Saint-Louis, or
Ndar as it is called in
Wolof, is the capital of
Senegal's
Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the
Senegal River, and 320 km north of Senegal's capital city
Dakar, it has a population officially estimated at 176,000 in 2005. Saint-Louis was the capital of the French colony of Senegal from 1673 until 1902 and
French West Africa from 1895 until 1902, when the capital was moved to
Dakar. From 1920 to 1957 it also served as the capital of the neighboring colony of
Mauritania.