Dakar, a forward-looking port city that faces the legacy of the colonial era

Dakar is the largest city in Senegal, and its main port. Nearly 90% of Senegal's foreign trade passes through it, and it is also part of a Sahelian logistics corridor that runs all the way to Mali. Former French colonial capital in West Africa, it has a heritage left over from the colonial era that the City Council is trying to articulate as best it can with the rich culture of the local populations. The city's urban planning is marked by this ambivalence. The port, which is fully part of the historic city center, is at the heart of these cultural issues, and it can be said that in Dakar the question of heritage is entirely "Port City". Today, it is through its diversity that Dakar manages to maintain an exceptional cultural dynamic, and in order to discuss this subject, the AiVP wished to interview the Mayor, Soham El Wardini. The City of Dakar has been an active member of the AiVP since 1995. AIVP – Dakar is often described as one of the continent’s most creative cities, with a strong cultural identity and a rich history that is frequently highlighted by the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC). Dakar grew from its natural port, and its identity has been forged by that port history. Speaking from your perspective as a former head of cultural affairs, and now as the city’s first woman mayor, could you tell us about what makes Dakar culturally unique as a port city? Ms Soham EL WARDINI, Mayor of Dakar – To understand Dakar’s cultural strength, you have to look back at its history. With its port, Dakar was the most important city in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa in the mid-twentieth century. Dakar was also a cosmopolitan city with a very racially diverse population, as there were 300,000 non-Africans in the city and a host of different peoples, travelling by the maritime trade routes and settling in Dakar. It is a crossroads created by the integration of the African continent and South America into Europe’s economic system. Its advantageous geographical situation means that Dakar is more a metropolis than merely a city. The vibrancy of this crossroads city stems from its unique network of relationships. The Port of Dakar was used by colonists as a platform for rapid economic expansion, and would become the main source of the city’s power. At around the same time the port was being built, the General Government was moved from St Louis to Dakar, effectively consecrating the city as the hub of power in the Sub-Region. From the outset, Dakar was a highly cosmopolitan and multicultural regional city, but also an international one. Its diversity gave it incredible cultural riches, both material and intangible. It…