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Dakar Travel Guide, Senegal

Dakar is the most important city of Senegal and it is also the largest city of Senegal in terms of population. Dakar is also the capital of Senegal and the most important political hub for the country. It is also considered to be an important port city for Senegal as it is located right on the Western coastline of the city. Dakar is also famous for its location as it is the westernmost city in Africa when seen on the map of Africa.

The city of Dakar is estimated to have a population of around 1000000 inhabitants as per the census of year 2006. The metropolitan area of Dakar has the population of around 2.5 million inhabitants. The history of Dakar dates back to no less than 15th century and it was the year 1444 when Portuguese started to enter this city and slowly the economical growth of this city paced up.

This area kept rolling between the Dutch and Portuguese control many times and it was the British Army which took the advantage of this confusion and hence overtook the control of Dakar by the year 1664. It was the French that won against the British somewhere in the year 1677. Slave culture was very prominent during those days and a house of slaves was built in the memory of this same culture somewhere in the year of 1776. Finally the slave trade was officially halted by Napoleon in the year 1815 although it continued in some parts of this region.

Dakar is the major city that drives the economy of Senegal and is the hub for many national as well as international banks. The most famous and most important of these banks is the BCEAO which is responsible for managing the unified currency of West Africa. This increases the importance of Dakar by many folds.

Many National Research Centers, NGOs, and International Research Centers are also located in the capital city of Senegal thus increasing its economical importance. Along with the locals there are people from the Cape Verdian, Mauritanian, Guinean, and Lebanese communities living in the city of Dakar. France still holds some control over the Dakar port and around 20000 expatriates from France still live in various parts of this city.

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