1.
Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
–
The organization comprises 57 member states and governments, three associate members and twenty observers. French geographer Onésime Reclus, brother of Élisée Reclus, coined the word Francophonie in 1880 to refer to the community of people and countries using the French language. Francophonie was then coined a second time by Léopold Sédar Senghor, founder of the Négritude movement, in the review Esprit in 1962, the modern organisation was created in 1970. Its motto is égalité, complémentarité, solidarité, an allusion to Frances motto liberté, égalité, fraternité. Finally in 2005, the adoption of a new Charter of the Francophonie gives the name to the Agency of international Organization of the Francophonie, the position of Secretary-General was created in 1997 at the seventh leaders summit held in Hanoi. Abdou Diouf, the president of the Republic of Senegal. At the 2014 summit in Dakar, former Governor General of Canada Michaëlle Jean was chosen to lead the organization starting in January 2015, the Secretary General of the Francophonie is elected during the Summit. He/she is the keystone of the device and of the Francophonie. He/she is the spokesperson and the official representative internationally of the actions of the Francophonie. The Secretary General is responsible for proposing priority areas for multilateral Francophonie actions, his/her job is to facilitate Francophone multilateral cooperation and to ensure that programs and activities of all operating agencies work in harmony. The Secretary General carries out his/her four-year mandate under the authority of the three institutions of the Francophonie, the Summits, the Ministerial Conference and the Permanent Council. It is chaired by the Head of state and government of the host country, armenia is to play host to the next summit in 2018 and Tunisia is to host in 2020. The Ministerial Conference of the Francophonie gathers the foreign or francophone affairs ministers of member states and this conference ensures that the decisions made during the previous Summits are carried out and to plan the next Summit. It also recommends new members and observers to the Summit and this conference also supervises the execution of the Summit decisions made by the ministerial conferences on a day-to-day basis, about the examination of the propositions of the budget distribution. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie is constituted by member sections representing 77 parliaments or interparliamentary organizations, the Secretary General is the French senator Jacques Legendre. The Agency of the Francophonie is the operator of the cultural, scientific, technical, economic. It is also the seat of the Secretary General and is used by him as an administrative support. For this reason, it is a place of exchange and dialogue, the Agencys headquarters are in Paris and it has three regional branches in Libreville, Gabon, Lomé, Togo, and Hanoi, Vietnam
2.
Abdoulaye Wade
–
Abdoulaye Wade is a Senegalese politician who was President of Senegal from 2000 to 2012. He is also the Secretary-General of the Senegalese Democratic Party and has led the party since it was founded in 1974, a long-time opposition leader, he ran for President four times, beginning in 1978, before he was elected in 2000. He won re-election in 2007 with a majority in the first round, Wade was born in Kébémer, Senegal, officially, he was born in 1926, although some claim he was born several years earlier, and the record-keeping of the time is not considered particularly reliable. He studied and taught law at the lycée Condorcet in France and he holds two doctorates in law and economics. He was also dean of the law and economics faculty at the University of Dakar in Senegal. At a summit of the Organization of African Unity in Mogadishu in 1974, Wade told President Léopold Sédar Senghor that he wanted to start a new party, the PDS was founded on 31 July 1974. Wade first ran for President in February 1978 against Senghor, taking 17. 38% of the vote, Senghor gave Wade the nickname Diombor. Also in 1978, Wade was elected to the National Assembly, subsequently he ran in the presidential elections of 1983 and 1988, taking second place each time, behind Senghors successor Abdou Diouf. Following the 1988 election, he was arrested due to protests against the results, subsequently he went to France, but returned in 1990. In April 1991, Wade and four other PDS members joined a national unity government together with the ruling Socialist Party, in October 1992, he and the other PDS ministers quit the government due to complaints about the manner in which the PS was said to control the government. In the February 1993 presidential election, Wade again took place, with 32% of the vote, behind Diouf. Following the May 1993 killing of Constitutional Council Vice-President Babacar Sèye, Wade, along with other PDS leaders, faced police questioning. On October 1, Wade, his wife, and two PDS members of the National Assembly, were charged with complicity in the murder, although they were not held in custody or put on trial. Following riots in February 1994, Wade was arrested along with others for allegedly threatening state security. The charge of complicity in Sèyes murder was dismissed in May 1994 and he and his co-defendants were released on July 4, and the remaining charges were dismissed on August 30,1994. Wade rejoined the government as Minister of State in March 1995, but he, Wade subsequently spent a year in France, returning to Senegal on October 27,1999. Wade won this round with 58. 49% of the vote, having received the support of candidates from the first round, Wade became President on April 1,2000 and appointed Niasse as his Prime Minister shortly afterwards. Wade initially cohabited with the PS, which held a majority in the legislature until the PDS, a new constitution was adopted in 2001, reducing presidential terms to five years following the completion of Wades seven-year term in 2007
3.
