SENEGAL: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

The sands of Senegal. For millions of Africans across centuries, the Senegalese coastline is where they took their last footsteps on the African continent as they were stolen from their ancestral lands and transported across the ocean in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Although records were purposely not well kept as to their origins, it’s estimated that nearly half of the Africans who were taken came from the Senegambia region (Senegal and Gambia along with parts of Mali and Guinea-Bissau) and west-central Africa. Can you imagine what this country (and the entire continent for that matter) would look like if colonialism didn’t happen?  

 

The country is named after the Senegal River, which serves as part of its northern border. Its origin is often attributed to a phrase in the Wolof language, sunu gaal, which means “our canoe,” and has even been used as a modern phrase of solidarity. It’s also thought that it was spawned out of a misunderstanding between Wolof fisherman and Portuguese sailors who had landed there in the 15^th century. There are some other theories out there, but none with quite the colloquial charm as this one, though.

Senegal is located in western Africa along the Atlantic coast. It completely surrounds The Gambia (which also shares a coastline with the Atlantic) and shares a border with Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south. Cape Verde (oh, sorry: Cabo Verde) lies off the coast about 350 miles. The country mainly consists of the sandy plains of the Sahel and low foothills. Senegal’s capital city, Dakar, lies on the Cap-Vert peninsula, which is the westernmost point in mainland Africa. It has a tropical climate, characterized by a hot, dry season that sees plenty of harmattan winds (December-April) contrasted with a rainier season typically between June-October.

 

African Renaissance Monument in Dakar

The area encompassing present-day Senegal has been home to many ethnic groups since pre-historic times. It was part of several kingdoms and empires throughout the centuries including the Takrur Kingdom, the Jolof Empire, and the Ghana Empire. Islam spread through the area as they came into contact with people from Islam-influenced northern African states. By the mid-15^th century, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive, quickly followed by the French, the British, and the Dutch. They were just itching to get in on that human trafficking that was all the rage. (15^th century kids know what I’m talking about.) By the mid-17^th century, France became a dominant player in the slave trade and set up a base point at Dakar. During the 1850s, Christianity was introduced. As slavery was also abolished around this time, France began to move farther inland to take over many of the regions. Of course, the Senegalese were basically like, “Oh, hell no,” and fought to the teeth over it. French Sudan (which later became Mali) and Senegal formed the short-lived Mali Federation, only to break up a few months later (followed by ice cream, crying, and crossing him out of photos); Senegal became its own independent country in 1960. In 1982, Senegal and Gambia joined together to form Senegambia, but that broke apart seven years later. The Casamance region (the part of Senegal that is south of Gambia) has had several clashes between the government and separatist groups.

Because the capital city of Dakar is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula, it makes it not only the westernmost city in Africa, but in the Old World (Europe, Africa, Asia). Although it was once used as a base for the slave trade, it is now home to many multinational companies, financial institutions, as well as the end point for the sort-of-defunct Dakar Rally (a long off-road challenge from Paris to Dakar; it ended in 2007 due to security reasons in Mauritania and later moved to South America). Today, there are several colleges and universities, libraries, museums, sports stadiums, and theatres around the city.  

Some of Senegal’s main industries include chemicals, artificial fertilizer, cement, food processing, mining, and refining petroleum.  Tourism has become a driving economic factor, even though there are certain areas that are not recommended to travel (Casamance, for instance – if you haven’t visited travel.state.gov, it’s a really good resource for global travel advisories). Because they’re on the ocean, they also depend on fishing (and stopping other countries from illegally overfishing their waters). They also farm for cotton and groundnuts. Senegal is one of the countries that the US Peace Corp sends volunteers to. I seriously thought about the Peace Corp after I graduated college. I kind of wish I had.   

On the books, Senegal is a secular state. However, roughly 92-94% of the people follow some form of Islam (mostly Sunni and Sufi). A smaller number of Christians (mostly Roman Catholic with a few Protestant churches here and there) are also represented. The Serer religion and other African belief systems are still a part of their society, many times in tandem with other religions. Other religions include Baha’i, Judaism and Buddhism.

French remains Senegal’s official language, but there’s been a sort of cultural backlash again using it. Wolof is gaining preference as a lingua franca since most people speak their own ethnic language. There are a number of languages that do hold a national legal status, though: Balanta-Ganja, Wolof, Hassaniya Arabic, Soninke, Jola-Fonyi, Serer, Mandinka, Pulaar, Mandjak, Noon, and Mankanya. Although Arabic is used in Islamic schools, it’s not really spoken outside of that environment. There’s also apparently a Portuguese Creole that is spoken in areas close to Guinea-Bissau and elsewhere.

