Senegal Emigration and Immigration

Online Sources

 * 1724-1917 France National Overseas Archives, Senegal
 * 1724-1897 France National Overseas Archives, Upper Volta Upper Volta is a territory made up of the protectorates of Liptako (1891), Gourma (1894), Yatenga (1895), Gourounsi (1896) and Mossi (1897). They were attached to the colony of Sudan (Haut-Senegal and Niger) in 1904.
 * 1864-1917 France National Overseas Archives, French Sudan French Sudan was set up as a colony in 1892. It successively took the names of Territory of Upper Senegal and Middle Niger (1898-1902), Territory of Senegambia and Niger (1904) and French Sudan in 1920. It gained independence in 1960 and then took the name of Mali.
 * 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, at Ancestry.com, index and images. ($)
 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
 * 1946-1971 Free Access: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971 Ancestry, free. Index and images. Passenger lists of immigrants leaving Germany and other European ports and airports between 1946-1971. The majority of the immigrants listed in this collection are displaced persons - Holocaust survivors, former concentration camp inmates and Nazi forced laborers, as well as refugees from Central and Eastern European countries and some non-European countries.

British Overseas Subject

 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Senegal, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Senegal, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, Senegal, index and images, ($)

Finding the Town of Origin in Senegal
If you are using emigration/immigration records to find the name of your ancestors' town in Senegal, see Senegal Finding Town of Origin for additional research strategies.

Senegal Emigration and Immigration
"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country. Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the country. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.

Immigration into Senegal

 * In the mid-15th century, the Portuguese landed on the Senegal coastline. Various European powers — Portugal, the Netherlands, and Great Britain — competed for trade in the area from the 15th century onward.
 * In 1677, France gained control of what had become a minor departure point in the Atlantic slave trade: the island of Gorée next to modern Dakar, used as a base to purchase slaves from the warring chiefdoms on the mainland.
 * European missionaries introduced Christianity to Senegal and the Casamance in the 19th century.
 * It was only in the 1850s that the French began to expand onto the Senegalese mainland, after they abolished slavery and began promoting an abolitionist doctrine, adding native kingdoms like the Waalo, Cayor, Baol, and Jolof Empire.
 * French colonists progressively invaded and took over all the kingdoms, except Siné and Saloum.
 * The country experienced a wave of immigration from France in the decades between World War II and Senegalese independence; most of these French people purchased homes in Dakar or other major urban centers.
 * About 50,000 Europeans (mostly French) and Lebanese as well as smaller numbers of Mauritanians and Moroccans reside in Senegal, mainly in the cities and some retirees who reside in the resort towns around Mbour. There are tens of thousands of Mauritanian refugees in Senegal, primarily in the country's north.
 * The majority of Lebanese work in commerce. Most of the Lebanese originate from the Lebanese city of Tyre, which is known as "Little West Africa" and has a main promenade that is called "Avenue du Senegal".
 * Also located primarily in urban settings are small Vietnamese communities as well as a growing number of Chinese immigrant traders, each numbering perhaps a few hundred people.

Emigration From Senegal
KNOMAD Statistics: Emigrants: 540,400. Top destination countries: France, The Gambia, Italy, Spain, Mauritania, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, the United States, Mali, the Republic of Congo
 * Senegal was historically a destination country' for neighboring economic migrants, but in recent decades West African migrants more often use Senegal as a transit point to North Africa, or as a stop before continuing illegally onward to Europe.
 * The country also has been host to several thousand black Mauritanian refugees since they were expelled from Mauritania during the 1989 border conflict with Senegal.
 * The country's economic crisis in the 1970s stimulated emigration; departures accelerated from the 1990s. Destinations shifted from neighboring countries to Libya and Mauritania', because of their booming oil industries, and to France, Italy and Spain.