Carabane
Encyclopedia
Carabane, also known as Karabane, is an island and a village located in the extreme south-west of Senegal
, in the mouth of the Casamance River
. This relatively recent geological formation consists of a shoal
and alluvium
to which soil is added by accumulation in the branches and roots of the mangrove
trees which cover most of the island. Along with the rest of Ziguinchor Region
, Carabane has a tropical climate, cycling between a dry season
and a wet season
. The island was once considered an arid location where no useful plants were likely to grow, but it now supports several types of fruit tree, the most common of which are mango
s and oranges. Although the nearby Basse Casamance National Park
and Kalissaye Avifaunal Reserve
have been closed for years because of the Casamance Conflict
, Carabane has continued to attract ornithologists interested in its wide variety of birds. Various species of fish are plentiful around the island, but there are very few mammals.
The earliest known inhabitants of the island were the Jola
, the ethnic group which is still the most populous on the island. The Portuguese
were active in the region from the 16th century onwards; however, they did not linger on "Mosquito Island", the mosquitoes and black flies
convincing them to establish their trading post in the town of Ziguinchor
instead in 1645. On January 22, 1836, the island was ceded to France by the village leader of Kagnout
in return for an annual payment of 196 francs. A series of treaties between the French and the leaders of the local peoples ensued; however, the inhabitants of Carabane did not recognize the authority of the treaties imposed upon them, resulting in lootings and abductions among French rice farmers by the Karoninka people
. In 1869, Carabane became autonomous, but it merged with Sédhiou
in 1886. Since , the population of the island has gradually declined for a variety of reasons including periods of drought, the Casamance Conflict and, more recently, the sinking of the ferry Joola in 2002. Because the Joola was the primary means of travel to and from Carabane, much of the village's ability to trade and receive tourists has been lost.
Although Carabane was once a regional capital, the village has since become so politically isolated from the rest of the country that it no longer fits into any category of the administrative structure decreed by the Senegalese government. The Jola account for the majority of the island's population and Jola society has no formal hierarchy. The indigenous
population was originally animist
, but although the sacred groves and fetishes
survive as cultural icons of Casamance
, the monotheistic
belief systems of Catholicism
and Islam
have become the most widely held in Carabane. The literacy rate is approximately 90%. Students attend a primary school on the island, but must move at least as far as Elinkine
to continue their studies.
The testimonies of explorers and colonial administrators demonstrate that Carabane has participated in rice cultivation, fishery, trade, and palm wine
production for a long time. The rice cycle plays a central economic and religious role in the lives of the population. Palm oil
and palm wine are very popular and traditional in the area. The fishery has long been dominated by artisan fishing
, which supplies the daily needs of the island's population; however, broader economic possibilities have been exploited since the early 20th century. Although there have been attempts to cultivate a tourism industry on the island, the inhabitants have been reluctant to participate. Carabane was added to the list of historic sites and monuments of Senegal in 2003.
of Carabane remains unclear. It could be connected to the Wolof
word karabané, which means "who speaks a lot," or possibly the Portuguese
words casa and acaba, which mean "house" and "finish," respectively. According to this hypothesis, the name means the place "where the houses are finished," a possible allusion to the fact that this village was the first French capital in Basse Casamance. According to other sources, the name comes from karam akam, which means "the other side of the river." These uncertainties are augmented by the instability of the spelling: Karabane with an initial K suggests a Jola or Wolof origin, while Carabane with a C would suggest a Latin derivation, most probably through Portuguese or French
.More rarely, one may find the spelling Karaban (notably in English and German sources) or Karabanne (particularly in Spanish and Portuguese sources).
With a total area of 57 square kilometres (22 sq mi), Carabane is the last major island in the mouth of the Casamance River
in south-west Senegal. It is situated 12° 32' N latitude and 16° 43' W longitude and is, by way of Elinkine
, nearly 60 kilometres (37.3 mi) away from Ziguinchor
, the capital of the region of the same name
, and a little over 500 kilometres (310.7 mi) from Dakar, the country's capital.
"Il faut s'armer de patience pour rejoindre l'île de Carabane" is a common French phrase which means "One must have patience to reach the island of Carabane". While this adage continues to hold true, it was even more appropriate in the 19th century when, according to one traveller, a 26-hour boat trip from Rufisque
(near Dakar
) to Carabane was deemed fairly short, and was credited to a favourable wind. Basse Casamance is more readily accessible than in the 19th century, although there is no direct link by sea.
Despite the seemingly close proximity to its neighbouring communities, a motorized pirogue
trip to Carabane from Elinkine, the nearest village, takes about thirty minutes; the trip once took an hour and a half by canoe. Carabane may also be accessed by a two or three hour boat trip from Ziguinchor. Travelling from Cap Skirring
via Cachouane
is also possible, but as a detailed map of the region would make clear, the channels of salt water are not easily navigated. Carabane's landing is located on a small peninsula on the northeastern coast of the island, which means that boats need to sail along a significant portion of the coast before being able to land.
A recent geological formation, Carabane consists of a shoal
and alluvium
. The alluvium has developed because of the saltwater streams that cut across the shoal. As pointed out by early French observers, soils in the region are generally composed of sand and clay, differing in mixture and layer according to natural and human factors. However, Carabane seems to be composed entirely of sand. The lack of clay is the reason that architecture on the island employs straw wrapped around wooden frames more often than banco mud bricks. This type of architecture is also common in the villages of Mlomp
and Seleki
.
In this flat and marshy area, the branches and roots of mangrove
trees form dams where deposits of oyster shells naturally accumulate along with mud and plant detritus. These tangles help retain soil, a process which expands the island where the power of tidal race
would normally have the opposite effect.
Rising just over 2 m (7 ft), the southern portion of the island is partially flooded during the rainy season and totally submerged every few years. At low tide, mudflats are exposed so that boats with keel
s are forced to dock a considerable distance from the island. When arriving at Carabane, the Joola had to stop about 500 m (1500 ft) north of the village in 8 to 10 m (25–35 ft) of water.
The coastal erosion
and salinization affecting the west of Senegal are also a source of concern on the island; signs of erosion have been observed in Carabane since 1849. The house of the government representative on the island has burned down twice; each time it was rebuilt, the site of the building had to be moved further and further inland. The island's erosion is evident when one considers that the original location of the house eventually became flooded, even at low tide. During the dry season the river has a tide-dominated delta, with tidewater reaching 200 km upstream, while it is being concentrated 50% by evaporation.
Using wells, freshwater is available at a reasonable depth for irrigation and domestic purposes. Until the installation of a pump in 2006, however, drinking water had to be sent by boat from Elinkine.
and a wet season
, which usually starts in June and ends in October. Because of the proximity to the ocean, the humidity of the air remains above 40% and contributes to the abundance of vegetation. With the trade wind
s from the Azores High
, the island enjoys a pleasant climate year-round. In the north to north-east, these winds are cool and always wet. Their presence is appreciated by kitesurfers
. Agricultural activities, including rice cultivation, depend entirely on rainfall. "Wah uŋejutumu, emit elaatut" is a Jola
proverb which means "If a project will not be completed, it will be because the rain did not fall." The invocation of fetishes
when there is no rain is part of traditional animist rituals. In recent decades, there has been a general decline in rainfall, which threatens rice production, increases soil salinity, and contributes to the degradation of the mangroves. In May and June, air temperature is around 28 °C (82.4 °F). In January and February, the coldest months, it is around 24 °C (75.2 °F). Temperatures of below 18 °C (64.4 °F) are quite rare. In September, the temperature of surface seawater is 26 °C (78.8 °F).
At one time, the island was considered an arid location, where coconuts were the only useful plants likely to flourish and vegetables were difficult to produce. In what has become a tropical climate, vegetation is more abundant than in the north of the country, especially during the wet season. Anxious to attract the attention of the French colonial administration which he judged insufficiently involved in the development of Casamance, administrator Emmanuel Bertrand-Bocandé
submitted a report which documented in great detail the plant species then present on the island. Although this report was written in 1849, the information it contains has remained valuable even into the 21st century.
Most of Carabane is covered in mangroves, forming an impassable jungle that can only be crossed in constructed passages. Mangroves are among the few species capable of adapting to the highly saline environment, where the quantity of oxygen in the soil is low. In recent decades there has been concern that the mangroves are less prevalent. There are various reasons for the degradation, including crustacean
s and the unregulated exploitation of wood. Efforts have been made to safeguard the mangroves and to educate children about their importance.
Tourists are not as attracted to the island for its mangroves as for the coconut trees which line its beaches, as featured on many of Carabane's postcards. These palm trees are a valued resource on the island.
While not as plentiful as in other parts of Basse Casamance such as Mlomp
, kapok
trees are nonetheless present. Their grey wood is very light and easy to work, for which reasons it is used to construct many items, ranging from doors to dugouts
. Jola canoes, which range from 6 to 8 m (19.7 to 26.2 ) in length, are carved by adze
s entirely out of one tree each, unlike the traditional Senegalese pirogue.
