settlement. Ndar Tout or Toute is a Gallicized form of a Wolof name meaning "Little" or "Lesser Saint Louis". The neighborhood of Guet Ndar takes its name from a Wolof word for "pasture".
Geography
Saint-Louis is situated in northern Senegal, on the border with Mauritania, although the nearest border crossing is at Rosso, 100 km (62 mi) up the Senegal River.
The heart of the old colonial city is located on a narrow island a little more than 2 km (1.2 mi) long but only about 400 m (1,300 ft) wide. The island lies in the Senegal River. It is 25 km (16 mi) north of its mouth, but is only separated from the Atlantic Ocean to its west by the Langue de Barbarie, a 300 m (980 ft) wide sand spit. The Langue de Barbarie is the location of the seaside neighborhoods Ndar Toute and Guet Ndar. On the mainland, the east bank of the river is the site of Sor, an older settlement now considered a suburb of Saint-Louis. It is nearly surrounded by tidal marshes.
Three characteristics give Saint-Louis its distinctive geographic appearance: the Sahel, the marshes and the Langue de Barbarie.
Part of the Sahel, a transitional desertic band that separates "[...] the dunes of the Sahara from the baobabs of the savanna", Saint-Louis' landscape is characterized by occasional acacias and is disturbed by sand storms during the dry season.
The marshes are flood basins that form during the rainy season when the river overflows into the countryside, creating ponds and stretches of mangroves that attract birds like flamingos and pelicans.
The Langue de Barbarie, over a stretch of 25 km (16 mi), separates the lower Senegal River from the Atlantic Ocean. Its vegetation mainly consists of Filao trees, propagated to prevent soil erosion in sandy and salty soils.
Natural sites
Among Saint-Louis' numerous natural sites are the National Park of the Langue de Barbarie, the National Park of the Birds of Djoudj, the Fauna Reserve of Gueumbeul, beaches like that of the Langue de Barbarie, the colonial waterworks at Makhana, the palace of Baron Roger at Richard-Toll, the Diama Dam, and various hunting lodges on the south side of the Senegal River.
This park, which is 20 square kilometres large, occupies the southern point of the Langue de Barbarie, the estuary of the Senegal river and part of the continent. It hosts thousands of water birds like cormorants, brushes, pink flamingos, pelicans, herons and ducks each year.
The world's third largest ornithological park, it is located 60 kilometers north of Saint-Louis. This park occupies over 120 km2 and includes part of the river, and many lakes, basins, and marshes. About 3 million migrating birds of 400 species visit it each year.
Located at a dozen kilometers south of the city of Saint-Louis, this reserve has an area of 7 square kilometres and shelters birds and endangered species such as the dama gazelle, the Patas monkey and the African spurred tortoise.
Climate
Saint-Louis has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh). It only has two seasons, the rainy season from June to October, characterized by heat, humidity and storms, and the dry season from November to May, characterized by cool ocean breeze and dust from the Harmattan winds. A 2011 documentary described Saint-Louis as the African city most threatened by rising sea levels. Flooding is becoming worse, and by 2080 80% of the city will face flood risks.
History
Founding
A Wolof settlement at what is now known as Guet Ndar dates from around 1450 and was a meeting and departure point for Muslim pilgrims traveling to Mecca in Arabia. Portuguese, Dutch, and English traders visited the area over the next two centuries but the first nearby colonial fortification was erected by the French in 1638 on Bocos Island, about 25 km (16 mi) away.
Repeated flooding prompted the removal of the fort to the island known to locals as Ndar in 1659. The island was uninhabited at the time, supposedly because the local people believed it to be haunted by spirits. The Diagne of Sor, the local leader, permitted French settlement on the island for annual payments of "three pieces of blue cloth, a measure of scarlet cloth, seven long iron bars, and 10 pints of eau de vie."
Colonial capital
The fortification permitted its factory to command foreign trade along the Senegal River. Slaves, gold, hides, beeswax, ambergris and, later, gum arabic were exported. During the Seven Years' War, British forces captured Senegal in 1758. In February 1779, French forces recaptured Saint-Louis. In the late 18th century, Saint-Louis had about 5,000 inhabitants, not counting an indeterminate number of slaves in transit.
Between 1659 and 1779, nine chartered companies succeeded one another in administering Saint-Louis. As in Gorée, a Franco-African Creole, or Métis, merchant community characterized by the famous "signares", or bourgeois women entrepreneurs, grew up in Saint-Louis during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Métis were important to the economic, social, cultural and political life of the city. They created a distinctive urban culture characterized by public displays of elegance, refined entertainment and popular festivities. They controlled most of the up-country river trade and they financed the principal Catholic institutions. A Métis mayor was first designated by the Governor in 1778. Civic franchise was further consolidated in 1872, when Saint-Louis became a French "commune".
