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RIVER SENEGAL VALLEY |
From Saint-Louis
to Bakel the river Senegal presents a series
of great reaches in a circular arc of about
800 kms, through lands that are often dry,
a more or less broad strip of which it fertilizes.
Apart from a few hillocks and dunes the region
is rather flat and dull. Temperatures vary
from 15° in November in Saint-Louis to
almost 50° in June in Bakel.
The vegetation is scarce, mainly composed
of acacias (a variety of which, named "verek"
produces gum arabic).
From Bakel, a woody savannah takes the place
of that steppe.
In this rather inhospitable context, the river
Senegal with its broad meanders is the nourishing
stream that flows from the Fouta Djalon down
to the Atlantic.
Floods set to Bakel at the beginning of September
then reach Dagana in mid-October or so.
The level of the river shows a general increase,
up to 4 metres and the rate of its flow is
three hundred times more important than during
the dry season.
Travelling eastbound from Saint-Louis as we
suggest you should do has always fascinated
the traveller.
Indeed the first European ships sailed into
the estuary as early as 1558.
In 1638 reconnaissance missions reached Podor
; at the end of the XVIIth century, explorers
reached the falls of Felou (situated in present
Mali).
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The river may be divided into three zones
from the estuary :
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- the delta, from Saint-Louis to Dagana, very low area
inhabited by Wolof, Peul and Moors.
- the medium valley, from Dagana to Dembankané,
where the river is himmed in by steeper banks,
inhabited by Toucouleur and Peul.
- the high bassin, whose narrow valley situated
upstream from Bakel is inhabited by Soninké,
Bambara and Malinké. |
The History of this region begins with the
first populations that settled in Senegal
: the kingdom of Tekror was founded during
the XIth century (in the region of Podor)
and helped to make the islamization of the
sub-region easier ; later the influence of
the empires of Ghana and Mali was important,
coming before the foundation of the kingdoms
of Fouta Toro and, farther downstream, the
kingdom of Walo.
Europeans established themselves in the country
during the XVIIth century ; the foundation
of Saint-Louis may be said to have marked
the beginning of the colonizing era that was
to end in 1960. |
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