As for fruit trees, mango
s and oranges are the most populous. Prickly pears
, flamboyants, and colourful bougainvillea
s brighten the scenery of hotels and camps on the island. Various organizations have contributed to the deforestation
of the island.
The wide variety of birds in Basse Casamance was noted by early explorers. While Basse Casamance National Park
and Kalissaye Avifaunal Reserve
have not been open for years due to the Casamance Conflict
, Carabane has been found to be very conducive to ornithological observation. A study in 1998 discovered the following species on the island: African Darter
(Anhinga rufa), Goliath Heron
(Ardea goliath), Palm-nut Vulture
(Gypohierax angolensis), Black-tailed Godwit
(Limosa limosa), Whimbrel
(Numenius phaeopus), Eurasian Curlew
(Numenius arquata), Caspian Tern
(Sterna caspia), Blue-spotted Wood-dove
(Turtur afer), Red-eyed Dove
(Streptopelia semitorquata), White-rumped Swift
(Apus caffer), Woodland Kingfisher
(Halcyon senegalensis), Grey-backed Camaroptera
(Camaroptera brachyura), Red-bellied Paradise-flycatcher (Terpsiphone rufiventer), Pied Crow
(Corvus albus), Black-rumped Waxbill
(Estrilda troglodytres) and Yellow-fronted Canary
(Serinus mozambicus).
Fish are plentiful in the waters surrounding the island, where one may encounter trevallies
(Carangidae), Giant African threadfin
s (Polydactylus quadrifilis), great barracuda
s (Sphyraena barracuda), or African red snapper
s (Lutjanus agennes). The mangrove
s are home to many crustaceans such as southern pink shrimp
(Farfantepenaeus notialis), sand fiddler crabs
(Uca pugilator), and molluscs
. The shellfish population consists mostly of mangrove oyster
s (Crassostrea gasar), which cling to uncovered mangrove roots at low tide. The red-headed agama
and monitor lizard
make up the reptilian population of the island.
The sandbar of Carabane has very few mammals other than pets, although the French first noted the presence of monkeys in 1835. In 1870, other settlers noted with disgust that the natives often ate monkeys and dogs. In the early 21st century, Bottlenose Dolphin
s (Tursiops truncatus) are commonly sighted off the island. The lack of tourism because of the civil unrest and the sinking of the Joola has benefited biodiversity
. In this way, the nearby Basse Casamance National Park
, which has been closed for years, has seen a remarkable return of Nile crocodile
s (Crocodylus niloticus), Senegalese manatees (Trichechus senegalensis), and breeding birds.
On an island called Ilha dos Mosquitos (Portuguese for "Mosquito Island"), the natives and their visitors continue to protect themselves with mosquito net
s and Shea butter
. They must also protect themselves from other, smaller insects which are no less troublesome: black flies
(Simulium).
The traditions of the local peoples are unanimous in affirming that the oldest inhabitants of Casamance are the Bainuk people and that the left bank of the mouth of the river was first populated by the Jola
. Portuguese
sailors reached the west African coast in the 15th century, and in the 16th century Portuguese traders became active in the Casamance region, mostly in search of wax
, ivory
, and slaves
. They did not linger on "Mosquito Island", instead founding their first trading post
at Ziguinchor
in 1645.
In the late 1820s, a mulatto
trader from Gorée
, Pierre Baudin, moved to Itou
and began planting rice and producing lime
by crushing the shells of mangrove oysters and cooking them in lime kilns. The French administration treated Baudin as their representative on the island and did not send others because few of the French wanted to live on the island. Being wet and marshy, Carabane had a reputation for its poor sanitation. The local economy was based mainly on red rice
, which was sold in Ziguinchor or to the British
in The Gambia
. The Baudin family used slaves to produce the rice and, despite the declaration of its official abolition
in the French colonial empire
in 1848, slavery continued on the island until the early 20th century.
The colonial administration wanted to expand its influence around the river, particularly because the inhabitants of Gorée were threatened with losing part of their resources with the imminent demise of the slave trade
, and also because of their competition with Saint-Louis
. On January 9, 1836, Lieutenant Malavois, who was in charge of Gorée, left for Casamance in search of a site for a trading post. The tip of Diogue
, on the north shore, was first considered, but at the refusal of the Jola, it was the opposite bank which was eventually accepted.
at an annual cost of 196 francs. Still, another treaty made Sédhiou
the primary trading post of Casamance
, and the exploitation of Carabane was left for some time in the hands of the Baudin family, first Pierre then his brother Jean. Each successively took on the title of Resident. With this official but ambiguous title, they were permitted to continue their trading operation so long as they regularly reported to France.
When Jean Baudin fell into disgrace due to a serious incident involving an English ship, he was replaced as Resident in October 1849 by Emmanuel Bertrand-Bocandé
. This multilingual, enterprising businessman and entomologist
from Nantes
transformed "his" island, sparking a resurgence of commercial and political activity. In 1852, the population surpassed 1,000 inhabitants. A cadastral map
assigned tracts of 30 square metres (35.9 sq yd) to traders and contractors. Other tracts of 15 square metres (17.9 sq yd) were allotted for housing. Provisional concessions were granted to residents of Saint-Louis and Gorée. Other than settlers, the island was mainly inhabited by animist Jola famers, whose practices were disconcerting to the settlers. Coexistence was not always easy. Christianity was practiced by the Europeans and some of the residents of Gorée, although the island did not yet have a church. Missionaries tried but were not permitted to settle on the island.
The construction of a wharf 116 metres (380.6 ft) long allowed the berthing of larger vessels coming in from Casamance. A railed pier was built along the river in order to facilitate the transfer of goods. Carabane exported rice, but also cotton
, considered to be of poor quality, which was ginned
in a factory built by Bertrand-Bocandé in 1840, owned first by Maurel & Prom
and then by the Casamance Company. The factory also produced almond
s and crabwood
(Carapa procera).
Bertrand-Bocandé became involved in local African politics during his time as Resident. When an intertribal conflict led to an armed raid of Carabane, he mediated the conflict. In 1850, the island's economic growth was disturbed because of an extensive livestock raid
which precipitated further incidents the following year. In response to this conflict with the former owners of Carabane, the residents of Kagnout, Bertrand-Bocandé convinced the governor of Senegal to send a warship to Carabane to frighten off the raiders. This single ship failed to faze the island's opponents, therefore Bertrand-Bocandé requested a detachment of soldiers and several other ships from the governor. When these reinforcements arrived from Gorée, the conflict was successfully ended. A treaty was signed on March 25, establishing the sovereignty of France not only in Casamance, but also in Kagnout and Samatit
. For his involvement in the conflict, Bertrand-Bocandé was accepted into the Légion d'honneur
and was given a land concession
. Bertrand-Bocandé left the island in 1857 for a leave of absence, but he abandoned his post as Resident in 1860. His tireless activity had a lasting effect on the island.
Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the new French territory did not recognize the authority of the treaties imposed upon them. For this reason, rice farmers in Carabane experienced lootings and abductions by the Karoninka people
. Troops led by Émile Pinet-Laprade
attacked the Karoninka villages in March 1860, forcing them to submission. A period of calm ensued. While the Mandinka
Muslims continued, illegally, to practice slavery and trade, non-Muslim villages tended to come together, accepting the Resident of Carabane as the arbitrator of their disagreements.
In 1869, Carabane became autonomous, but it merged with Sédhiou in 1886. Its garrison of a dozen men was regularly stricken with tropical diseases such as malaria
. In 1877, 527 people were counted on the island, mostly Jola, but also some Wolof
s, Muslims, and a few Manjacks
from Portuguese Guinea
.
The first Catholic mission in Sédhiou was founded in 1875 and the first baptism
s were celebrated that same year in Carabane. There were 17 people baptised in total, most of whom were residents of the island. The Holy Ghost Fathers
' mission in Carabane was founded in 1880 by Father Kieffer. On February 22, he settled on the island, but he served for only two years. The staff of the colonial administration was small: the manager of a customs post with four employees, a gunner
, a corporal
, and six European tirailleur
s. There were approximately 250 Christians in Carabane, mostly mulatto
s. The priest built his house out of Palmyra Palm
trunks. He visited nearby villages and sometimes went to Sédhiou. The founding of the mission in Carabane was followed by others in Ziguinchor
(1888), Elinkine
(1891), and several nearby locations in the 20th century. In 1900, a Spiritan
missionary, Father Wintz,In 1909, Father Wintz wrote a French—Jola dictionary published by the Elinkine Mission, and reedited in 1968. wrote the first catechism
in the Jola language
.