French West Africa
–
French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa, Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan, French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, Dahomey and Niger. The capital of the federation was Dakar, the federation existed from 1895 until 1960. Until after the Second World War almost all the Africans living in the colonies of France were not citizens of France, rather, they were French Subjects, lacking rights before the law, property ownership rights, rights to travel, dissent, or vote. Anyone able to prove they were born in these towns was legally French and they could vote in parliamentary elections, which had been previously dominated by white and Métis residents of Senegal. The Four Communes of Senegal were entitled to elect a Deputy to represent them in the French Parliament in the years 1848–1852, 1871–1876, in 1914, the first African, Blaise Diagne, was elected as the Deputy for Senegal in the French Parliament. In 1916, Diagne pushed through the National Assembly a law granting citizenship to all residents of the so-called Four Communes. In return, he had promised to help millions of Africans to fight in World War I. Thereafter, all black Africans of Dakar, Gorée, Saint-Louis and these conquered areas were usually governed by French Army officers, and dubbed Military Territories. The first Governor General of Senegal was named in 1895, and in 1904, Gabon would later become the seat of its own federation French Equatorial Africa, which was to border its western neighbor on the modern boundary between Niger and Chad. While the latter fell to Free France already after the Battle of Gabon in November 1940, following World War II, the French government began a process of extending limited political rights in its colonies. In 1945 the French Provisional Government allocated ten seats to French West Africa in the new Constituent Assembly called to write a new French Constitution, of these five would be elected by citizens and five by African subjects. The elections brought to prominence a new generation of French-educated Africans and they were all re-elected to the 2nd Constituent Assembly on 2 June 1946. In 1946, the Loi Lamine Guèye granted some limited rights to natives of the African colonies. The French Empire was renamed the French Union on 27 October 1946, in late 1946 under this new constitution each territory was for the first time able elect local representatives, albeit on a limited franchise, to newly established General Councils. These elected bodies had only limited powers, although they did approve local budgets. The Loi Cadre of 23 June 1956 brought universal suffrage to elections held after that date in all French African colonies, the first elections under universal suffrage in French West Africa were the municipal elections of late 1956. On 31 March 1957, under universal suffrage, territorial Assembly elections were held in each of the eight colonies, the leaders of the winning parties were appointed to the newly instituted positions of Vice-Presidents of the respective Governing Councils — French Colonial Governors remained as Presidents. The Constitution of the French Fifth Republic of 1958 again changed the structure of the colonies from the French Union to the French Community, each territory was to become a Protectorate, with the consultative assembly named a National Assembly
4.
Senegal
–
Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country in West Africa. Senegal is bordered by Mauritania in the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast, and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal also borders The Gambia, a country occupying a narrow sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River, Senegal also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde. Senegals economic and political capital is Dakar and it is the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World, or Afro-Eurasia, and owes its name to the Senegal River, which borders it to the east and north. The name Senegal comes from the Wolof Sunuu Gaal, which means Our Boat, Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres and has an estimated population of about 15 million. The climate is Sahelian, but there is a rainy season, the territory of modern Senegal has been inhabited by various ethnic groups since prehistory. Organized kingdoms emerged around the century, and parts of the country were ruled by prominent regional empires such as the Jolof Empire. The present state of Senegal has its roots in European colonialism, which began during the mid-15th century, the establishment of coastal trading posts gradually led to control of the mainland, culminating in French rule of the area by the 19th century, albeit amid much local resistance. Senegal peacefully attained independence from France in 1960, and has since been among the politically stable countries in Africa. Senegals economy is centered mostly on commodities and natural resources, major industries are fish processing, phosphate mining, fertilizer production, petroleum refining, construction materials, and ship construction and repair. As in most African nations, agriculture is a sector, with Senegal producing several important cash crops, including peanuts, sugarcane, cotton, green beans, tomatoes, melons. Owing to its stability, tourism and hospitality are also burgeoning sectors. A multiethnic and secular nation, Senegal is predominantly Sunni Muslim with Sufi, French is the official language, although many native languages are spoken and recognized. Since April 2012 Senegals president has been Macky Sall, Senegal has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie since 1970. Senegal is named after the Senegal River, the etymology of which is contested, one popular theory is that it stems from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal, which means our canoe, resulting from a miscommunication between 15th-century Portuguese sailors and Wolof fishermen. The our canoe theory has been embraced in modern Senegal for its charm. It is frequently used in appeals to national solidarity, frequently heard in the media, modern historians believe the name probably refers to the Sanhaja, Berbers who lived on the northern side of the river. A competing theory is that it derives from the town of Sanghana
5.
