DAKAR

THE CAPITAL The political and economic capital of Senegal since the country's independence in 1960, Dakar (Dacar or Dahar, which means "tamarind tree" in Wolof) was founded in 1857 by French settlers under the command of General Louis Faidherbe on the site of a Lebou and Wolof fishing village. Dakar quickly established itself as a major stopover for European ships bound for South America, and then for airmail planes. The nautical depths of its harbor, its natural port, and the many available plots of land easily dethroned the cramped and overpopulated Gorée Island, located a stone's throw away, and the former departure point for the Dutch and then French slave trade to the Antilles until the abolition of slavery (in 1848). Dakar's rise was further accelerated when the city replaced Saint-Louis as the capital of French West Africa (FWA) in 1902.