Ziguinchor

About Ziguinchor

Ziguinchor 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 214,874 (2023 census). It is the eighth largest city of Senegal, but is nearly separated from the north of the country by the nation of The Gambia.

Unlike the semi-arid to arid north of Senegal, Ziguinchor has a tropical savanna climate, as it is under the influence of the West African Monsoon. It has an average annual accumulated rainfall of approximately 1,547 millimetres or 61 inches.

There are several competing etymologies for Ziguinchor's name. The best known comes from the time when Portuguese traders and explorers came to the region to form a trading post. It is derived from a Portuguese phrase, Cheguei e choram, "I came and they cry". The local people, seeing the Europeans, began crying, thinking they were about to be enslaved. Other scholars believe that the name likely predates the Portuguese arrival.

The earliest sources mention the Bainuk of Ezigichor. The term may come from the Bainuk language words "asi nin core," meaning...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.