Saint-Louis, Senegal
a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Saint Louis or Saint-Louis, known to local Wolof people as Ndar, is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 km north of Senegal's capital city Dakar, it has a population officially estimated at 176,000 in 2005. Saint-Louis was the capital of the French colony of Senegal from 1673 until 1902 and French West Africa from 1895 until 1902, when the capital was moved to Dakar. From 1920 to 1957, it also served as the capital of the neighboring colony of Mauritania.
The city has many vestiges of this colonial past: in addition to its many buildings with colonial architecture, including the governor's house and the cathedral which are relatively well preserved, the Faidherbe bridge linking the island to the mainland was designed by Gustave Eiffel, the man who designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The town was an important economic center during the period of French West Africa, but it is less important now. However it still has important industries, including tourism, a commercial center, a center of sugar production, and fishing. The Tourism industry is in part due to the city being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. The city is, however, also vulnerable to climate change : sea level rise is expected to threaten the city center and perhaps damage historical parts of the city. Moreover, other issues, such as overfishing is causing ripple effects in the local economy.
These photos are not intended to be works of art, but rather simply as pre-reconnaissance reference aids.
