Regions of Senegal

Buy data    Donate

Updates: 

I came across a copy of the Area Handbook for Senegal, by Harold D. Nelson et al., Washington, 1974. It had additional information on the regions immediately following independence, which I have added below. Population and area data were attributed to Enquête Démographique Nationale, 1970-71: Résultats Provisoires du 1er Passage, Ministère des Finances et d'Affaires Économiques, Dakar 1971.

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It assigns a new FIPS code to the new Matam region, and changes the codes for two old regions. This suggests that the FIPS people think that part of Louga region was taken when Matam region was created. The former code for Louga was SG08.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number I-5, dated 2003-09-05, shows the new Matam region (already reported on this page). Its ISO code is MT, which happens to match the HASC code that I assigned to Matam.

In January, 2002, Matam, formerly a department in Saint-Louis region, became a region of its own, divided into three new departments of Kanel, Matam, and Ranérou Ferlo. (One source for this information is Decree 2002-172 , on a government Web site.) The purpose of the split was to mitigate the distance that residents of eastern Saint-Louis region had to travel to transact business in their regional capital.

Country overview: 

In 1900, present-day Senegal was part of French Sudan. In 1904, it became part of the gouvernement général of French West Africa (Afrique Occidentale Française, or A.O.F.). A.O.F. initially comprised the French colonies of Ivory Coast, Dahomey, French Guinea, Senegal, and Upper Senegal and Niger. The name of Upper Senegal and Niger was changed to French Sudan on 1920-12-04. French Sudan and Senegal formed the Federation of Mali on 1959-04-04. On 1960-06-20, the Federation of Mali became independent. It split up into its two original components, Sudan and Senegal, on 1960-08-22. Senegal and The Gambia formed a federation called Senegambia from 1982-02-01 to 1989-09-21.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Senegal
2. Dutch: Senegal, Republiek Senegal (formal)
3. English: Republic of Senegal (formal)
4. Finnish: Senegal
5. French: Sénégal, République f du Sénégal m (formal)
6. German: Senegal n
7. Italian: Senegal m
8. Norwegian: Senegal, Republikken Senegal (formal)
9. Portuguese: Senegal, República f do Senegal m (formal)
10. Spanish: Senegal, República f de Senegal (formal)
11. Swedish: Senegal

Origin of name: 

from ethnic name

Primary subdivisions: 

Senegal is divided into eleven régions (regions).

Further subdivisions:

See the Departments of Senegal page.

The regions are divided into 34 départements, which are further subdivided into arrondissements.

Origins of names: 

Dakar: Wolof n'dakar: tamarind tree (answer to a misunderstood inquiry)

Change history: 

1. 1960-08-22: Senegal became a separate and independent country. It had formerly been divided into cercles, and the cercles into cantons. Upon independence, it created a new administrative structure, consisting of 7 regions, which were subdivided into 27 departments, which in turn were divided into 85 arrondissements, with villages at the lowest level. The arrondissements each consisted of one or more of the old cantons. In a parallel structure, there were also 34 municipalities or urban communes. Of these, only the regions and communes were self-governing. Cap Vert region had a special structure. From 1961-01 it was divided into 6 arrondissements. The seven regions were as shown below.

1. 1976: Louga region split from Diourbel.
2. 1984-03-24: Casamance region (FIPS code SG02) split into Kolda and Ziguinchor; Sine-Saloum region (SG06) split into Fatick and Kaolack; name of Cap Vert region changed to Dakar; name of Fleuve changed to Saint-Louis; name of Sénégal Oriental changed to Tambacounda.
3. 2002-01: Matam region split from Saint-Louis (former HASC code SN.SL, FIPS SG04).

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Dakar: Cap Vert (obsolete); Dacar (Portuguese)
2. Saint-Louis: Fleuve, Vallée du Fleuve (obsolete)
3. Tambacounda: Sénégal Oriental (obsolete)