Joof family
–
Joof or Diouf is a surname typically Serer. This surname is also spelt Juuf or Juf, the differences in spelling is because Senegal was colonized by France, while the Gambia was colonized by Britain. Although spelt differently, they are pronounced the same way, the totem and symbol of the Joof family is the antelope, the symbol of grace, royalty, wisdom, hard work and protection in Serer mythology. The name of their clan is Njoofene variations, Njuufeen or Njufeen, members of this family had ruled over many of the pre-colonial kingdoms of Senegambia, including the Kingdom of Sine, the Kingdom of Saloum and the Kingdom of Baol. The royal princesses from the Joof family were given in marriage to the pre-colonial kings. Some of these included the kings of Jolof, kings of Waalo, kings of Cayor, from these marriages, they provided many heirs to the thrones of these kingdoms. Although usually associated with Serer royalty, the Joof family also figure prominently in Serer religious affairs, the Joof family is one of the old families of Senegambia. Serer oral tradition speaks of a noble called Lamane Jegan Joof, owner of a herd of livestock. He migrated from Lambaye following an argument with his relative, the king of Lambaye, the dispute concerned the governance of Lambaye and over-taxation of his herd which he considered unjust. As such, he decided to head south and founded Tukar with his younger brother Ndik Joof, the tradition then went on to say that, he had a son called Sosseh Joof who was the heir of Tukar. There was in fact no Battle of Troubang, in reporting this tradition, Henry Gravrand did not notice that this is actually a description of the 1867 Battle of Kansala. The Joof family had ruled Tukar for many centuries, inherited from their ancestor Lamane Jegan Joof through the Serer Lamanic custom, in 2004, Lamane Njaga Dibor Ndoffene Joof was the last lamane of Tukar. In the early history of the Ghana Empire to its end and these royal princesses belonged to the maternal clan Wagadou. With the Joof paternal clan, they ruled the Kingdom of Baol, some of these kings include Boureh Joof, Guidiane Joof, Ma Joof, Jinak Dialane Joof, Maguinak Joof, etc. These kings preceded the Guelowar period by at least two or three centuries and long before the Fall paternal dynasty of Baol and Cayor who inherited the throne around 1549 after the Battle of Danki and they simply married into the old royal family and succeeded to the throne. The Guelowar period starts from 1350 during the reign of the first Guelowar king of Sine - Maad a Sinig Maysa Wali and ends in 1969 after the death of the last king of Sine, Maysa Wali and his family fled Kaabu in 1335 after the Battle of Troubang. They were defeated by the maternal dynasty of Kaabu and were granted asylum in the Kingdom of Sine by a Serer noble Council called The Great Council of Lamanes. Having served as advisor to this noble Council for 15 years, Maysa Wali managed to win the confidence and trust of the Council
6.
