Sénégal
Sénégal is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 15.62°, -13.24°
About Sénégal
The Senegal River (Serer: "Seen O Gal" or "Senegal" - compound of the Serer term "Seen" or "Sene" or "Sen" (from Roog Seen, Supreme Deity in Serer religion) and "O Gal" (meaning "body of water")); Wolof: Dexug Senegaal, Arabic: نهر السنغال, romanized: Nahr as-Siniġāl, Hassaniyya pronunciation: [nahrˤ əs.säjnigaːl], French: Fleuve Sénégal) is a 1086-kilometre-long (675 mi) river in West Africa; much of its length marks part of the border between Senegal and Mauritania. It has a drainage basin of 270000 km2 (100000 sq mi), a mean flow of 680 m3/s (24,000 cu ft/s), and an annual discharge of 21.5 km3 (5.2 cu mi). Important tributaries are the Falémé River, Karakoro River, and the Gorgol River. The river divides into two branches once it passes Kaédi. The left branch, called the Doué, runs parallel to the main river to the north. After 200 km (120 mi) the two branches rejoin a few kilometers downstream of Podor.
In 1972, Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal founded the Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS) to manage the river basin. Guinea joined in 2005. As of 2012, only very limited use was made of the river for the transportation of goods and passengers.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Senegal River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Sénégal in Depth
Geography
The Senegal's headwaters are the Semefé (Bakoye), and Bafing rivers which both originate in Guinea; they form a small part of the Guinea–Mali border before coming together at Bafoulabé in Mali. From there, the Senegal river flows west and then north through Talari Gorges near Galougo and over the Gouina Falls, then flows more gently past Kayes, where it receives the Kolimbiné. After flowing together with the Karakoro, it prolongs the former's course along the Mali–Mauritania border for some tens of kilometers till Bakel where it flows together with the Falémé River, which also has its source in Guinea, subsequently runs along a small part of the Guinea-Mali frontier to then trace most of the Senegal-Mali border up to Bakel.
History
The area was previously occupied by the Serer people, who following their religious and ethnic persecution by Islamic forces in the 11th century, resulted in the Serer exodus to the south.
The existence of the Senegal River was known to the early Mediterranean civilizations. It or some other river was called Bambotus by Pliny the Elder (possibly from Phoenician "behemoth" for hippopotamus) and Nias by Claudius Ptolemy. It was visited by Hanno the Carthaginian around 450 BCE at his navigation from Carthage through the pillars of Herakles to Theon Ochema (Mount Cameroon?) in the Gulf of Guinea. There was trade from here to the Mediterranean World, until the destruction of Carthage, and its west African trade net in 146 BCE.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Senegal River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Sénégal: Key Facts
| Length | 1,050 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 640 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 419,575 km² |
| Source | Bafing River |
| Mouth | Atlantic Ocean |
| Drainage system | Senegal River basin |
| Tributaries | Karakoro River, Falémé River, Gorgol River, Kolinbiné River, Doué River, Taouey |
Facts from Wikidata Q3569 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Sénégal: Quick Answers
- Where is Sénégal?
- Sénégal is located in Senegal and Mauritania and Mali, at 15.6236° N, 13.2385° W.
- Are there dams on the Sénégal?
- No dam on the Sénégal is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.