Senegal
Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal,
is a country in West Africa. It owes its name
to the S¨¦n¨¦gal River that borders it to the
east and north. Senegal is
externally bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Mauritania,
Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau;
internally it almost completely surrounds the Gambia,
namely on the north, east and south, except for Gambia's short Atlantic coastline.
In medieval times, parts of Senegal belonged to the empires of Mali,
Ghana
and Songhai. The first Portuguese explorers
arrived in the 15th century, followed by French colonists in the 17th century.
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the Senegalese coast was a major
landing point for the transatlantic and European trades in ivory, gold and
slaves. In 1763, Senegal was
ceded to Britain as part of the settlement of the Seven
Years War, but returned to the French in 1817. In 1895, Senegal was incorporated into French
West Africa. After World War II, it was back to French
West Africa again.
On 4 April 1959 Senegal and the
French Sudan merged to form the Mali Federation, which became fully independent
on 20 June 1960. Due to internal political difficulties, the Federation broke
up on 20 August, when Senegal
and French Sudan (renamed the Republic
of Mali) proclaimed
independence.