Aerial photo
center
aerial photo
Aerial photo
Saint-Louis is the third city of Senegal after Dakar the capital and Thiès. Her history places her however in the front row because it was the first city established by the Europeans in West Africa ( 1659 ) and received then its name in homage to Kings of France. It was for a long time a very important center of trade of the gold, the ivory and the slaves and will be major of the French West Africa and then Senegal and Mauritania until the independence ( 1960 ).
Of this historic role, she preserved an exceptional architectural heritage, today recognized world heritage by Unesco.
The natural site which she occupies in the Northwest of Senegal is also exceptional: Saint-Louis is in the mouth of the Senegal River in the Atlantic Ocean. The city, built on sandbanks, is constituted by three sets separated by the arms of the river: the Langue de Barbarie (slender dune cordon between river and ocean), the Island (pre-colonial and colonial pit between big arm and small arm of the river) and the continental part, the suburb of Sor.
The main economic activity is the fishing. The tourism is also developed thanks to its numerous natural attractions (bird sanctuaries of the Langue de Barbarie and Djoud), architectural (Bridge Faidherbe, built colonial) and cultural.