Sine-Saloum is a region in Senegal located north of the Gambia and south of the Petite Côte. It encompasses an area of 24,000 square kilometers, about 12% of Senegal, with a population in the 1990s of 1,060,000.[1]
Much of the region consists of mangrove swamps.[3] The upper reaches of the rivers adjoin the Sahel region and are affected by its desertification. The salinity of the water increased during the 1970s instance of the Sahel drought and mismanagement of the rivers upstream has been described as a factor.[3] Mangroves are disappearing, and freshwater fish are disappearing with them. The villagers have difficulty obtaining freshwater. Sometimes water pumps are donated by international organizations, but spare parts are difficult to find when the pumps fail. The change in water salinity is affecting the ecosystem as much as it is changing the lifestyle of the inhabitants of the region.
Sine-Saloum has long been feared by even Europe's most distinguished mariners because the sandbanks move, particularly in Sangomar. This danger to outsiders has long protected the region and preserved its individual villages.
M. Klein (1968). Islam and Imperialism in Senegal. Sine-Saloum, 1847-1914. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 285.
Mohamed Mbodj (1978). Un exemple d’économie coloniale, le Sine-Saloum (Sénégal), de 1887 à 1940. Cultures arachidières et mutations sociales (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Université de Paris VII.
Frans J. Schepers (January 1997). Oiseaux d'eau dans le Delta du Sine-Saloum et la Petite Côte, Sénégal (in French). Dakar: WIWO. p. 240.
