The Democratic Heritage Of Saint-Louis

Riding through its past grandeur, this writer photographed several monumental buildings but missed the city as it appears in old wood prints and paintings

- Ramdas lyer

Leaving Dakar, Senegal’s capital and largest city, by taxi, I was excited to visit the World Heritage City of Saint-Louis four hours away. The city sits on an island at the mouth of the Senegal River. By 1817, it became the administrative center of the colony of Senegal thus becoming the focal point of French commercial and political activities in the region, gradually built up with military buildings and public and religious institutions such as hospitals, schools and a cathedral. In 1895, it became the capital of the four initial territorial colonies of French West Africa.

Today, Senegal is one of the most stable electoral democracies in Africa that has also undergone two peaceful transfers of power since 2000.

I had come to Senegal during its national elections and reported about it in this magazine in 2019. On that trip, I had visited the slave trade island of Gorée, which was active until 1848, just outside of Dakar, and also Saint-Louis, giving me an opportunity to see two different sides of French colonial governance.