INFO
CAPITAL
Dakar
POPULATION
15,020,945 (July 2018 est.)
CLIMATE
Tropical
CURRENCY
617.4 XOF = 1 USD (2012 est.)
IMPORTANT CITIES
Zinguinchor, Saint Louis, Rufisque
AREA
196,722 sq.km.
PEOPLE
NATIONALITY
Senegalese
MAJOR PEOPLES
Tuareg, Wolof
RELIGION
Muslim 95.9{a1a33444ee922ad961904607c501cbe84d9cddb45266103b20616805d66fa906}, Christian 4.1{a1a33444ee922ad961904607c501cbe84d9cddb45266103b20616805d66fa906} (2016 est.)
LITERACY
57.7{a1a33444ee922ad961904607c501cbe84d9cddb45266103b20616805d66fa906} (2015 est.)
PRINCIPAL LANGUAGE
Wolof, Pulaar, Jola, Mandinka
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
French
POLITICS
HEAD OF STATE
Mohammed Abdallah Boun Dionne (since 4 July 2014)
TYPE OF GOVERNMENT
Presidential Republic
DATE OF INDEPENDENCE
August 20, 1960
MAJOR EXPORTS
Fish, Peanuts, Petroleum Products, Phosphates, Cotton
PRECOLONIAL HISTORY
Sénégal was once part of the Ghana Empire, founded by the Soninke peoples during the early first millennium CE. Fulani peoples established the Tekrur kingdom in the Sénégal valley by the 9th century. The Mali Empire extended across Sénégal in the 14th century, and the Jolof Empire controlled parts of the area from the mid-14th until the late 19th centuries. Portuguese navigator Dinis Dias explored the Sénégal River and the Cape Verde peninsula in 1444, initiating trade with Europe. The Dutch, French, and British also engaged in the slave trade with Sénégal from the late 16th century onward, fighting for coastal influence until France incorporated Sénégal into French West Africa in 1895. In 1959, Sénégal briefly merged with French Sudan to form the Mali Federation, and proclaimed independence from France a year later.
POSTCOLONIAL HISTORY
Léopold Sédar Senghor of the Parti Socialiste du Sénégal (PS) served as the country’s first president from 1960 until his retirement in 1980. His successor, Abdou Diouf, attempted to increase Sénégal’s involvement in the international community. However, separatist violence in the Casamance region escalated throughout the 1990s, and between 10,000 and 40,000 people had been displaced by the conflict as of 2012. Diouf was re-elected in 1988 and 1993, during which time his opponent Abdoulaye Wade was imprisoned. Wade became head of state in 2000 after a year of self-exile. With overwhelming support, he effectively condensed a number of governmental term limits during his early years in office, but his support visibly began to wane by 2004. He was defeated in the 2012 election by Macky Sall, his former prime minister and president of the National Assembly.