Toucouleur people
–
The Toucouleur people, also called Tukulor or Haalpulaar, are a West African ethnic group. They are found mostly in Futa Toro region of Senegal, with some in Mali, the Toucouleur have been Muslims who embraced Islam in the 11th century, their early and strong Islamic heritage is a matter of great pride for them. They speak the Fulani language, and are distinct from but related to the Fula, Wolof, the Toucouleur are traditionally sedentary, settled primarily in the Senegal River valley, with farming, fishing and raising cattle as their main activities. The Toucouleur society has been patrilineal, polygynous and with high social stratification that included slavery, there are an estimated 1 million Toucouleur people in West Africa. They are found primarily in the regions of Senegal where they constitute 15% of the population. This region is irrigated by the Senegal River valley, overlaps southern Mauritania, during the colonial era, and in the modern times, some of the Toucouleurs resettled in western Mali. They are about a million Toucouleur people in Senegal River valley area, the Fulani language, also called the Fula or Pulaar, is their first language. It is an Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo language family of languages, locally, they are variously referred to as Pulaar, Torooɓe, Futanke, or Haalpulaar. The name Toucouleur is of unclear origin, with sources stating it as a French derivation meaning of color. According to the traditions of the Toucouleurs and Serer people. This tradition is supported by scholars including Foltz and Phillips. A mutually acceptable bantering-style interaction, called the relationship by anthropologists, exists between the Serers and Toucouleurs. The Toucouleur people have inhabited the Senegal River area, with roots of an organized Tekrur kingdom tracing back to the 5th century. They were part of the 10th to the 18th century kingdom, in the 18th century, a Toucouleur empire emerged which reached its peak influence in the 19th century under the Islamic leader El Hadj Umar Tall. Umar was born in a Toucouleur clerical family in 1797, during his visit to Mecca in 1827, he was designated as the Caliph of Black Africa. He returned to West Africa in 1833, and learnt political, Umar Tal returned to Senegal in 1845, where he began preaching Islam among the Toucouleur people. Umar Tal obtained weapons from Europe, then mobilized the Toucouleur to pursue an Islamic holy war in 1854 against the ethnic groups. The Toucouleur Empire grew and extended from Senegal to much of Mali over the ten years
7.
Serer people
–
The Serer people are a West African ethnoreligious group. They are the third largest ethnic group in Senegal making up 15% of the Senegalese population and they are also found in northern Gambia and southern Mauritania. They have had a sedentary settled culture and have known for their farming expertise. In the 20th century, most of them converted to Islam, the Serer society, like other ethnic groups in Senegal, has had social stratification featuring endogamous castes and slaves. The Serer people are referred to as Sérère, Sereer, Serere, Sarer, Kegueme, Seereer. The Serer people are found in contemporary Senegal, particularly in the west-central part of the country. In The Gambia, they occupy parts of old Nuimi and Baddibu as well as the Gambian Kombo, the Serer-Noon occupy the ancient area of Thiès in modern-day Senegal. The Serer-Ndut are found in southern Cayor and north west of ancient Thiès, the Serer-Njeghen occupy old Baol, the Serer-Palor occupies the west central, west southwest of Thiès and the Serer-Laalaa occupy west central, north of Thiès and the Tambacounda area. Senegal,1.84 million The Gambia,31,900 Mauritania,3500 The Serer occupy the Sine, the Serer people include the Seex, Serer-Noon, Serer-Ndut, Serer-Njeghene, Serer-Safene, Serer-Niominka, Serer-Palor, and the Serer-Laalaa. Each group speaks Serer or a Cangin language, Serer is the standard English spelling. Seereer or Sereer reflects the Serer pronunciation of the name and are used by Senegalese Serer historians or scholars. The meaning of the word Serer is uncertain, issa Laye Thiaw views it as possibly pre-Islamic and suggests four possible derivations,1. From the Serer Wolof word reer meaning misplaced, i. e. doubting the truth of Islam, from the Serer Wolof expression seer reer meaning to find something hidden or lost. From the Arabic word seereer meaning sahir magician or one who practices magic, from a Pulaar word, meaning separation, divorce, or break, again referring to refusing Islam. Professor Cheikh Anta Diop citing the work of the 19th century French archeologist and egyptologist - Paul Pierret, Diop went on to write, That would be consistent with their present religious position, they are one of the rare Senegalese populations who still reject Islam. Their route is marked by the stones found at about the same latitude from Ethiopia all the way to the Sine-Salum. Over generations these people, possibly Pulaar speaking herders originally, migrated through Wolof areas and entered the Siin and this lengthy period of Wolof-Serer contact has left us unsure of the origins of shared terminology, institutions, political structures, and practices. The actual Sereer ethnic group is a mixture of the two groups, and this may explain their complex bilinear kinship system and their own oral traditions recite legends on they being part of, or related to the Toucouleur people in the Senegal River valley area
8.