Temporarily transferred to Ziguinchor, the Carabane mission closed in 1888. Missionaries returned in 1890 and, although they immediately expanded the church building, it was still not large enough to accommodate all those who wished to attend. Thanks to subsidies by the bishop, Magloire-Désiré Barthet
, and to donations by the parishioners, a new church was built and inaugurated on the Catholic feast day of Saint Anne
in 1897. The mission also obtained two adjacent properties, lot #73 on the cadastral map. By the following year, the Christian community had performed 1,100 baptisms, as well as many catechumen
.
Competition between the French and the Portuguese began to show itself in the region during this period. Because the Portuguese-operated trading posts in Cacheu
and Farim
asked for higher prices than the French-operated trading posts in Carabane and Seju, the Portuguese lost many traders to the French. This trend led to the ceding of Ziguinchor to France, which was negotiated in Carabane in April 1888 between Commissioner Oliveira and Captain Brosselard-Faidherbe
.
In 1901, the administrative capital of Casamance was transferred from Carabane to Ziguinchor, a status which was transferred in turn to Oussouye
two years later. By 1904, Carabane had lost several of its amenities, including its customs services, which were centralized. The island's trading houses were abandoned and the number of Christians dwindled from 1,000 to 300 by 1907.
Despite the anti-clerical
movement's growth in France at the time, education in Carabane continued to be administered by the Holy Ghost Fathers for the boys and by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny
for the girls. A chapel also continued to be run on the island.
In 1913, just before the outbreak of , Carabane suffered a fire which caused its business to decline. People gradually left the island in search of work in Ziguinchor and even Dakar
. On December 1915, Marcel de Coppet, administrator of Ziguinchor, visited the island in order to recruit tirailleurs
. Six inhabitants of the island accepted the position: a Christian, a pagan, and four Muslims.
In the aftermath of the Great War, the Roman Catholic Church
encountered great difficulties in the region. There was insufficient staffing, the cost of living was rising, and the harsh climate began to wear on the buildings. In 1920, the diocese had, in addition to Carabane, thirteen churches and approximately thirty-five chapels. The thirteen churches were located in Dakar, Saint-Louis
, Gorée
, Rufisque
, Thiès
, Ngazobil
, Joal, Fadiouth, Foundiougne, Kaolack
, Ziguinchor, Bignona
and Banjul
. In 1922, the Governor decreed which buildings were authorized to practise Catholicism. While the Carabane church was one of the buildings selected, some members blamed the colonial administration for having facilitated the expansion of Islam in the country
.
In taking leadership of the diocese
, Archbishop Le Hunsec
noted that the island of Carabane, heavily populated when trading was concentrated there, had lost its influence and now had fewer than 500 inhabitants. He considered transferring the mission to Oussouye
, which became a reality in 1927. Starting in 1937, the mission in Oussouye also performed baptisms and funerals in Carabane.
In the same year, a reform school
was created on the island, operating until 1953, when it was replaced by another in Nianing
. A report submitted in 1938 by an educational advisor to Marcel de Coppet, Governor General of French West Africa
, detailed the daily life of the prisoners in the school which housed up to 22 boys, mostly convicted for theft but also occasionally for murder.
in 1959. The Carabane mission closed its doors during the wet season of 1953, 83 years after its inception. The nuns and their interns moved to Ziguinchor.
Senegal's independence was declared on August 20, 1960, and after the dissolution of the short-lived Mali Federation
, Casamance saw the arrival of officials coming from the north. Although many of them were Wolofs and Muslims, they did not know the Jola country and its traditions. The periods of drought
that ravaged the Sahel
in the 1970s forced peanut farmers to move to regions where rice was all that grew.
Discontent began to spread among the people, which sometimes escalated to violence. Casamance has since experienced years of conflict
which put local initiatives in jeopardy, such as nature reserves and the first network of villages. In 1998, in the middle of the conflict, the French commune of Bon-Encontre
committed to providing Carabane with humanitarian aid, both economically and culturally. Carabane has remained one of the calmest areas of Casamance throughout the conflict. Nonetheless, a few small incidents were reported around April 2000. The rebels may have wanted to take advantage of Carabane's reputation to attract media attention.
The ceasefire
of 2004 brought relative peace, but in the meantime, the sinking of the Joola in 2002 claimed the lives of many inhabitants of Carabane and curtailed much of its ability to engage in trade and accept tourists. Considering the problems brought on by the conflict and the sinking of the Joola along with the threat of coastal erosion
on the island, some fear the worst. Thus, after years of development and community outreach, Carabane is experiencing difficulties in a number of ways.
Formerly an administrative district in its own right,Between 1939 and 1944, the colonial authorities of the AOF were Vichyites and anti-Gaullists
, unlike those of the AEF, especially because of the governor
of Chad
, Félix Éboué
. even a regional capital, Carabane is now just one of 23 villages in the rural community of Diembéring
, of which Kabrousse
, Cap Skirring
, and Boucott-Diembéring
are the largest centres. This rural community is located in the Kabrousse Arrondissement. It is part of Oussouye Department
, the smallest and least central of the three departments in Ziguinchor Region
. In a country which includes some 13,000 villages, the village is considered, by a 1972 decree, the elementary entity in the administrative body of the nation. Each is administered by a leader, assisted by a council. After consultation, the nomination of a leader is established by the prefect and approved by the Minister of the Interior. Under Senegalese law, the leader of the village has certain prerogatives, including law enforcement, tax collection, and keeping of vital record
s in the village.
While this administrative structure was decreed by a government anxious to deal with interlocutors
, such a restructuring has not taken place in Casamance. Jola society is devoid of any formal hierarchy. It has no leader with genuine permanent authority. Instead, there are village elders who meet when important decisions need to be made. According to Italian anthropologist
Paolo Palmeri, the leader of the village has very little power in reality, as he is merely responsible for relations with the national administration. He simply allows the village to continue practicing its traditions. In a society where politics are inextricably linked to religion, the real holders of power are the fetish
priest
s. The very notion of a village is almost inappropriate in this context: it might be more appropriately considered a clan
or an aggregation of kinship
. Other specialists, such as Christian Sina Diatta, compare Jola communities to those of mound-building termites
, in which each member performs a specific function and where the queen is easily replaceable.
by their language
, egalitarian society, freedom from political hierarchy, and lack of slavery. Their traditions have persevered because of their independent spirit as well as their geographical isolation. This ethnic group accounts for 80 to 90% of the residents of Basse Casamance, but only 6 to 8% of the total population of Senegal. They are the largest ethnic group in Carabane, followed by Wolofs, Lebous, and Serers
(including Niominka
fishermen). Manjacks
also live on the island, some of whom came from Saint-Louis
and Gorée
at the time of the first colonization. Two communities from neighbouring countries, one from Guinea
(the Susu people
) and the other from Guinea-Bissau
, have settled on the other side of the island at a distance from the village. There are also seasonal workers who come to fish: Ghana
ians, Guineans, and Gambians
.
The indigenous population was originally animist
, but while the fetishes and sacred groves dedicated to initiation rites
such as boukout
survive as cultural icons of Casamance, the monotheistic
belief systems of Catholicism
and Islam
have become the most widely held in Carabane. The 1988 census reported that Muslim
s account for 94% of the population of Senegal, but only 26.5% of the population of Oussouye Department, where Carabane is located. Still, this department is largely rural, while Carabane has historically supported great ethnic diversity. Islam has not been practiced by Wolof and Serer fishermen since the 19th century, but the colonial administration brought with it many translators, guides, and secretaries from Dakar
, many of whom were Muslim. The arrival of fishermen from heavily Islamized
communities has accentuated this trend.
Founded in 1892, the Carabane school was one of the first in the region. It began as an all-boys school, but in 1898, three nuns belonging to the indigenous congregation of the Daughters of the Holy Heart of Mary
began teaching classes for girls. Soon, there were 60 students. A school infrastructure description in the region in 1900 reveals that the boys' school in Carabane was open from December to August each year, and that holidays ran from September to November, when parents needed their children in the fields to help cultivate rice. In 1903, when Carabane lost its status as capital, the school was instructing 63 boys and 102 girls. In 1914, it had only 56 boys and 26 girls, a situation similar to that in Bignona
.
Carabane has a new primary school, École François Mendy, inaugurated on January 21, 2006, hosting six classes. The literacy rate is approximately 90%. Students may continue their studies at the middle school in Elinkine
, the Aline Sitoe Diatta
High School in Oussouye
, and then a university in either Dakar or Ziguinchor
. Carabane's kindergarten is located in a community house, called "House of Women and Children," founded in 1988 under the auspices of Caritas
Ziguinchor.
In 1895, the government established a medical post in Carabane, but it closed the following year. In 1898, the Daughters of the Holy Heart of Mary opened a clinic at the same time as the girls' school.
As of 2010, the village has a health facility which is connected to that of Oussouye and Ziguinchor. It provides vaccinations, family planning
consultations, and prenatal information. A maternity hospital was founded in 1991 which is decorated with a fresco by Malang Badji, one of the most famous artists in the region.
