Dakar: Capital and the largest city of Senegal
Dakar is the capital city of Senegal.
It is on the country's Atlantic coast on the western edge of Africa. The city is a trade seaport for items leaving Africa. Dakar has a population of 1,030,594 people. The metropolitan area has about 2.45 million people living in it.
Dakar | |
|---|---|
 .JPG)  .jpg)  Clockwise from top: Place de l'Indépendance, Mosque of the Divinity, Ngor beach, Soumbedioune boats of Médina, Gorée memorial | |
 Seal | |
 City of Dakar, divided into 19 communes d'arrondissement | |
  Dakar Location within Senegal | |
| Coordinates: 14°41′34″N 17°26′48″W / 14.69278°N 17.44667°W | |
| Country |  Senegal |
| Région | Dakar |
| Département | Dakar |
| Settled | 15th century |
| Communes d'arrondissement | 19
|
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Khalifa Sall (2009) (BSS/PS) |
| Area | |
| • City | 83 km2 (32 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 22 m (72 ft) |
| Population (2013 estimate) | |
| • City | 1,146,053 |
| • Density | 12,510/km2 (32,400/sq mi) |
| • Metro | 2,452,656 |
| • Metro density | 4,484/km2 (11,610/sq mi) |
| Data here are for the administrative Dakar région, which matches almost exactly the limits of the metropolitan area | |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) |
| Website | villededakar.org |
| The 10 Worst Cities in the World | |
The National Assembly of Senegal and Senegal Presidential Palace are in Dakar.
History
The area that is now Dakar was first settled around the 15th century. In 1444, Portuguese created a colony there. By 1536, the colony was being used to as part of the slave trade. Between 1588 and 1677, the area was fought over by many countries. During this time it was under the control of the Portuguese, Dutch, English, and finally the French.
In 1857, the French built a military base here. This base was called Dakar. It was made the capital of French West Africa in 1902. Dakar was one of the major cities of the French Empire during this time. It was very important in terms of trade, military, and communications to the empire until World War II.
The city was the capital of the Mali Federation from 1959 to 1960. It then became the capital of Senegal.
Education
References
Other websites
- (in French) dakarville.sn Archived 2007-10-28 at the Wayback Machine - City of Dakar official website.
- African Photos Archived 2016-03-14 at the Wayback Machine Photos from Dakar
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