After the decline of the Atlantic slave trade after 1790, the trade in gum arabic replaced it as the major economic engine of Saint Louis. Trade was increasingly concentrated in the lower river valley and the desert-side escales, rather than further upriver in Gajaaga as it had been previously. The city was again captured by the British during the Napoleonic Wars, and returned to France in 1817. Facing a near-total dependence on gum, the French authorities tried to promote plantation agriculture in Waalo from 1819 to 1830, but this failed. At the same time, Saint Louis grew massively during this period in both population in commercial activity.
Throughout the 19th century, the French periodically warred with the Emirate of Trarza and other Hassani tribal states, which disrupted the flow of gum. Nevertheless, with the removal of trade restrictions in 1848 and in 1853, exports soared. When war again broke out in 1854, the Arab Emirs forbade the Berber zwaya merchants from selling to the French, but this had little effect. In the 1855 Battle of Leybar Bridge a small force of French Marines defended the town from a large Trarza force. With the French victory in 1858, they were able to set the terms of trade on the river.
Louis Faidherbe, who became the Governor of the Colony of Senegal in 1854, contributed greatly to the development and modernization of Saint Louis. His large-scale projects included the building of bridges, provisioning of fresh drinking water, and the construction of an overland telegraph line to Dakar. Saint-Louis became capital of the federation of French West African colonies in 1895, but relinquished this role to Dakar in 1902.
Saint-Louis's fortunes began to wane as those of Dakar waxed. Access to its port became increasingly awkward in the age of the steamship and the completion of the Dakar-Saint Louis railroad in 1885 meant that up-country trade effectively circumvented its port. Large French firms, many from the city of Bordeaux, took over the new commercial networks of the interior, marginalizing the Métis traders in the process. Saint-Louis nonetheless maintained its status as capital of the Colony of Senegal even after Dakar assumed the role of capital of the French West Africa federation. The colonial institutions set up in the city in the 19th century, such as the Muslim Tribunal and the School for Chiefs' Sons, were to play important roles in the history of French Africa. Though relatively small in size (population of 10,000 in 1826; 23,000 in 1914, and 39,000 in 1955) Saint-Louis dominated Senegalese politics throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, not least because of its numerous political parties and associations and its independent newspapers.
Independence
Following independence, when Dakar became sole capital of the country, Saint-Louis slipped into a state of lethargy. As its French population and military departed, many of the town's shops, offices and businesses closed. The loss of jobs, human potential, and investment caused its economic decline. The loss of its past status meant less recognition and lack of interest from the colony's officials and, after Senegal's independence, from the Senegalese government. When its most famous political son, the French-educated lawyer Lamine Guèye, died in 1968, the city lost its strongest proponent.
Since 1993, the city has hosted the Saint Louis Jazz Festival, a major tourist draw.
Environmental issues
Between 2016 and 2017, Saint-Louis experienced a large decline in the catch of fish brought in, causing ripple effects on nutrition and food supply in the country, where 75% of animal protein comes from fish. Fisherman from the community spend twice as much time for catching smaller hauls, and are now competing with foreign fishing vessels.
Rising sea levels, as well as water levels flowing out of the Senegal River now threaten the low-lying islands which make up the city. An ill-fated 2003 canal project exacerbated flooding issues, leading to submerged neighborhoods. In June 2008, Alioune Badiane of the United Nations' UN-Habitat agency designated Saint-Louis as "the city most threatened by rising sea levels in the whole of Africa", citing climate change and a failed 2004 river and tidal canal project as the cause. According to a Senegalese government study, up to 80% of the city could be at risk of flooding by 2080. As of 2020, the coast of the community has eroded by 1–2 meters a year.
Economy
Saint Louis has economically declined since the transfer of the capital to Dakar, but has remained an important tourist and trading center. The city's economy, though not entirely recovered, is gradually reviving.
The city was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 and cultural tourism has become an engine of growth. As a result, a process of gentrification has set in, with many historic buildings on the island being turned into restaurants and hotels.
Beyond tourism, Saint-Louis is also a commercial and an industrial centre for sugar production. Its other economic activities are fishing, irrigated alluvial agriculture, pastoral farming, trading and exportation of peanut skins. Each of these economic activities is assured by a particular ethnic group. The Wolofs and Lebous who are the main inhabitants of Saint-Louis are mostly fishermen that live in fishing communities like Guet-Ndar on the Langue de Barbarie. The Fulas live in the inland and practice pastoral farming. The Maures who are migrants from Mauritania (Saint-Louis is less than 10 kilometres or 6 miles south of the border with Mauritania) are mostly merchants, traders and shopkeepers found everywhere in Saint Louis.