The history of Senegal is commonly divided into a number of periods, encompassing the prehistoric era, the precolonial period, colonialism, and the contemporary era.
Prehistory In the case of Senegal, the periodization of prehistory remains controversial. It is often described as beginning with the age of metallurgy, thus placing it between the first metalworking and the appearance of writing. Other approaches exist such as that of Guy Thilmans and his team in 1980, Guy Thilmans, Cyr Descamps et B. Khayat, Protohistoire du Sénégal : recherches archéologiques, tome 1 : Les Sites Mégalithiques, IFAN, Dakar, 1980, 158 pages who felt that any archeology from pre-colonial could be attached to that designation or that of , who speaks of "Historical Archaeology" from the 4th century, at least for the former Tekrur.See his third thesis supported at the Sorbonne in 1986, La Métallurgie du fer au Sénégal et ses travaux des années 1990 on this topic
Paleolithic The earliest evidence of human life is found in the valley of the Falémé in the south-east.Unless otherwise stated, the material in this part is based on Ndiouga Benga and on Mandiomé Thiam, "prehistory prehistory and history", in Atlas du Sénégal, op. cit., p. 74
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 Théodore Monod, « Sur la découverte du Paléolithique ancien à Dakar », Bulletin du Comité d'études historiques et scientifiques de l'AOF, t. XXI, 1938, pp. 518–519 at the tip of Fann in the peninsula of Cap-Vert in 1938, or cleavers found in the south-east. Abdoulaye Camara et Bertrand Duboscq, La préhistoire dans le Sud-Est du Sénégal, Actes du 2e Colloque de Kédougou, 18–22 fév. 1985, Doc. du CRA du Musée de l'Homme (Paris), n° 11, 1987, pp. 19–48 There were also found stones shaped by the Levallois technique, characteristic of the Middle Paleolithic. Mousterian Industry is represented mainly by scrapers found in the peninsula of Cap-Vert, as well in the low and middle valleys of the Senegal and the Falémé. Some pieces are explicitly linked to hunting, like those found in Tiémassass, near M'Bour, a controversial site that some claim belongs to the Upper Paleolithic, Th. Dagan, « Le Site préhistorique de Tiémassas (Sénégal) », Bulletin de l'Institut français d'Afrique noire, 1956, pp. 432–448 while other argue in favor of the Neolithic. Cyr Descamps, « Quelques réflexions sur le Néolithique du Sénégal », West African Journal of Archaeology, 1981, vol. 10–11, pp. 145–151
Neolithic In Senegambia, the period when humans became hunters, fishermen and producers (farmer and artisan) are all well represented and studied. This is when more elaborate objects and ceramics Mandiomé Thiam, La céramique au Sénégal : Archéologie et Histoire, Université de Paris I, 1991, 464 pages (thèse de doctorat) emerged. But gray areas remain. Although the characteristics and manifestations of civilization from the Neolithic have been identified their origins and relationship have not yet fully defined. What can be distinguished is: The dig of Cape Manuel: the Neolithic deposit Manueline Dakar was discovered in 1940. « Le gisement du Cap Manuel », conférence de Cyr Descamps, en ligne Basalt rocks including ankaramite were used for making microlithic tools such as axes or planes. Such tools have been found at Gorée and the Magdalen Islands, indicating the activity of shipbuilding by nearby fishermen. The dig of Bel-Air: Neolithic Bélarien tools, usually made out of flint, are present in the dunes of the west, near the current capital. In addition to axes, adzes and pottery, there is also a statuette, the Venus Thiaroye « Prehistoria de África: Manifestaciones artísticas. Esculturas. Senegal » The dig of Khant: the Khanty creek, located in the north near Kayar in the lower valley of the Senegal River, gave its name to a Neolithic industry which mainly uses bone and wood. Marie-Amy Mbow, « Le site archéologique du Khant (région de Saint-Louis du Sénégal) : nouveaux éléments », Présence africaine, 1998, n° 158, pp. 7–22 This deposit is on the list of closed sites and monuments of Senegal. The dig the Falémé located in the south-east of Senegal, has uncovered a Neolithic Falemian tools industry that produced polished materials as diverse as sandstone, hematite, shale, quartz, and flint. Grinding equipment and pottery from the period are well represented at the site. The Neolithic civilization of the Senegal River valley and the Ferlo are the least well known due to not always being separated.