Sorbonne
–
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which was the historical house of the former University of Paris. The name is derived from the Collège de Sorbonne, initiated during 1257 by the eponymous Robert de Sorbon as one of the first significant colleges of the medieval University of Paris. The university predates the college by about a century, and minor colleges had been founded already during the late 12th century, during the 16th century, the Sorbonne became involved with the intellectual struggle between Catholics and Protestants. The Collège de Sorbonne was suppressed during the French Revolution, reopened by Napoleon during 1808 and this was only one of the many colleges of the University of Paris that existed until the French revolution. After months of conflicts between students and authorities at the University of Paris at Nanterre, the administration closed that university on May 2,1968. Students at the Sorbonne campus in Paris met on May 3 to protest against the closure and the threatened expulsion of several students at Nanterre. More than 20,000 students, teachers and other endorsers marched towards the Sorbonne, still sealed off by the police, who charged, wielding their batons, as soon as the marchers approached. While the crowd dispersed, some began to make out of whatever was at hand, while others threw paving stones. The police then responded with tear gas and charged the crowd again, may 10 marked the Night of Barricades, where students used cars, wood, and cobblestones to barricade the streets of the Latin Quarter. Brutal street fighting ensued between students and riot police, most notably on Rue Gay-Lussac, early the next morning, as the fighting disbanded, Daniel Cohn-Bendit sent out a radio broadcast calling for a general strike. On Monday,13 May, more than one million workers went on strike, negotiations ended, and students returned to their campuses after a false report that the government had agreed to reopen them, only to discover police still occupying the schools. When the Sorbonne reopened, students occupied it and declared it an autonomous Peoples University, during 1970, the University of Paris was divided into thirteen universities, managed by a common rectorate, the Chancellerie des Universités de Paris, with offices in the Sorbonne. The building also houses the École Nationale des Chartes, the École pratique des hautes études, the Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne, nowadays, the use of the name refers more often to Panthéon-Sorbonne University for French public especially students in France. But, all Parisian universities like to refer as their ancestor, some alliances of universities use that name, like Sorbonne University. Listing of the works of Alexandre Falguière List of works by Henri Chapu La Sorbonne
9.
Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
10.
Mauritania
–
Mauritania /mɔːrɪˈteɪniə/, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in the Maghreb region of western Africa. The country derives its name from the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, approximately 90% of Mauritanias land is within the Sahara and consequently the population is concentrated in the south, where precipitation is slightly higher. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast, the government was overthrown on 6 August 2008, in a military coup détat led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 16 April 2009, Aziz resigned from the military to run for president in the 19 July elections, about 20% of Mauritanians live on less than US$1.25 per day. Mauritania suffers from several human rights issues, including slavery, as at least 4% of the population are enslaved against their will, the Bafours were primarily agriculturalist, and among the first Saharan people to abandon their historically nomadic lifestyle. With the gradual desiccation of the Sahara, they headed south, many of the Berber tribes claimed Yemeni origins. There is little evidence to such claims, but a 2000 DNA study of Yemeni people suggested there might be some ancient connection between the peoples. Other peoples also migrated south past the Sahara to West Africa, in 1076, Moorish Islamic warrior monks attacked and conquered the large area of the ancient Ghana Empire. Over the next 500 years, Arabs overcame fierce resistance from the population to dominate Mauritania. The Char Bouba war was the final effort of the peoples to repel the Yemeni Maqil Arab invaders. The invaders were led by the Beni Hassan tribe, the descendants of the Beni Hassan warriors became the upper stratum of Moorish society. Hassaniya, a Berber-influenced Arabic dialect that derives its name from the Beni Hassan, berbers retained a niche influence by producing the majority of the regions marabouts, those who preserve and teach Islamic tradition. Imperial France gradually absorbed the territories of present-day Mauritania from the Senegal River area and upwards, in 1901, Xavier Coppolani took charge of the imperial mission. Through a combination of strategic alliances with Zawiya tribes, and military pressure on the Hassane warrior nomads, he managed to extend French rule over the Mauritanian emirates. Trarza, Brakna and Tagant quickly submitted to treaties with the colonial power, Adrar was finally defeated militarily in 1912, and incorporated into the territory of Mauritania, which had been drawn up and planned in 1904. Mauritania was part of French West Africa from 1920, French rule brought legal prohibitions against slavery and an end to inter-clan warfare. During the colonial period, 90% of the population remained nomadic, many sedentary peoples, whose ancestors had been expelled centuries earlier, began to trickle back into Mauritania. After gaining independence, larger numbers of indigenous Sub-Saharan African peoples entered Mauritania, educated in French language and customs, many of these recent arrivals became clerks, soldiers, and administrators in the new state