Demographics
As of 2006, official data on the Lebanese population in Senegal remains unavailable. Estimates range from 25,000–30,000 according to the Consulate Officer at the Lebanese Embassy in Dakar, whereas the Director General of the Ministry of Emigrants in Beirut suggests a decrease to 15,000 from a prior estimate of 30,000. This discrepancy highlights challenges in assessing the Lebanese community in Senegal, including differing citizenship statuses, incomplete embassy registrations, and complexities in categorizing individuals from mixed marriages.
Interethnic relations
During the colonial period, the Lebanese tended to support independence movements. [4] Their social position outside of the colonial relationship, as neither colonist nor colonised, enabled them to maintain good relations with both Senegalese consumers as well as the large French businessmen. [6] After Senegal gained independence in 1960, most French small traders left the country; however, indigenous Senegalese people began to compete increasingly with the Lebanese in the peanut sector, and soon after, the whole peanut marketing sector was nationalised. [4]
Lebanese migrants and their descendants have tended to maintain dual citizenship of both Lebanon and Senegal. [7] Most speak Arabic, Wolof and French, and some have become involved in Senegalese politics. However, they are a fairly endogamous community. [1]
In the early 2000s, the Lebanese began to be displaced from their position as a market-dominant minority by the influx of Chinese traders and the cheap goods they brought from China; as a result, the Lebanese began to shift to a pattern of buying goods from the Chinese and reselling them in remote areas of the country where no Chinese migrants lived. [8]
Senegal's first President, Léopold Senghor, advocated close relations with France and negotiation and compromise as the best means of resolving international differences after Senegal's independence from its status as a French colony. To a large extent, the two succeeding presidents, Abdou Diouf and Abdoulaye Wade, have carried on Senghor's policies and philosophies. Senegal has long supported functional integration among French-speaking West African states through the West African Economic and Monetary Union.
Senegal's music is best known abroad due to the popularity of mbalax, a development of conservative music from different ethnic groups and sabar drumming popularized internationally by Youssou N'Dour.
Kolda is a city and urban commune located in southern Senegal. It is the capital city of Kolda Region and Kolda Department, a region known historically and popularly as Haute Casamance.
Islam is the predominant religion in Senegal. 97 percent of the country's population is estimated to be Muslim. Islam has had a presence in Senegal since the 11th century. Sufi brotherhoods expanded with French colonization, as people turned to religious authority rather than the colonial administration. The main Sufi orders are the Tijaniyyah, the Muridiyyah or Mourides, and to a lesser extent, the pan-Islamic Qadiriyyah and the smaller Layene order. Approximately 1% are Shiites.
The cuisine of Senegal is a West African cuisine that derives from the nation's many ethnic groups, the largest being the Wolof, and is French-influenced. Islam, which first embraced the region in the 11th century, also plays a role in the cuisine. Senegal was a colony of France until 1960. From the time of its colonization, emigrants have brought Senegalese cuisine to many other regions.
Shia Islam in Africa is the continent's second most widely professed sect of Islam behind Sunni Islam.
Trade unionism is a powerful force in the politics, economy, and culture of Senegal, and was one of the earliest trades union movements to form in Francophone West Africa.
Mamadou Diouf is the Leitner Family Professor of African Studies, the Director of Institute for African Studies, and a professor of Western African history at Columbia University.
There are various ethnic groups in Senegal. According to "CIA World Factbook: Senegal", the ethnic groups are Wolof (39%); Fula (27.5%)); Serer group ; Mandinka (4.9%); Jola (4.2%); Soninke (2.4%); other 5.4%, and other minor ethnic groups like the Bassari, Maures or (Naarkajors)). Many subgroups of those can be further distinguished, based on religion, location and language. According to one 2005 estimate, there are at least twenty distinguishable groups of largely varying size.
There is a small but growing population of Chinese people in Senegal, largely consisting of expatriates from the People's Republic of China who began arriving in the country in the 1980s.
The French conquest of Senegal started in 1659 with the establishment of Saint-Louis, Senegal, followed by the French capture of the island of Gorée from the Dutch in 1677, but would only become a full-scale campaign in the 19th century.
Lebanese people in the Ivory Coast are a community of people whose ancestors are Lebanese and either emigrated to the Ivory Coast directly or are descended from those who did. It is the largest Lebanese diaspora in Africa.
The railroad linking Dakar (Senegal) to Saint-Louis was the first railroad line in French West Africa when it opened in 1885. It is no longer in service.
Religion and beliefs occupy an important place in the daily life of the nation of Senegal. The majority of citizens follow Islam. In 2013, 6% of the population followed indigenous beliefs, while 2% followed Christianity.
China–Senegal relations refer to the foreign relations between China and Senegal.
There is a small community of French people in Senegal, reflecting Senegal's history under France's rule as a part of French West Africa.
The Autonomous Port of Dakar is a Senegalese public enterprise which is headquartered in Dakar, located in the east of city. Thanks to the strategic position that gives it a sheltered harbor, it is now the third largest port in West Africa after the Autonomous Port of Abidjan and the Port of Lagos It is also the ninth-largest port on the African continent.
Shia Islam in Senegal is practiced small number of Senegalese people, as well as by the Lebanese community in Senegal.
Mozdahir is an international non-governmental organization based in Dakar, Senegal.
Cherif Mohamed Aly Aidara is a Senegalese-Mauritanian Shia religious leader who is known for his work on international development in West Africa. He is one of the primary Shia religious figures in Senegal and West Africa.
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