The personal account published in 2001, Un souffle de vie, meaning "A Breath of Life," describes the day-to-day health difficulties faced in Carabane, while the Ph.D. thesis published in 2003, La part de l'autre: une aventure humaine en terre Diola, meaning "Part of the Other: A Human Adventure in Jola Territory," describes the health challenges present on the island in a more general context.
In particular, the location of the island does not allow easy access to serious or urgent medical assistance. There is a pirogue
-ambulance for the transportation of people off the island in the case of medical emergencies.
production for centuries. The island experienced a decline in the 20th century, when Ziguinchor emerged as the regional capital, and more recently because of the negative economic consequences resulting from the Casamance Conflict and the Joola tragedy. Because of these recent difficulties, the sale of local products in the capital is only possible if they are transported first by boat and then by bush taxi, a combined journey of 9–12 hours. Carabane is seeking out new economic possibilities, particularly through the revival of tourism.
enclave and the sinking of the Joola.
While a direct route by sea has not been available since the sinking of the Joola, the traveller from Dakar may use various other means of transportation in order to arrive in Basse Casamance. Some national roads
connect to Ziguinchor, down the N1 to Kaolack
. The N4 and N5 roads cross the Gambia (both the country and the river
), the former running through Nioro du Rip
to Farafenni
, and the latter crossing the river to Banjul
. The two roads merge in Bignona before descending to Ziguinchor. However, traffic is forbidden on both roads between 7 p.m. and 10 a.m., and the routes are subject to frequent accidents and constant demining
operations. Alternatively, it is possible to travel by plane to the airport in Ziguinchor
or Cap Skirring
, or to travel by boat to one of these locations. Reaching Carabane from either town is relatively straightforward.
By boat, the distance between Dakar and Carabane is 265 kilometres (143.1 nmi), although Ziguinchor is only 48 kilometres (29.8 mi) away. Before the launch of the Joola, other boats, mostly well-worn ones, made the connection: first Cap Skirring, then the Casamance Express, and then Island Karabane. In January 1991, a brand new ferry
went into operation. Like its predecessors, it connected Dakar to Ziguinchor, stopping near Carabane where canoes could reach the island. On September 26, 2002, 180 extra passengers boarded the already overloaded ship at this stop,This figure does not take into account the passengers who boarded without a ticket. Members of the military and their families were allowed to ride free of charge. and a few hours later, the Joola sank. For security reasons, the Joolas successor, the Wilis, stopped calling at Carabane, to the great displeasure of the inhabitants. Tourists have been rare since then, and from time to time, inhabitants of the island have found it necessary to move to Dakar or Ziguinchor.These difficulties were presented in the French documentary Un nouveau bateau pour la Casamance, meaning "A New Boat for Casamance", as part of the Thalassa series on December 1, 2006, Web.archive.org Significant modifications to the Aline Sitoe Diatta
, which replaced the Wilis in March 2008, are under consideration to allow it to stop safely at the island. The construction of a berth
was announced, but a projected completion date has not been set.
By the beginning of 2008, the island still did not have a power grid. Public lighting employs solar energy, and the hotels and some of the houses use diesel generator
s. Although wide roads were constructed on the island when urban-scale growth was predicted, there are still no cars to make use of them.
In Basse Casamance, the rice cycle structures the lives of the population and plays a central economic and religious role. The Jola, who constitute 80 to 90% of the population of Basse Casamance, practice a unique form of rice cultivation. Descriptions of the techniques used in the late 15th century, recorded by the first Portuguese
explorers
, show them to be similar to those still in use, particularly with respect to flooding and transplanting. Only the varieties of rice have changed.
The basic tool used is the kayendo,Also spelled kajandu, kajendo, kadiendo, or kadiandou a kind of wooden spade or shovel ranging from 40 to 70 cm (15.7 to 27.6 ), surrounded by a sharp wrought iron blade and attached to a very long, straight, cylindrical neck. The two parts are connected by strips of torn Palmyra Palm
leaves. The main part is manufactured from a very hard wood measuring 2 to 2.5 m (6.6 to 8.2 ) in length. The kayendo is mainly used to plough rice fields, but is also used for other purposes, such as excavation and construction. Men perform the clearing and ploughing while the women take care of the sowing, replanting, and weeding as well as the harvesting between October and January.
An even checkerboard plot model dominates the green landscape during the rainy season, which becomes more austere after harvest. The rice fields differ only in terms of soil type and location. Where mangrove
s are populous, such as in Carabane, the rice paddy field
s between them must be protected from the channels of saltwater which overflow during high tide. Rice farmers must therefore build levee
s, dig ditches, and create ponds. The fish and shrimp
which subsequently become trapped are harvested at the end of the rainy season, when the basins are emptied. The plots of land which were safeguarded from flooding are then cleared and ploughed. Several years of drainage are required to desalinate the soil.
Although practised in Basse Casamance for centuries, rice cultivation has been threatened since the late 1960s. Productivity has declined because many workers have opted for life in the city, even though they continue to support their community. The drought of the 1970s and 1980s further aggravated the situation.
Millet
and vegetables are among some of the other crops grown in Carabane. A few domestic farm animals such as pigs are raised, but they are normally left to roam free.
and palm wine
. Palm oil is an essential ingredient in local cuisine. As a carefully preserved condiment, it is combined with plain rice on holidays. The oil comes from the fruit clusters which are picked by men and then deseeded, allowed to dry, crushed in a mortar, and boiled by women.
Palm wine (called bunuk or bounouk in the Jola language) is an alcoholic drink derived from the natural fermentation of palm sap, so is not strictly a wine, which is produced by the fermentation of grapes
. The recent partial Islamization
of the region has not challenged its consumption. Fruit clusters are collected exclusively by the men. Supported by a strap, the harvester climbs the tree, cuts the bud, and holds out a funnel which allows the resulting fluid to flow drip by drip into an elongated calabash
or, more recently, a bottle. The alcohol
content of palm wine develops throughout the day. The locals consume large quantities on a daily basis, and even more at banquets and ceremonies dedicated to fetishes
. Palm wine is often traded for rice or sold in the city. Many Jola proverbs attest the popularity of the drink, such as Bunuk abajut birto, which means "With palm wine, one never stands up," or Ulako, kumusaet jígabulaju, which means "Sit down, don't spill the palm wine."
, just to supply their own daily needs. Pirogue
s cut from the trunks of kapok
trees are most often used, along with traps, nets, baskets, and fences. In the early 20th century, experienced fishermen from other parts of Senegal, along with others from Mali
, Guinea
, and Ghana
, developed deep-sea fishing on the island and introduced new equipment.
The collection of shellfish, especially oysters, is another traditional activity which still takes place in Casamance, which is one of three oyster-producing regions in Senegal, along with Petite Côte
and Sine-Saloum
. Oysters collect on the roots of mangrove trees which are uncovered at low tide. They are harvested during the dry season, mainly by women, who control, from harvest to distribution, an activity that requires little investment and provides them with some financial independence. Oysters are an important component of the family diet. Rich in dietary mineral
s and vitamin C
, they are the second largest source of animal protein among the Jola people after fish, followed by chicken, and pork. Oysters are readily associated with rice, the staple food
, and in times of shortage, even replace it. Locally, oysters are boiled or grilled on a wood fire and consumed with a spicy sauce. Those destined for sale or preservation, however, are sun-dried or smoked. In some villages, including Carabane, they are kept alive for several weeks before being transported to market. Oysters are also a source of income, and Carabane is located in the center of the collection zone, which is one of the reasons why boats formerly called at the island. Oysters were once easily transported from Carabane to Dakar, where they were either sold by the pickers themselves or by hawkers
.
Crustacean
s, such as sand fiddler crabs
and shrimp, among the mangroves also occupy a significant place in the local economy. While a large number of shrimp species inhabit the Senegambian area, a single family exists in Casamance: Penaeidae
. Southern pink shrimp (Farfantepenaeus notialis) are the most commonly collected. They were traditionally caught as part of local artisan fishing by men, women, and children. Shrimp collection in the area experienced significant development in the 1960s, following the establishment of European industrial units. The local fishermen switched to this method, and there was an increased presence of fishermen from other areas. A study in 2005 revealed the extent to which the shrimp population in the region has been depleted, citing multiple causes, including diminishing rainfall, over-salinization of the estuary, and poorly controlled harvesting. Along with the mangrove degradation, the civil unrest, and the inadequate fishery regulation, Casamance has had to deal with the closure in 2003 of a major industrial complex in Ziguinchor
which treated and exported shrimp and other crustaceans and employed more than 2,000 people.
Grouped into cooperatives,An example of a cooperative run by women: women play a leading role in the island's economy. Notably through microcredit
, they engage in fishing-related activities, such as smoking fish and processing shrimp, oysters, and shellfish in general. As there is no industrial activity on the island (the closest such activity is in Ziguinchor), the island is experiencing a rural exodus
of young people. They return to help their parents in the rice fields and participate in religious ceremonies during the dry season, but they tend to settle off the island permanently.
