St. Louis - History

Former Capital city of the colony "Senegal", third largest town in the country and second sea-port, situated 270 km north of Dakar and roughly 10 km south of the Mauritanian border, the town was founded by French merchants in 1638 and named Saint Louis in 1659 as a tribute to Louis XIII, king of France.

The city was the first permanent French settlement in Senegal because it offered good moorage and defence facilities.
Very busy commercial centre - including slave trade - Saint Louis had a population of 10,000 inhabitants at the end of the 18^th century.

The English took possession of the city but restored it to France in 1817. The governor of that time, Colonel Schmalz, was among the survivors after the shipwreck of "La Méduse".

The development of Saint Louis in the 19^th century was mostly due to the personality of General Faidherbe . The general campaigned for the achievement of large-scale works such as the Servatius bridge which links the island to the districts of Guet-Ndar and Ndar-Toute, also the Town Hall, and, in 1883 he inaugurated the railroad Saint Louis-Dakar. For several decades now, life has been at a stand-still, so to speak ; the town seems to linger over her former splendour. The stroller will appreciate the beautiful buildings of the colonial period.