Podor
| Podor | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Coordinates | 16 ° 39 ′ N , 14 ° 58 ′ W | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Senegal | ||
| Saint-Louis | |||
| Department | Podor | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | SN-SL | ||
| height | 8 m | ||
| Residents | 11,608 (2013) | ||
 The historic French trading post
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Podor is the northernmost city in Senegal . It is prefecture of the Podor department in the Saint-Louis region . The cityscape makes a rather picturesque, small-scale impression.
Geographical location
Podor is located in the far north of the Saint-Louis region , 177 kilometers from the regional prefecture of Saint-Louis . The city lies on the left bank of the Senegal River , which meanders in a westerly direction , on the west bank of its furthest northward bend in the river . Before the Diama Dam was built , the influence of the tides made itself felt as far as beyond Podor in the steady rise and fall of the water level in the river, although the salty sea water did not reach this point. Across the 150-meter-wide river on the right bank in Mauritania , across from the town of Podor, lies the small settlement Lekseiba 2 . Access to Podor by land is made difficult by its location on the island of Morfil , which is formed by Senegal and its left southern branch, the Doué . A 160-meter-long road bridge crosses the Doué five kilometers southeast of Podor.
history
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From time immemorial, the Tukulor resident in Podor did a lot of trade. Mainly spices from the north were shipped from here. Gold, which came from the legendary gold country near Golem above the river, and iron ore were also coveted commodities.
French colonial rule has left structural traces in Podor, as well as in the downstream towns of Saint-Louis and Richard Toll and further upstream in Matam and Bakel . In the 1730s, the French settled in Podor and built a fort and an office for their trading company. In June and October 1749 the botanist Michel Adanson made two trips to the Senegal River to Podor and described his research trips in a book. He noted about Podor that the French found tropical timber there and that the fertile soil could extract exotic fruits such as bitter oranges, lemons, limes, figs, pomegranates and guavas, pineapples, papaya and prickly annons .
Podor was in the area of the Fouta Toro empire founded in 1776 .
When Louis Faidherbe came to Senegal and was appointed battalion commander and governor in 1854 , he and his troops also conquered Podor in 1854/1855, expanded the fort and subjected the city to French colonial administration.
population
The last censuses showed the following population figures for the city:
| year | Residents |
|---|---|
| 1988 | 7,469 |
| 2002 | 9,472 |
| 2013 | 11,608 |
Economy and Infrastructure
For several years, efforts have been made to build the infrastructure for modest tourism. From October to May, the river cruise ship Bou el Mogdad operates fortnightly on Senegal between Saint-Louis and Podor.
The D 402 B as a feeder road from Podor to the national road N 2 , which passes south of the island of Morfil on the mainland, has a length of 22 kilometers to the village of Tarédji (heading east). The connection to the west via the D 402 to the village of Boubé Ndiandane is 28 kilometers long.
It is also connected to the national air transport network via the Podor airport to the north of the city .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Measure distance with google maps
- ↑ Michael Adanson's message from his trip to Senegal and the interior of the country, when the branch was founded, see scan pages 75 and 76
- ^ A Voyage to Senegal, the Isle of Goreé, and the River Gambia. By M. Adanson. London 1759
- ↑ Senegal: The most important places with statistics on their population
- ↑ Description of the river cruise , accessed on March 3, 2018
- ↑ Route description with google maps and OpenStreetMap
