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Photo: mostroneddo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.How well do you know Senegal? Test your knowledge on the culture, history, geography, and famous figures of this vibrant West African nation.
Teranga Explorer 0–4 · Dakar Regular 5–8 · True Senegalese Insider 9–10
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Gorée Island is a deeply moving historic site located just off the coast of Dakar. From the 15th to the 19th century, it was one of the largest slave-trading centers on the African coast, ruled successively by the Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British. Today, the House of Slaves and its 'Door of No Return' serve as a powerful museum and a global memorial to human suffering and reconciliation.
Photo: Gregor Rom, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Thieboudienne is the beloved national dish of Senegal, traditionally prepared with fish, rice, tomato paste, and a variety of vegetables like cassava and carrots. In 2021, UNESCO added this culinary masterpiece to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It is often served in a large communal platter to highlight the local spirit of hospitality.
Photo: KVDP, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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Laamb, or Senegalese wrestling, is a highly popular traditional sport that blends intense physical combat with rich spiritual rituals. Before a match, wrestlers perform dance-like movements and are sprinkled with protective potions by marabouts to ward off bad luck. Top champions in Senegal are treated as national celebrities and can earn massive fortunes from major televised matches.
Photo: Pierre-Yves Beaudouin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Teranga means hospitality, and welcoming guests is such a part of Senegal's pride that the national football team is nicknamed the Lions of Teranga. At their very first World Cup, in 2002, the Lions beat the reigning world champions, France.
Photo: Bryan Berlin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Saint-Louis, on an island at the mouth of the Senegal River, was the capital of French Senegal for more than two centuries before Dakar took over. Its 500-metre Faidherbe Bridge, opened in 1897, is often credited to Gustave Eiffel, but it was actually built by another French firm. Today the old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and hosts a famous jazz festival every year.
Photo: Jim Williams, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo.
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The shield shows a lion on one half and a baobab on the other. In 1749 the French botanist Michel Adanson described a baobab on an island in Senegal, and the tree's scientific name, Adansonia, still honours him.
Photo: Ferdinand Reus from Arnhem, Holland, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
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Lake Retba, also known as the Pink Lake, gets its striking color from Dunaliella salina, a salt-loving microalgae that produces a red pigment to absorb sunlight. The lake has an extremely high salt content, sometimes reaching up to 40 percent, which allows people to float effortlessly just like in the Dead Sea. Local salt collectors spend hours in the water harvesting salt from the lakebed.
Photo: Jjm2311, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Djoudj lies in the Senegal River delta and is a lifeline for birds that have just crossed the Sahara: nearly three million birds of almost 400 species have been counted there, with big flocks of pelicans and flamingos. Crocodiles and manatees live there too, and the park is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Photo: Ji-Elle, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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Ousmane Sembène was a Senegalese novelist and filmmaker who is widely celebrated as the father of African cinema. His films, such as 'Black Girl' and 'Moolaadé', explored colonial history, justice and everyday life in Africa after independence. Before he became a writer, he worked on the docks of Marseille in France, and his first novel, 'The Black Docker', drew on that life.
Photo: Günter Prust, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
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Standing at 49 meters tall on a hill overlooking Dakar, the African Renaissance Monument is the tallest statue on the African continent. Unveiled in 2010 to commemorate Senegal's 50th anniversary of independence from France, the massive bronze structure depicts a family emerging from a mountaintop. It is even taller than the Statue of Liberty in New York when measured without its pedestal.
Photo: Tafsir207, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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