Touba
| Touba Mosquée Touba |
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| Coordinates | 14 ° 52 ′ N , 15 ° 53 ′ W | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Senegal | ||
| Diourbel | |||
| Department | Mbacké | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | SN-DB | ||
| height | 46 m | ||
| Residents | 753,315 (2013) | ||
 Great mosque
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Touba is a pilgrim metropolis in the central west of the West African state of Senegal . It is located in the Mbacké department of the Diourbel region about 150 km east of Dakar . With three quarters of a million inhabitants, Touba is the largest settlement in the country outside the capital region. Despite its size, it does not have the legal status of a city (Commune) or even a large city (Ville), but is managed at the municipal administrative level like a village-like settlement area as Communauté rurale (rural community) under the name Touba Mosquée . Around one million pilgrims come to Touba every year for the Magal festival .
particularities
Touba is the center of the Mourides . There is a strict alcohol and smoking ban in the city. There are also no hotels. Election campaigns are also prohibited.
The Senegalese government has no power in Touba. No taxes are paid either. The city's caliph is the real ruler. In 2012, this was Sidi Al Mouktar Mbacké , the seventh on this inheritable position.
history
Touba was founded in 1887 by the Mourid religious leader Ahmadou Bamba . After his death, the Great Mosque , completed in 1963 and located in the center of today's city , was built on the site of his grave . The Great Mosque of Touba is one of the largest mosques south of the Sahara and its minaret is the symbol of the city.
population
The city had less than 5000 inhabitants before 1964 and has grown enormously since then. The last census results for the city of Touba in each case the following population figures:
| year | Residents |
|---|---|
| 1976 | 29,634 |
| 1988 | 104.502 |
| 2002 | 399,900 |
| 2013 | 753.315 |
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eric Ross: Touba: A Spiritual Metropolis in the Modern World. Canadian Journal of African Studies, Vol. 29, No. 2, 1995, p. 222
- ↑ Senegal: The most important places with statistics on their population