Concept
Senegal
Related concepts (45)
Serer creation myth
The Serer creation myth is the traditional creation myth of the Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania. Many Serers who adhere to the tenets of the Serer religion believe these narratives to be sacred. Some aspects of Serer religious and Ndut traditions are included in the narratives contained herein but are not limited to them. The Serer people have many , goddesses and Pangool (the Serer saints and ancestral spirits represented by snakes), but one supreme deity and creator called Roog (or Koox in the Cangin languages).
History of Senegal
The history of Senegal is commonly divided into a number of periods, encompassing the prehistoric era, the precolonial period, colonialism, and the contemporary era. The earliest evidence of human life is found in the valley of the Falémé in the south-east. The presence of man in the Lower Paleolithic is attested by the discovery of stone tools characteristic of Acheulean such as hand axes reported by Théodore Monod at the tip of Fann in the peninsula of Cap-Vert in 1938, or cleavers found in the south-east.
Noon language
Noon (Non, None, Serer-Noon, Serer-Non) is a Cangin language of Senegal spoken in the Thiès region (14°47'0"N / 16°55'0"W). There is an estimated population of 10,000- 50,000 speakers worldwide, rendering this language to be vulnerable. Ethnologue reports that it is 84% cognate (and 68% intelligible) with Lehar, essentially a divergent dialect, and 68% cognate with the other Cangin languages. The Noon people identify themselves ethnically as Serer.
Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor (zi.gɛ̃.ʃoʁ; Siggcoor sigːcɔːr; زيغينكور) is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000 (2007 estimate). It is the seventh largest city of Senegal, but largely separated from the north of the country by The Gambia. Unlike the semi-arid to arid north of Senegal, as it is under the influence of the West African Monsoon, Ziguinchor has a tropical savanna climate, with an average annual accumulated rainfall of approximately .
Bassari people
The Bassari are an ethnic group who live primarily in Senegal, with some diaspora into Gambia, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. They are a matrilineal society stratified into different co ed social groups by age. The Bassari speak a Tenda language called o-niyan. They are mainly subsistence farmers growing for self consumption, with fonio being a crop of large importance both to combat climate change and for cultural significance. The majority of the Bassari are animists, and the men take part in the Kore initiation society.