Senegal Maps

Senegal’s historical geography is shaped by two connected corridors: the Senegal River valley and the Atlantic coast. Long before French colonial expansion, states such as Waalo and Cayor sustained political and commercial networks across this region. Saint-Louis, established as a French trading settlement near the river’s mouth in the seventeenth century, became a gateway between maritime commerce and inland trade. Dakar’s later growth on the Cape Verde Peninsula shifted the center of colonial administration toward its Atlantic port.

These changes influenced what mapmakers recorded. Coastal charts emphasized anchorages, estuaries, and navigation hazards, while colonial surveys increasingly documented river routes, administrative divisions, and transport connections. The railway linking Dakar and Saint-Louis, completed in 1885, helped connect coastal centers and supported the expanding peanut trade. Dakar became the capital of French West Africa in 1902, giving the city an administrative importance that extended far beyond present-day Senegal.

When reading older maps, distinguish Senegal’s modern borders from earlier kingdoms and colonial jurisdictions. The narrow territory of The Gambia, following the Gambia River inland, helps explain Casamance’s distinctive position to the south. Comparing place names and transport routes can reveal shifting commercial priorities, while colonial boundary lines and labels should be read as assertions of authority, not complete accounts of the communities they enclosed.