Metal Age
A variety of archaeological remains have been found including tombs. The Serer people make a clear distinction between these tombs depending on who is buried in them, and call them "podom" (pre-Serer tombs, before the Serer of the north Exodus from Tekrur), or "lomb" or "pomboy" (Serer ancestral tombs post northern Serer Exodus from Tekrur). The Wolof refer to these tombs as "mbanaar."Diop, Abdoulaye Bara. "La société wolof. Tradition et changement." KARTHALA Editions (2012), p. 18. (accessed 4 Feb 2026)Institut fondamental d'Afrique noire, Institut français d'Afrique noire. "Bulletin de l'Institut fondamental d'Afrique noire." (Série B: Sciences humaines, Volume 34). IFAN (1972). p. 751 Archaeological remains found: On the coast and in river estuaries of the Senegal, Saloum, Gambia, and Casamance rivers, burial mounds with clusters of shells often referred to as middens. 217 of these clusters have been identified in the Saloum Delta alone, for example in Joal-Fadiouth, Edmond Dioh et Mathieu Gueye, « Les amas coquilliers de la lagune de Joal-Fadiouth (région de Thiès) », dans Senegalia, op. cit., pp. 323–328. Mounds in the Saloum Delta have been dated back as far as 400 BCE, and part of the Saloum Delta is now a World Heritage Site. Funerary sites or tumuli were built there during the 8th to 16th centuries. They are also found in the north near Saint-Louis, Annie Ravisé, Contribution à l'étude des Kjökkenmöddinger (amas artificiels de coquillages) dans la région de Saint-Louis, Dakar, Université de Dakar, 1969 (mémoire de Maîtrise) and in the estuary of the Casamance.Olga Linares de Sapir, « Shell middens of lower Casamance and problems of Diola protohistory », West African Journal of Archaeology, Oxford University Press, Ibadan, 1971, vol. I, pp. 23–54. The West is rich in burial mounds of sand that the Wolof refer to as mbanaar, which translates to "graves", Jean-Léopold Diouf, Dictionnaire wolof-français et français-wolof, Paris: Karthala, 2003, p. 216. A solid gold pectoral of mass 191 g has also been discovered near Saint-Louis. (1967). Tableau géographique de l'Ouest africain au Moyen-Âge d'après les sources écrites, la tradition et l'archéologie. . Amsterdam: Swets et Zeitlinger. p. 163.
In a huge area of nearly km2 located in the center-south around the Gambia there have been found alignments of boulders known as the Stone Circles of Senegambia which were placed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in 2006. Two of these sites are located within the territory of Senegal: Sine NgayèneAugustin Holl et , « Variabilité des pratiques funéraires dans le mégalithisme sénégambien : le cas de Sine Ngayène », dans Senegalia, op. cit., pp. 224–234 and Sine Wanar, both located in the Nioro du Rip Department. Sine Ngayène has 52 stone circles including a double circle. At Wanar, they number 24 and the stones are smaller. There are stone-carved lyre in the laterite, Y- or A-shaped. The existence of proto-historic ruins in the middle Senegal River valley was confirmed in the late 1970s. Bruno Chavane, Recherches archéologiques dans la moyenne vallée du fleuve Sénégal, 1979 (thèse) Pottery, perforated ceramic discs Guy Thilmans, « Les disques perforés en céramique des sites protohistoriques du fleuve Sénégal », Notes africaines, n° 162, 1979, pp. 29–35. or ornaments have been unearthed. Excavations at thé site of Sinthiou Bara, Guy Thilmans et Annie Ravisé, Protohistoire du Sénégal, Recherches archéologique, tome II, Sinthiou-Bara et les sites du Fleuve, 1983, Dakar, 213 pages (mémoire IFAN) near Matam, have proved particularly fruitful. They have revealed, for example, the flow of trans-Saharan trade from distant parts of North Africa.
Early historical inhabitants
In the absence of written sources and monumental ruins in this region, the history of the early centuries of the modern era must be based primarily on archaeological excavations, the writing of early Arab geographers and travelers, and data derived from oral tradition. Combining these data suggests that Senegal was first populated from the north and east in several waves of migration, the last being that of the Wolof, the Fulani and the Serer who dominate the area today. Oral traditions relate that in much of northern Senegal Mande people were the earliest inhabitants, although archaeological evidence of this is slim. Other scholars believe that the Serer,Bulletin de la Société de géographie, Volume 26. Société de Géographie (1855), pp. 35 - 36 along with the Jola and Papel people are one of the oldest inhabitants of the Senegambia region.Gadzekpo, Seth Kordzo. "History of African Civilisations." Rabbi Books (2002), p. 137. Africanist historian Donald R. Wright has suggested that place-names in the Gambia and Casamance regions indicate "that the earliest inhabitants might be identified most closely with one of several related groups—Bainunk, Kasanga, Beafada... To these were added Serer, who moved southward during the first millennium A.D. from the Senegal River valley, and Mande-speaking peoples, who arrived later still from the east." He also cautions, however, that attempting to project modern-day ethnic definitions onto people who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago is at best highly speculative and at worst counterproductive.
Kingdoms and empires
The medieval history of the Sahel is characterized by the consolidation of settlements into large state entities – the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empire. The cores of these great empires were located on the territory of the current Republic of Mali, so current-day Senegal occupied a peripheral position. Gerti Hesseling, Histoire politique du Sénégal. Institutions, droit et société, Paris: Karthala, 1985, p. 103.
The earliest of these empires is that of Ghana, probably founded in the first millennium by Soninke and whose animist populations subsisted by agriculture and trade across the Sahara, Mahamadou Maiga, Le bassin du fleuve Sénégal – De la traite négrière au développement sous-régional autocentré, Paris: L’Harmattan, 1995, p. 20. including gold, salt and cloth. Its area of influence slowly spread to regions between the river valleys of the Senegal and Niger.