Ouakam is a commune d'arrondissement in the city of

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. The commune is the birthplace of French politicians

Ségolène Royal Ségolène Royal (; born Marie-Ségolène Royal; 22 September 1953) is a French politician who took part in the 2007 French presidential election, losing to Nicolas Sarkozy in the second round. She was the first woman in France's history to r ...

and Rama Yade and

ese writer and politician Birago Diop. Ouakam is one of the four original Lebou villages of the

Cap-Vert Cap-Vert, or the Cape Verde Peninsula, and Kap Weert or Bopp bu Nëtëx (in Wolof), is a peninsula in Senegal and the westernmost point of the continent of Africa and of the Afro-Eurasia mainland. Portuguese explorers called it Cabo Verde or ...

Peninsula, along with

Yoff Yoff (; ) is a town (''commune d'arrondissement''), part of the city (''commune'') of Dakar, located in Senegal. It lies north of downtown Dakar and immediately north of Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport. The town is built along the br ...

, Ngor, and Hann.

Description

Ouakam is an ancient village that has since been absorbed as a residential suburb of

. It is situated on the Atlantic coast at the foot of a range of hills, the Deux Mamelles, Ouakam has two beaches, one of which is popular among surfers. According to the 2013 census, the commune of Ouakam comprised 74,692 people. The Mosque of Divinity was built by Mohamed Gorgui Seyni Guèye (1926–2007), a holy man who claimed to see the mosque in a dream. He followed the dream to the beach on June 28, 1973, where he received an order from the Lord to build it. The African Renaissance Monument was constructed on one of the Deux Mamelles hills in Ouakam and was unveiled on April 4, 2010.

Economy

The village of Ouakam is home to the

Lebou people The Lebu (Lebou, ''Lébou'') are a subgroup of Wolof in Senegal, West Africa, living on the peninsula of Cap-Vert, site of Dakar. The Lebu are primarily a fishing community, but they have a substantial business in construction supplies and real e ...

, many of whom are fishermen. In the colonial era, Senegalese riflemen were garrisoned at Ouakam, while today the community is home to several military encampments such as the National Military Academy, a French Army air base, and a Senegalese Air Force base. Ouakam is also a tourist center, especially with the construction of the new African Renaissance Monument.

Sports

Its chief football clubs are US Ouakam and Entente Sotrac.

Famous individuals born in Ouakam

* Mouhamed Gorgui Seyni Gueye, builder of the Madjidoul Rabani Mosque near the beach * Birago Diop, writer *

, French politician, was born on the military base at Ouakam where her father, Jacques Royal, was an artillery colonel * Rama Yade, French politician and Secretary of State for Sports

References

Sources

* C. T. Mbengue, ''An Introduction to the Traditional Villages of Yoff, Ngor and Ouakam'', in R. Register and B. Peeks (under the direction of), ''Village wisdom, future cities'', 1996, Third international conference Écoville-Écovillage (Yoff, Sénégal), Ecocity Builders, Oakland, California, pp. 82–85 * Germaine Françoise Bocandé, ''L’implantation militaire française dans la région du Cap-Vert : causes, problèmes et conséquences des origines à 1900'', Dakar, University of Dakar, 1980, 112 p. (Masters Thesis)

External links

Maps, weather and airports for Ouakam

(short video of Bertil Willotte online) {{coord, 14, 43, 26, N, 17, 29, 21, W, type:city_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title Arrondissements of Dakar