The Republic of Senegal
placed an emphasis on tourism
early in its history. The results were promising, and developing the industry further became a priority in the country's 4th Economic and Social Plan (1973–1977). Casamance subsequently became the main tourist destination in the country. Already having been described in the 19th century by Captain Brosselard-Faidherbe
as a kind of Brazil in Africa, Carabane seemed well-placed to attract visitors in search of exoticism
as well as vacationers seeking sandy beaches and kite surfing.
At the same time, national and even international controversy threatened the industry from the beginning. Those who opposed tourism in Senegal described it as a new form of colonialism
while supporters saw it as a panacea that would cure the country of underdevelopment
. The idea of alternative tourism was discussed. Several towns in Basse Casamance, including Carabane, were selected to test an integrated agritourism
managed by the villagers themselves. In the early 1970s, the agritourism promoter Christian Saglio, a young French sociologist who later became the director of the Leopold Sedar Senghor French Institute
in Dakar
, believed in Carabane's potential. He stated that he wanted to make the island the "Gorée
of Casamance", using it as a hub for other camps. Saglio suggested the restoration of old buildings and canopy bed
s.
Despite his fervour, Saglio's negotiations with the local people were unsuccessful. Niomoune
and Carabane were the first two villages to attempt to apply this innovative approach, but both failed. The inhabitants were reluctant to participate, and the young inexperienced promoter had to abandon some of his ethnographic
theories in favour of being careful to understand the daily realities of villages. The project was eventually abandoned, and the Catholic missions
house was transformed by the nuns themselves into a modern, functional building. Despite the failure of Saglio's initiative in Carabane, agritourist camps were set up over the following decade in a dozen other nearby towns.The camps were set up in Elinkine
, Enampore
, Baïla
, Thionck Essyl
, Coubalan
, Affiniam
, Abéné
, Oussouye and Palmarin
.
While Carabane's tourism sector has suffered because it has not taken part in the network of villages, tourists have avoided travelling to Casamance in general because of the civil unrest. The signing of a ceasefire
in 2004 allowed tourism to resume, but not to the extent it had reached before the conflict.
Tour operators continue to advertise the island as a lost paradise surrounded by mangroves where travellers' exotic dreams come to life, but this type of discovery tourism is not as popular as traditional beach-related tourism. Thus, visitors from France, Spain, and Italy often combine tours of the cases á impluvium
in Enampore
or Mlomp
with a few days of relaxation in Carabane. The area is also very conducive to the interests of fishing enthusiasts. Along the beach, small stalls offer traditional crafts and clothes at prices lower than those in Cap Skirring
or Saly
. Badji Malang, a local painter, potter, sculptor, and poet, has created a camp in the area.
Although remaining separate from the local tourism network, Carabane has demonstrated its support for social solidarity and holism
by joining GENSEN (Global Ecovillage Network Senegal), a network of Senegalese ecovillage
s.
Carabane has many historic sites, such as the Catholic mission house built in 1880 which has since been turned into a hotel, a Brittany
-style church building which is no longer in use, and a former slave-trade building. There is also a French cemetery where a Troupes de marine
-Captain with the name Aristide Protet was shot with a poisoned arrow and buried standing up in front of the sea, according to his last wishes. Some tour guides falsely claim that this was Auguste Léopold Protet
, the founder of the city of Dakar, but the name Aristide Protet is clearly shown on the tomb's plaque.
Near the beach are ruins of buildings, pontoons
, and wells, with a large tree in the center. A huge piece of metal in its midst bears the inscription CEO Forrester & Co. Vauxhall Foundry. 18 Liverpool S3.
Carabane was added to the list of historic sites and monuments of Senegal in 2003. An application for Carabane to become a World Heritage Site
was filed with UNESCO
on November 18, 2005.
Inspired by Gorée's example, Carabane is attempting to pay homage to victims of slavery
by starting a small museum like the House of Slaves
. Historic research has not established with certainty the role that Carabane played in the African slave trade
.
Like Gorée and Saint-Louis
, Carabane places great importance on its cultural heritage
. The architectural reminders of this heritage require significant restoration as they have experienced considerable degradation. In 1964, French anthropologist Louis-Vincent Thomas
posed the question of whether Carabane should be preserved, and this question continues to be relevant. The local people suggest that the entire Diogue
–Nikine
–Carabane area needs saving.
drawn up by Aristide Vallon
in 1862, corrected in 1869 and edited in 1871
Filmography Casamance: l'autre Sénégal, documentary film
by Virginie Berda, 2006 Un nouveau bateau pour la Casamance, news report by Anne Gouraud and Olivier Bonnet produced by France 3
for the television series Thalassa, 2006
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, in the mouth of the Casamance River
Casamance River
The Casamance River flows westward for the most part into the Atlantic Ocean along a path about 200 miles in length. However, only 80 miles of it are navigable. The Casamance is the principal river of the Kolda, Sédhiou, and Ziguinchor Regions in the southern portion of Senegal between The...
. This relatively recent geological formation consists of a shoal
Shoal
Shoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...
and alluvium
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
to which soil is added by accumulation in the branches and roots of the mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
trees which cover most of the island. Along with the rest of Ziguinchor Region
Ziguinchor Region
Ziguinchor is a region of Senegal . The region is also referred to historically and popularly as Basse Casamance.-Departments:Ziguinchor region is divided into 3 departments:*Bignona...
, Carabane has a tropical climate, cycling between a dry season
Dry season
The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...
and a wet season
Wet season
The the wet season, or rainy season, is the time of year, covering one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region occurs. The term green season is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the...
. The island was once considered an arid location where no useful plants were likely to grow, but it now supports several types of fruit tree, the most common of which are mango
Mango
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
s and oranges. Although the nearby Basse Casamance National Park
Basse Casamance National Park
Located near Oussouye in Ziguinchor, Basse Casamance National Park is one of six national parks in Senegal. It is currently closed.-Characteristics:It encompasses an area of 5000 hectares.The main biotopes are Guinean forests and savannah woodlands....
and Kalissaye Avifaunal Reserve
Kalissaye Avifaunal Reserve
'Kalissaye Avifaunal Reserve' is a small nature reserve in Senegal, located at the mouth of Kalissaye Pond in the middle of the Casamance River....
have been closed for years because of the Casamance Conflict
Casamance Conflict
The Casamance Conflict is a low-level civil war that has been waged between the Government of Senegal and the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance since 1982 over the question of independence for the Casamance region....
, Carabane has continued to attract ornithologists interested in its wide variety of birds. Various species of fish are plentiful around the island, but there are very few mammals.
The earliest known inhabitants of the island were the Jola
Jola people
The Jola are an ethnic group found in Senegal , The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. There are great numbers on the Atlantic coast between the southern banks of the Gambia River, the Casamance region of Senegal and the northern part of Guinea-Bissau...
, the ethnic group which is still the most populous on the island. The Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
were active in the region from the 16th century onwards; however, they did not linger on "Mosquito Island", the mosquitoes and black flies
Simulium
Simulium is a genus of black flies, which may transmit diseases such as onchocerciasis . It is a large genus with several hundred species, and 41 sub-genera....
convincing them to establish their trading post in the town of Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000...
instead in 1645. On January 22, 1836, the island was ceded to France by the village leader of Kagnout
Kagnout
Kagnout is a village in Casamance, Senegal. It is located near the left bank of the estuary of the Casamance River.- History :...
in return for an annual payment of 196 francs. A series of treaties between the French and the leaders of the local peoples ensued; however, the inhabitants of Carabane did not recognize the authority of the treaties imposed upon them, resulting in lootings and abductions among French rice farmers by the Karoninka people
Karoninka people
°The Karoninka people are an ethnic group in West Africa related to the Jola. They live mainly in Casamance, Senegal, on the right bank of the Casamance River and the islands in the mouth, but also in The Gambia.-External links:...
. In 1869, Carabane became autonomous, but it merged with Sédhiou
Sédhiou
Sédhiou is a town of Senegal, in Casamance area, nearby the Casamance river.-History:The main historical culture of Sédhiou came from the Mandinka people, but many population is localisate on the area nowadays.-Geography:...
in 1886. Since , the population of the island has gradually declined for a variety of reasons including periods of drought, the Casamance Conflict and, more recently, the sinking of the ferry Joola in 2002. Because the Joola was the primary means of travel to and from Carabane, much of the village's ability to trade and receive tourists has been lost.
Although Carabane was once a regional capital, the village has since become so politically isolated from the rest of the country that it no longer fits into any category of the administrative structure decreed by the Senegalese government. The Jola account for the majority of the island's population and Jola society has no formal hierarchy. The indigenous
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
population was originally animist
Animism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
, but although the sacred groves and fetishes
Fetishism
A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a man-made object that has power over others...
survive as cultural icons of Casamance
Casamance
Casamance is the area of Senegal south of The Gambia including the Casamance River. It consists of Basse Casamance and Haute Casamance...
