Dakar is the capital of Senegal and its largest city. Dakar and the surrounding area were settled in the 15th century. The Portuguese established a colony on Goree, an island off Cap-Vert’s coast. They used it to facilitate the Atlantic slave trade.

In 1677, France took the island. After the French annexed the island in 1921, the French abolished the slave trade. Dakar became a major port in the region and a major city within the French colonial empire. Dakar was named the capital of French West Africa in 1902. Dakar was the capital of the Mali Federation from 1959 to 1960. It became the capital of the independent Republic of Senegal in 1960.

Saint Louis, also known as Saint-Louis to the locals, is the capital of Senegal’s Saint-Louis Region. It is located in the northwest region of Senegal near the Senegal River mouth, about 320km north of Dakar, the capital of Senegal’s Saint-Louis Region. The official population estimate for the area is 258,592. Saint-Louis was the capital of the French colony in Senegal between 1673 and 1902 and French West Africa between 1895 and 1902 when it was moved to Dakar. Mauritania was also the capital of the neighboring colony from 1920 to 1957.

Ziguinchor, the capital of the Ziguinchor Region and the principal town of the Casamance area of Senegal, is at the Casamance River’s mouth. The city has more than 230,000 inhabitants. It is the seventh-largest city in Senegal, but it is separated from the rest of the country by The Gambia.

Ziguinchor, unlike the semi-arid and arid north Senegal, has a tropical climate with an average annual rainfall of 1,547 millimeters (or 61 inches).

Louga is a northern Senegal town. Louga is a central cattle market with rail and road links to Saint-Louis in the northwest and Dakar in the southwest.

Louga lies at the northern limit of Senegal’s peanut-(groundnut-)growing area. It is home to the Fulani, pastoral nomads, and the Wolof, sedentary farmers. Louga is in the Ndiambour region, once part of the Cayor Province.

Touba, located in central Senegal’s Diourbel Region and Mbacke districts, is a city. It is second in population to Dakar, with 529,176 inhabitants in 2010.

It is also the Holy City of Mouridism and the final resting place of Shaikh Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke. A large mosque was built in 1963 and is located next to his grave.