Saint-Louis

Saint-Louis is presently a coastal city of 250,000 in northwest Senegal, about 150 miles up the coast from Dakar, right on the Senegalese-Mauritanian border. It is the oldest remaining French settlement in Africa and was founded by the French in 1654 as a comptoir, or trading post [McLaughlin, 2008a]. During the 18^th and 19^th centuries, Saint-Louis rose to become an integral port city connecting Senegalese trade with the European world, and briefly served as the capital of the entire federation of French West African colonies from 1895 to 1902 until being replaced by Dakar [McLaughlin, 2008a]. In 1848, Saint-Louis inhabitants were given French citizenship, cementing the city’s position as an integral piece of French colonial control of West Africa [Davies and Dubinsky, 2018].  

French Colonial Saint-Louis began on a small island in the Senegal river, only two kilometers wide. European merchants, sailors, and visitors lived in close quarters with locals: signares, “economically and socially powerful women,” frequently married European men, and mixed-race populations were common at the time [McLaughlin, 2008a]. Despite some cultural mixing, however, it is clear from linguistic and historical evidence that Saint-Louis culture was “predominately a Wolof one” [McLaughlin, 2008a]. By 1945, the population of Saint-Louis had reached 40,000—much greater than its estimated 5,000 in 1790, but not nearly as big as Dakar’s 150,000 residents, perhaps explaining the shift of capital cities [McLaughlin, 2008a].