, the monotheistic
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
belief systems of Catholicism
Roman Catholicism in Senegal
The Roman Catholic Church in Senegal is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome....
and Islam
Islam in Senegal
Islam is the predominant religion in Senegal. Ninety-four percent of the country's population is estimated to be Muslim. Most Muslims in Senegal are members of one of the Sufi brotherhoods. Islam has existed in Senegal for more than a millennium...
have become the most widely held in Carabane. The literacy rate is approximately 90%. Students attend a primary school on the island, but must move at least as far as Elinkine
Elinkine
Elinkine is a town in Casamance, Senegal, located at the mouth of the Casamance River, from Oussouye.-History:...
to continue their studies.
The testimonies of explorers and colonial administrators demonstrate that Carabane has participated in rice cultivation, fishery, trade, and palm wine
Palm wine
Palm wine also called Palm Toddy also called "Kallu" written in Malayalam and கள்ளு in Tamil or simply Toddy is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, and coconut palms...
production for a long time. The rice cycle plays a central economic and religious role in the lives of the population. Palm oil
Palm oil
Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the...
and palm wine are very popular and traditional in the area. The fishery has long been dominated by artisan fishing
Artisan fishing
Artisan fishing is a term used to describe small scale low-technology commercial or subsistence fishing practices. The term particularly applies to coastal or island ethnic groups using traditional techniques such as rod and tackle, arrows and harpoons, throw nets and drag nets, and traditional...
, which supplies the daily needs of the island's population; however, broader economic possibilities have been exploited since the early 20th century. Although there have been attempts to cultivate a tourism industry on the island, the inhabitants have been reluctant to participate. Carabane was added to the list of historic sites and monuments of Senegal in 2003.
Toponymy
The etymologyEtymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of Carabane remains unclear. It could be connected to the Wolof
Wolof language
Wolof is a language spoken in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania, and is the native language of the Wolof people. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, it belongs to the Atlantic branch of the Niger–Congo language family...
word karabané, which means "who speaks a lot," or possibly the Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
words casa and acaba, which mean "house" and "finish," respectively. According to this hypothesis, the name means the place "where the houses are finished," a possible allusion to the fact that this village was the first French capital in Basse Casamance. According to other sources, the name comes from karam akam, which means "the other side of the river." These uncertainties are augmented by the instability of the spelling: Karabane with an initial K suggests a Jola or Wolof origin, while Carabane with a C would suggest a Latin derivation, most probably through Portuguese or French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.More rarely, one may find the spelling Karaban (notably in English and German sources) or Karabanne (particularly in Spanish and Portuguese sources).
Location
Casamance River
The Casamance River flows westward for the most part into the Atlantic Ocean along a path about 200 miles in length. However, only 80 miles of it are navigable. The Casamance is the principal river of the Kolda, Sédhiou, and Ziguinchor Regions in the southern portion of Senegal between The...
in south-west Senegal. It is situated 12° 32' N latitude and 16° 43' W longitude and is, by way of Elinkine
Elinkine
Elinkine is a town in Casamance, Senegal, located at the mouth of the Casamance River, from Oussouye.-History:...
, nearly 60 kilometres (37.3 mi) away from Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000...
, the capital of the region of the same name
Ziguinchor Region
Ziguinchor is a region of Senegal . The region is also referred to historically and popularly as Basse Casamance.-Departments:Ziguinchor region is divided into 3 departments:*Bignona...
, and a little over 500 kilometres (310.7 mi) from Dakar, the country's capital.
"Il faut s'armer de patience pour rejoindre l'île de Carabane" is a common French phrase which means "One must have patience to reach the island of Carabane". While this adage continues to hold true, it was even more appropriate in the 19th century when, according to one traveller, a 26-hour boat trip from Rufisque
Rufisque
Rufisque is a city in the Dakar region of western Senegal, at the base of the Cap-Vert Peninsula. It has a population of 179,797 . In the past it was an important port city in its own right, but is now a suburb of Dakar....
(near Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
) to Carabane was deemed fairly short, and was credited to a favourable wind. Basse Casamance is more readily accessible than in the 19th century, although there is no direct link by sea.
Despite the seemingly close proximity to its neighbouring communities, a motorized pirogue
Pirogue
A pirogue is a small, flat-bottomed boat of a design associated particularly with the Cajuns of the Louisiana marsh. In West Africa they were used as traditional fishing boats. These boats are not usually intended for overnight travel but are light and small enough to be easily taken onto land...
trip to Carabane from Elinkine, the nearest village, takes about thirty minutes; the trip once took an hour and a half by canoe. Carabane may also be accessed by a two or three hour boat trip from Ziguinchor. Travelling from Cap Skirring
Cap Skirring
Cap Skirring, also spelled Cap Skiring, is a town on the Atlantic Ocean coast of the Basse Casamance region of Senegal. It is a popular seaside resort with Europeans and has an airport and a golf course. The town was first occupied by fishermen. It was discovered by the French of Ziguinchor as a...
via Cachouane
Cachouane
Cachouane is a town in Basse Casamance, southern Senegal, located in the mouth of the Casamance River, south of the island of Carabane.-History:...
is also possible, but as a detailed map of the region would make clear, the channels of salt water are not easily navigated. Carabane's landing is located on a small peninsula on the northeastern coast of the island, which means that boats need to sail along a significant portion of the coast before being able to land.
Geology
Shoal
Shoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...
and alluvium
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
. The alluvium has developed because of the saltwater streams that cut across the shoal. As pointed out by early French observers, soils in the region are generally composed of sand and clay, differing in mixture and layer according to natural and human factors. However, Carabane seems to be composed entirely of sand. The lack of clay is the reason that architecture on the island employs straw wrapped around wooden frames more often than banco mud bricks. This type of architecture is also common in the villages of Mlomp
Mlomp
Mlomp is a rural community and village in the Ziguinchor Region of Senegal in the Casamance, situated approximately south-west of Ziguinchor.As of 2000 it had a population of 7,628, rising to around 8,500 in 2006...
and Seleki
Seleki
Seleki is a village in Basse Casamance in the south of Senegal. The presence of cases à impluvium, typical of Jola architecture, greatly contribute to the reputation of the village.-History:...
.
In this flat and marshy area, the branches and roots of mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
trees form dams where deposits of oyster shells naturally accumulate along with mud and plant detritus. These tangles help retain soil, a process which expands the island where the power of tidal race
Tidal race
Tidal race is a natural occurrence whereby a fast moving tide passes through a constriction resulting in the formation of waves, eddies and hazardous currents...
would normally have the opposite effect.
Rising just over 2 m (7 ft), the southern portion of the island is partially flooded during the rainy season and totally submerged every few years. At low tide, mudflats are exposed so that boats with keel
Keel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...
s are forced to dock a considerable distance from the island. When arriving at Carabane, the Joola had to stop about 500 m (1500 ft) north of the village in 8 to 10 m (25–35 ft) of water.
Coastal erosion
Coastal erosion is the wearing away of land and the removal of beach or dune sediments by wave action, tidal currents, wave currents, or drainage...
and salinization affecting the west of Senegal are also a source of concern on the island; signs of erosion have been observed in Carabane since 1849. The house of the government representative on the island has burned down twice; each time it was rebuilt, the site of the building had to be moved further and further inland. The island's erosion is evident when one considers that the original location of the house eventually became flooded, even at low tide. During the dry season the river has a tide-dominated delta, with tidewater reaching 200 km upstream, while it is being concentrated 50% by evaporation.
Using wells, freshwater is available at a reasonable depth for irrigation and domestic purposes. Until the installation of a pump in 2006, however, drinking water had to be sent by boat from Elinkine.
Climate
The tropical climate of Basse Casamance cycles between a dry seasonDry season
The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...
and a wet season
Wet season
The the wet season, or rainy season, is the time of year, covering one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region occurs. The term green season is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the...
, which usually starts in June and ends in October. Because of the proximity to the ocean, the humidity of the air remains above 40% and contributes to the abundance of vegetation. With the trade wind
Trade wind
The trade winds are the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the tropics, within the lower portion of the Earth's atmosphere, in the lower section of the troposphere near the Earth's equator...
s from the Azores High
Azores High
The Azores High is a large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure found near the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, at the Horse latitudes...
, the island enjoys a pleasant climate year-round. In the north to north-east, these winds are cool and always wet. Their presence is appreciated by kitesurfers
Kitesurfing
Kitesurfing or Kiteboarding is an adventure surface water sport that has been described as combining wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, and gymnastics into one extreme sport. Kitesurfing harnesses the power of the wind to propel a rider across the water on a small surfboard or a...