So, apparently a few years ago hippos in the Senegal River mauled several fishermen who were fishing in the river. Quite a few people have died over the past decade from this. So much so, that it’s impacted the local’s fishing ability. One guy stated that he’s cheated death-by-hippo a couple of times. That would probably make me think twice about fishing as a career choice. But I guess you gotta do what you can to get work. Hippos are very aggressive, killing machines. In fact, it reminds me of one of John Oliver’s recent segments on guardianship (you can watch the entire thing, but the part that mentions hippos starts around 13:32. Oh, and I hope you don’t get offended at the F bomb. It’s such a versatile word. As I tell my kids, listen past it). 

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SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

As a long-time off-and-on-again student of Portuguese, I’m quite familiar with the Lusosphere (countries that speak Portuguese). And one small island nation in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa is included in that. It’s not a country many people (i.e. Americans) are aware even exists, but I’ve taken it upon myself to tell everyone about all of these really cool countries “no one’s ever heard of.” Besides what’s not to love about a country where practically every word has an accent mark in it? 

Although the dates of discovery by Portuguese sailors are somewhat disputed, the names of these two islands were roughly named for the dates they arrived. São Tomé was discovered on or around December 21 (1471), which is St Thomas’ Day. The island of Príncipe was originally named Santo Antão after they landed there on January 17 (1472), which is St Anthony’s Day. A few decades later, its name was changed to Ilha do Príncipe after the Prince of Portugal – gotta keep the boss man happy.

São Tomé and Príncipe are located on the Atlantic side of Africa (actually in the Gulf of Guinea). The island of São Tomé is just off the coast of Gabon, while Príncipe, a much smaller island, is located off of the coast of mainland Equatorial Guinea. One of the smaller islands that belong to Equatorial Guinea, Annobón, is located to the southwest of São Tomé, while Bioko (also belonging to Equatorial Guinea) is northeast of Príncipe. The islands have a tropical climate with a rainy season (October to May) and a dry season (June to September).

Unlike most other countries, this was one country that was not inhabited at the time Europeans arrived. The Portuguese were the ones who arrived first and took this for themselves. They quickly established these two islands as a place for sugarcane plantations, and sent the people they really didn’t like (mostly Jews) to man the farms. (Great work, guys. Way to handle your discrimination.) However, by the early 1500s, the Portuguese started using these islands as a staging center for the trans-Atlantic slave trade. They started pulling Africans from all over the mainland, and consequently, they also became a huge producer of sugar. By the early 1800s, coffee and cocoa were added to the mix of exports. Because the soil here is rich from volcanic ash, it makes for prime agriculture, and mega plantations were created to handle the demand. These mega plantations (called roças) run by the Portuguese led to absolute power and the abuse of that power. Although slavery was officially abolished in 1876, there were documented cases that it was still in effect some 30 years later. As many African countries were demanding their independence during the 1960s, São Tomé and Príncipe was no exception. Their independence was finally granted in 1975. During the 1990s, they had several reforms and peaceful elections, although they had some difficulties during the early 2000s dealing with corruption building up to an attempted coup in 2009.  

The capital and largest city is the City of São Tomé, which is located on the island of… São Tomé. (Were you expecting something else?) It’s the center of government, education, commerce, transportation, and media. The city was founded in 1485 and has served as an important port for centuries. There’s actually a weekly ferry that goes to Cape Verde (oh, I’m sorry, it’s Cabo Verde now), but that seems to me like it would be a very long trip.

It should come to no surprise, knowing the islands’ history, that their largest economic driver is agriculture. Cocoa is now their largest crop, representing roughly 95% of their crop exports. They also depend on copra, coffee, fishing, and palm kernels. They are also making plans to try to development more tourism in the country. São Tomé and Príncipe often struggles financially, but they have an agreement with Nigeria to jointly explore the Niger Delta Basin as part of a petroleum exploration. So, hopefully that’s working out for them.

Because of their ties to Portugal, the majority religion is Roman Catholicism. However, there are a few other denominations and religions represented here as well. A number of smaller followings of Protestant denominations such as Seventh-Day Adventists and other evangelical sects are spread throughout the islands. There is also a small number of Muslims.

I picked this because in 2003, I went to Porto Alegre, Brazil. I think they should be sister cities.

As I mentioned in the introduction, Portuguese is the official language of São Tomé and Príncipe. The vast majority of the people know it as their first language since it’s been around these parts since the 1400s. However, there are also a number of Portuguese-based creoles spoken here: Forro, Cape Verdan Creole, Angolar, and Principense. As far as foreign languages that are taught in school, the most popular ones are French and English (for obvious reasons—these are used most often as a lingua franca in many areas of Africa).

Probably one of the oddest things I’ve seen is on the island of São Tomé: the Pico Cão Grande (or Great Dog Peak). It’s a volcanic plug located on the southern end of the island. Volcanic plugs are formed when magma solidifies in a vent on a volcano, and it just builds up in a tower. To me, it looks like a giant finger sticking out of the ground. (Maybe it belongs to the Easter Island heads?) Although it’s very difficult to climb, two teams of climber have managed to do this impossible feat. There are apparently a crap ton of snakes up there, so that’s a huge no thanks from me.

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