Ziguinchor

Sister cities

• Prince George's County
• Rimini
• Saint-Maur-des-Fossés
• Compiègne

History

Ziguinchor sits at the narrowest part of the lower Casamance river and one end of a portage route to Buguendo on the Cacheu River, and has likely been an important trading post for many centuries. Historically it was a part of the Bainuk kingdom of Bichangor, and hosted a massive regional trade fair. After a series of conflicts over trade opposing Lancados, the Bainuk, and the Kasa kingdom, relations between the former two improved as the latter's power declined in the 1580s and 90s. The Bainuk allowed the lancados to settle on the Casamance for the first time, likely in Ziguinchor. By 1609 there was a resident priest, and by 1621 the small community of Portuguese merchants had built a church and converted some locals. The first official European settlement in the area was founded by the Portuguese in 1645 as a dependency of Cacheu populated by settlers from Cape Verde, and lancados and other Afro-Europeans. The Portuguese objective was to found a trading post and establish an alliance with the local mansa or king of the Kasa kingdom. Chroniclers described him as the ruler most friendly to the Portuguese along the Guinean coast. The king started to live in a European manner, with table, chairs and western clothing. His court included several Portuguese merchants. One of the commodities for trade was enslaved Africans, and Ziguinchor became a slave port during much of the Portuguese rule. The post boasted a fort with a few pieces of artillery by 1700, but was never an important economic center. The French occupied Carabane island downstream in 1836, forcing Portuguese ships to pay duties there. Despite frantic diplomatic efforts by governor Honório Barreto, Portugal never really tried to defend its claim to the region. Ziguinchor was eventually transferred to…