. Agricultural activities, including rice cultivation, depend entirely on rainfall. "Wah uŋejutumu, emit elaatut" is a Jola
Jola people
The Jola are an ethnic group found in Senegal , The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. There are great numbers on the Atlantic coast between the southern banks of the Gambia River, the Casamance region of Senegal and the northern part of Guinea-Bissau...
proverb which means "If a project will not be completed, it will be because the rain did not fall." The invocation of fetishes
Fetishism
A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a man-made object that has power over others...
when there is no rain is part of traditional animist rituals. In recent decades, there has been a general decline in rainfall, which threatens rice production, increases soil salinity, and contributes to the degradation of the mangroves. In May and June, air temperature is around 28 °C (82.4 °F). In January and February, the coldest months, it is around 24 °C (75.2 °F). Temperatures of below 18 °C (64.4 °F) are quite rare. In September, the temperature of surface seawater is 26 °C (78.8 °F).
Flora
Emmanuel Bertrand-Bocandé
Emmanuel Bertrand-Bocandé was an explorer, businessman, and French colonial administrator who helped spread French influence in Basse Casamance, Senegal, specifically on the island of Carabane...
submitted a report which documented in great detail the plant species then present on the island. Although this report was written in 1849, the information it contains has remained valuable even into the 21st century.
Most of Carabane is covered in mangroves, forming an impassable jungle that can only be crossed in constructed passages. Mangroves are among the few species capable of adapting to the highly saline environment, where the quantity of oxygen in the soil is low. In recent decades there has been concern that the mangroves are less prevalent. There are various reasons for the degradation, including crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s and the unregulated exploitation of wood. Efforts have been made to safeguard the mangroves and to educate children about their importance.
While not as plentiful as in other parts of Basse Casamance such as Mlomp
Mlomp
Mlomp is a rural community and village in the Ziguinchor Region of Senegal in the Casamance, situated approximately south-west of Ziguinchor.As of 2000 it had a population of 7,628, rising to around 8,500 in 2006...
, kapok
Kapok
Ceiba pentandra is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae , native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and to tropical west Africa...
trees are nonetheless present. Their grey wood is very light and easy to work, for which reasons it is used to construct many items, ranging from doors to dugouts
Dugout (boat)
A dugout or dugout canoe is a boat made from a hollowed tree trunk. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. Monoxylon is Greek -- mono- + ξύλον xylon -- and is mostly used in classic Greek texts. In Germany they are called einbaum )...
. Jola canoes, which range from 6 to 8 m (19.7 to 26.2 ) in length, are carved by adze
Adze
An adze is a tool used for smoothing or carving rough-cut wood in hand woodworking. Generally, the user stands astride a board or log and swings the adze downwards towards his feet, chipping off pieces of wood, moving backwards as they go and leaving a relatively smooth surface behind...
s entirely out of one tree each, unlike the traditional Senegalese pirogue.
As for fruit trees, mango
Mango
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
s and oranges are the most populous. Prickly pears
Opuntia ficus-indica
Opuntia ficus-indica is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant important in agricultural economies throughout arid and semiarid parts of the world. It is thought to possibly be native to Mexico...
, flamboyants, and colourful bougainvillea
Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina . Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus...
s brighten the scenery of hotels and camps on the island. Various organizations have contributed to the deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
of the island.
Fauna
Basse Casamance National Park
Located near Oussouye in Ziguinchor, Basse Casamance National Park is one of six national parks in Senegal. It is currently closed.-Characteristics:It encompasses an area of 5000 hectares.The main biotopes are Guinean forests and savannah woodlands....
and Kalissaye Avifaunal Reserve
Kalissaye Avifaunal Reserve
'Kalissaye Avifaunal Reserve' is a small nature reserve in Senegal, located at the mouth of Kalissaye Pond in the middle of the Casamance River....
have not been open for years due to the Casamance Conflict
Casamance Conflict
The Casamance Conflict is a low-level civil war that has been waged between the Government of Senegal and the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance since 1982 over the question of independence for the Casamance region....
, Carabane has been found to be very conducive to ornithological observation. A study in 1998 discovered the following species on the island: African Darter
African Darter
The African Darter , sometimes called the Snakebird, is a water bird of sub-Saharan Africa.-Taxonomy:The African Darter is a member of the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to American , Oriental , and Australian Darters.-Description:The male is mainly glossy...
(Anhinga rufa), Goliath Heron
Goliath Heron
The Goliath Heron is a very large wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa, with smaller numbers in Southwest and South Asia.-Description:This is the world's largest heron...
(Ardea goliath), Palm-nut Vulture
Palm-nut Vulture
The Palm-nut Vulture or Vulturine Fish Eagle, is a very large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, buzzards and harriers, vultures, and eagles. It is the only member of the genus Gypohierax...
(Gypohierax angolensis), Black-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
The Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa limosa, is a large, long-legged, long-billed shorebird first described by Carolus Linnaeus in 1758. It is a member of the Limosa genus, the godwits...
(Limosa limosa), Whimbrel
Whimbrel
The Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the mostwidespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic North America, Europe and Asia as far south as Scotland....
(Numenius phaeopus), Eurasian Curlew
Eurasian Curlew
The Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia...
(Numenius arquata), Caspian Tern
Caspian Tern
The Caspian Tern is a species of tern, with a subcosmopolitan but scattered distribution. Despite its extensive range, it is monotypic of its genus, and has no subspecies accepted either...
(Sterna caspia), Blue-spotted Wood-dove
Blue-spotted Wood-dove
The Blue-spotted Wood Dove is a species of bird in the Columbidae family.It is found in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana,...
(Turtur afer), Red-eyed Dove
Red-eyed Dove
The Red-eyed Dove is a pigeon which is a widespread resident breeding bird in Africa south of the Sahara. It is a common, if not abundant, species in most habitats other than desert....
(Streptopelia semitorquata), White-rumped Swift
White-rumped Swift
The White-rumped Swift is a small swift. Although this bird is superficially similar to a House Martin, it is completely unrelated to that passerine species. The resemblances between the swallows and swifts are due to convergent evolution reflecting similar life styles.Swifts have very short legs...
(Apus caffer), Woodland Kingfisher
Woodland Kingfisher
The Woodland Kingfisher is a tree kingfisher.-Description:This is a medium-sized kingfisher, 20–23 cm in length. The adult has a bright blue back, wing panel and tail. Its head, neck and underparts are white, and its shoulders are black. The flight of the Woodland Kingfisher is rapid and direct...
(Halcyon senegalensis), Grey-backed Camaroptera
Grey-backed Camaroptera
The Grey-backed Camaroptera is a small warbler. This bird is a resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara Desert....
(Camaroptera brachyura), Red-bellied Paradise-flycatcher (Terpsiphone rufiventer), Pied Crow
Pied Crow
The Pied Crow is a widely distributed African bird species in the crow genus.Structurally, the Pied Crow is better thought of as a small crow-sized Raven, especially as it can hybridise with the Somali Crow where their ranges meet in the Horn of Africa...
(Corvus albus), Black-rumped Waxbill
Black-rumped Waxbill
The Black-rumped Waxbill is a common species of estrildid finch found in Southern Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 2,000,000 km²....
(Estrilda troglodytres) and Yellow-fronted Canary
Yellow-fronted Canary
The Yellow-fronted Canary is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is known elsewhere and in aviculture as the Green Singing Finch....
(Serinus mozambicus).
Fish are plentiful in the waters surrounding the island, where one may encounter trevallies
Carangidae
Carangidae is a family of fish which includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, and scads.They are marine fish found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans...
(Carangidae), Giant African threadfin
Giant African threadfin
Giant African threadfin is a fish species in the family Polynemidae. There are two varieties: one freshwater and one saltwater. Both have white flesh and are cooked similarly to European seabass.-Biography:...
s (Polydactylus quadrifilis), great barracuda
Great barracuda
The great barracuda is a species of barracuda. Great barracudas often grow over long and are a type of ray-finned fish.-Appearance:...
s (Sphyraena barracuda), or African red snapper
African red snapper
African red snapper is a species of fish in the Lutjanidae family.It is a saltwater fish from Africa. It gets its name from its red colour....
s (Lutjanus agennes). The mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
s are home to many crustaceans such as southern pink shrimp
Southern pink shrimp
Southern pink shrimp, Farfantepenaeus notialis, is a species of marine crustacean in the family Penaeidae. It was once considered part of the genus Penaeus, but has since been reassigned to the genus Farfantepenaeus...
(Farfantepenaeus notialis), sand fiddler crabs
Uca pugilator
Uca pugilator, the sand fiddler crab is a small fiddler crab found in sandy or muddy intertidal areas, or mangrove-covered ground, where it digs its holes in the root-filled ground. It uses these holes for shelter from the elements and predators. The carapace is a square shape, tapering slightly to...
(Uca pugilator), and molluscs
Mollusca
The Mollusca , common name molluscs or mollusksSpelled mollusks in the USA, see reasons given in Rosenberg's ; for the spelling mollusc see the reasons given by , is a large phylum of invertebrate animals. There are around 85,000 recognized extant species of molluscs. Mollusca is the largest...
