Saint-Louis & the North

Before the Europeans, the lower river belonged to the Wolof kingdom of Waalo, and the middle valley to the Fouta Toro, heartland of the Fula-speaking Haalpulaar'en. In 1776 Muslim clerics overthrew the Denianke dynasty there and founded an Islamic state ruled by elected almamys. The Djolof country around Linguère, in Louga region, was the core of the old Jolof Empire. The valley also produced El Hadj Umar Tall, born near Podor at the end of the 18th century, who led a jihad that built a state far to the east.

The French founded Saint-Louis in 1659 on the island of Ndar near the river mouth, and it became the base for trade in gum arabic, slaves and later groundnuts. A mixed Afro-European merchant class grew up, with the signares, wealthy women traders, at its centre. Under Governor Louis Faidherbe in the 1850s the French pushed up the river with forts such as Podor's, conquered Waalo and fought Umar Tall.

Saint-Louis was the capital of Senegal and, until 1902, of French West Africa, and was one of the four communes whose people held French citizenship. It declined after the capital moved to Dakar. After independence the valley was transformed by irrigation and the Diama dam near the river mouth; the region also bore the 1989–91 border conflict with Mauritania, which created thousands of refugees on both sides of the river.

Saint-Louis has the manners of an old capital. Its families take pride in the city's elegance and its signare heritage, and at Christmas the fanals, processions of giant illuminated lanterns, recall colonial-era celebrations. The Saint-Louis Jazz Festival, founded in the early 1990s, draws visitors from abroad. Guet Ndar, the fishing quarter on the spit, has its own tight-knit Wolof community of seafarers.

Up the river, the language changes to Pulaar, and the Haalpulaar'en of the Fouta Toro are known for Islamic scholarship, strong family and caste traditions and pride in the almamy state. Moors live along the river, and herders move cattle through the Ferlo to the south. Emigration shapes the valley: many families have relatives in France, and remittances build the large houses seen in otherwise poor villages.

Religious life follows the Sufi brotherhoods, with the Tijaniyya strong in the valley. Hospitality — tea poured in three rounds, food shared from a common bowl — is expected everywhere.

Saint-Louis, a city of more than 200,000, is the region's centre, with a university, government offices and a busy fish trade. Louga is a market and administrative town on the Dakar road; Richard-Toll, Podor, Ourossogui and Matam are the main towns of the valley, and Linguère serves the Ferlo.

The economy rests on fishing at Guet Ndar, irrigated rice and vegetables along the river, sugar cane at Richard-Toll, onions and tomatoes, and livestock across the Ferlo. Offshore, a gas field shared with Mauritania, known as Grand Tortue Ahmeyim, has recently come into production on the maritime border.

Life follows the heat, with work in the early morning, a long rest in the afternoon and evenings spent outside. Major issues are coastal erosion and flooding around the Langue de Barbarie, and rural emigration from the valley.

Saint-Louis claims to be the birthplace of ceebu jën, the fish and rice dish that became Senegal's national plate, and the city's cooks take it seriously. Fish from Guet Ndar is also grilled, fried or cooked in yassa, and the dried and fermented seafood that seasons many dishes — dried fish and yeet, a fermented sea snail — is prepared along the shore.

Along the river, food follows the Fouta's farming and herding: rice from irrigated fields, millet couscous and above all milk. The Fula herders' kossam, soured milk, is drunk on its own or poured over couscous, and mutton is grilled for festivals. Lakh, millet porridge with sweet curds, is common across the region.

Tea is the essential drink, brewed strong and sweet in the Mauritanian and Senegalese manner, with the frothy ataya poured from a height. Bissap and bouye juices are sold in the towns, and the jazz festival has helped fill Saint-Louis with bars and restaurants.

Saint-Louis's colonial island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site: a grid of two-storey merchant houses with wooden balconies and courtyards, the governor's palace, the cathedral and the old post office. The Faidherbe Bridge links the island to the mainland, and a smaller bridge leads to Guet Ndar and the fishing beach on the Langue de Barbarie.

The Langue de Barbarie is a sand spit between the Atlantic and the river mouth. The Langue de Barbarie National Park, south of the city near Gandiol, protects colonies of nesting birds and a beach where sea turtles lay their eggs, and pirogues take visitors around its lagoons. North-east of Saint-Louis, the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a network of lakes and channels where great white pelicans, flamingos, herons and wintering European ducks and waders gather; the Guembeul reserve nearby shelters Sahel antelope and tortoises.

The Senegal river valley runs east from Richard-Toll, with its colonial garden, past Podor, whose fort and quays face the Île à Morphil, to Matam, with Fula villages of mud and brick along the way. South of the river, the Lompoul desert near the coast has orange dunes and camps, and the Ferlo's dry savanna stretches inland.