. The shellfish population consists mostly of mangrove oyster
Mangrove oyster
Mangrove oyster is a true oyster in the Ostreidae family....
s (Crassostrea gasar), which cling to uncovered mangrove roots at low tide. The red-headed agama
Agama agama
The Common Agama, Red-headed Rock Agama, or Rainbow Agama is a species of lizard from the Agamidae family, found in most of Subsaharan Africa....
and monitor lizard
Monitor lizard
Monitor lizards are usually large reptiles, although some can be as small as in length. They have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. Most species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semiaquatic monitors are also known...
make up the reptilian population of the island.
Bottlenose Dolphin
Bottlenose dolphins, the genus Tursiops, are the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Recent molecular studies show the genus contains two species, the common bottlenose dolphin and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin , instead of one...
s (Tursiops truncatus) are commonly sighted off the island. The lack of tourism because of the civil unrest and the sinking of the Joola has benefited biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
. In this way, the nearby Basse Casamance National Park
Basse Casamance National Park
Located near Oussouye in Ziguinchor, Basse Casamance National Park is one of six national parks in Senegal. It is currently closed.-Characteristics:It encompasses an area of 5000 hectares.The main biotopes are Guinean forests and savannah woodlands....
, which has been closed for years, has seen a remarkable return of Nile crocodile
Nile crocodile
The Nile crocodile or Common crocodile is an African crocodile which is common in Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Egypt, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Gabon, South Africa, Malawi, Sudan, Botswana, and Cameroon...
s (Crocodylus niloticus), Senegalese manatees (Trichechus senegalensis), and breeding birds.
On an island called Ilha dos Mosquitos (Portuguese for "Mosquito Island"), the natives and their visitors continue to protect themselves with mosquito net
Mosquito net
A mosquito net offers protection against mosquitos, flies, and other insects, and thus against diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and various forms of encephalitis, including the West Nile virus, if used properly and especially if treated with an insecticide, which can double...
s and Shea butter
Shea butter
Shea butter is a slightly yellowish or ivory-colored fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree . It is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer, salve or lotion. Shea butter is edible and may be used in food preparation...
. They must also protect themselves from other, smaller insects which are no less troublesome: black flies
Simulium
Simulium is a genus of black flies, which may transmit diseases such as onchocerciasis . It is a large genus with several hundred species, and 41 sub-genera....
(Simulium).
First inhabitants
Jola people
The Jola are an ethnic group found in Senegal , The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. There are great numbers on the Atlantic coast between the southern banks of the Gambia River, the Casamance region of Senegal and the northern part of Guinea-Bissau...
. Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
sailors reached the west African coast in the 15th century, and in the 16th century Portuguese traders became active in the Casamance region, mostly in search of wax
Wax
thumb|right|[[Cetyl palmitate]], a typical wax ester.Wax refers to a class of chemical compounds that are plastic near ambient temperatures. Characteristically, they melt above 45 °C to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents...
, ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
, and slaves
Slavery in Africa
-Chattel slavery:Chattel slavery was the type of slavery practiced in the Americas during the time of the Atlantic slave trade.Slaves were used as workers for Americans.-Pawnship:...
. They did not linger on "Mosquito Island", instead founding their first trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
at Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000...
in 1645.
In the late 1820s, a mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
trader from Gorée
Gorée
Île de Gorée Île de Gorée Île de Gorée (i.e. "Gorée Island"; is one of the 19 communes d'arrondissement (i.e. "commune of arrondissement") of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is a island located at sea from the main harbor of Dakar ....
, Pierre Baudin, moved to Itou
Itou
Itou is a settled point on the north bank of the Casamance River mouth in southern Senegal. As the first place on the Casamance at which the flag of colonial France was raised in 1828, it became instrumental in the growth of the slave trade and other commerce on that river system....
and began planting rice and producing lime
Lime (mineral)
Lime is a general term for calcium-containing inorganic materials, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides predominate. Strictly speaking, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for a single mineral of the CaO composition, occurring very rarely...
by crushing the shells of mangrove oysters and cooking them in lime kilns. The French administration treated Baudin as their representative on the island and did not send others because few of the French wanted to live on the island. Being wet and marshy, Carabane had a reputation for its poor sanitation. The local economy was based mainly on red rice
Red rice
Red rice may refer to:*Red rice, also known as weedy rice, a low-yielding rice variety that persists as a weed in fields of better-quality rice* Thai Red Cargo rice, a non-glutinous long grain rice variety...
, which was sold in Ziguinchor or to the British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
in The Gambia
The Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....
. The Baudin family used slaves to produce the rice and, despite the declaration of its official abolition
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
in the French colonial empire
French colonial empire
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
in 1848, slavery continued on the island until the early 20th century.
The colonial administration wanted to expand its influence around the river, particularly because the inhabitants of Gorée were threatened with losing part of their resources with the imminent demise of the slave trade
African slave trade
Systems of servitude and slavery were common in many parts of Africa, as they were in much of the ancient world. In some African societies, the enslaved people were also indentured servants and fully integrated; in others, they were treated much worse...
, and also because of their competition with Saint-Louis
Saint-Louis, Senegal
Saint-Louis, or Ndar as it is called in Wolof, is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 km north of Senegal's capital city Dakar, it has a population officially estimated at 176,000 in 2005. Saint-Louis...
. On January 9, 1836, Lieutenant Malavois, who was in charge of Gorée, left for Casamance in search of a site for a trading post. The tip of Diogue
Diogue
Diogue is both an island and a village in the rural community of Kafountine, Diouloulou, Bignona, Ziguinchor, Casamance. In 2003, there were 563 people and 78 households in Diogue....
, on the north shore, was first considered, but at the refusal of the Jola, it was the opposite bank which was eventually accepted.
French colonization
On January 22, 1836, the island was ceded to France by the village leader of KagnoutKagnout
Kagnout is a village in Casamance, Senegal. It is located near the left bank of the estuary of the Casamance River.- History :...
at an annual cost of 196 francs. Still, another treaty made Sédhiou
Sédhiou
Sédhiou is a town of Senegal, in Casamance area, nearby the Casamance river.-History:The main historical culture of Sédhiou came from the Mandinka people, but many population is localisate on the area nowadays.-Geography:...
the primary trading post of Casamance
Casamance
Casamance is the area of Senegal south of The Gambia including the Casamance River. It consists of Basse Casamance and Haute Casamance...
, and the exploitation of Carabane was left for some time in the hands of the Baudin family, first Pierre then his brother Jean. Each successively took on the title of Resident. With this official but ambiguous title, they were permitted to continue their trading operation so long as they regularly reported to France.
Emmanuel Bertrand-Bocandé
Emmanuel Bertrand-Bocandé was an explorer, businessman, and French colonial administrator who helped spread French influence in Basse Casamance, Senegal, specifically on the island of Carabane...
. This multilingual, enterprising businessman and entomologist
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
from Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
transformed "his" island, sparking a resurgence of commercial and political activity. In 1852, the population surpassed 1,000 inhabitants. A cadastral map
Cadastre
A cadastre , using a cadastral survey or cadastral map, is a comprehensive register of the metes-and-bounds real property of a country...
assigned tracts of 30 square metres (35.9 sq yd) to traders and contractors. Other tracts of 15 square metres (17.9 sq yd) were allotted for housing. Provisional concessions were granted to residents of Saint-Louis and Gorée. Other than settlers, the island was mainly inhabited by animist Jola famers, whose practices were disconcerting to the settlers. Coexistence was not always easy. Christianity was practiced by the Europeans and some of the residents of Gorée, although the island did not yet have a church. Missionaries tried but were not permitted to settle on the island.
The construction of a wharf 116 metres (380.6 ft) long allowed the berthing of larger vessels coming in from Casamance. A railed pier was built along the river in order to facilitate the transfer of goods. Carabane exported rice, but also cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, considered to be of poor quality, which was ginned
Cotton gin
A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, a job formerly performed painstakingly by hand...
in a factory built by Bertrand-Bocandé in 1840, owned first by Maurel & Prom
Maurel & Prom
The Maurel and Prom Company was a French public company based in Paris and dating back to 1813...
and then by the Casamance Company. The factory also produced almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
s and crabwood
Carapa
Carapa is a genus in the mahogany family Meliaceae. The c. 25 species become medium-sized to large trees to 30 m tall, occurring in tropical South America and Africa; common names for include Andiroba and Crabwood.-Species:...
(Carapa procera).
Bertrand-Bocandé became involved in local African politics during his time as Resident. When an intertribal conflict led to an armed raid of Carabane, he mediated the conflict. In 1850, the island's economic growth was disturbed because of an extensive livestock raid
Raid (military)
Raid, also known as depredation, is a military tactic or operational warfare mission which has a specific purpose and is not normally intended to capture and hold terrain, but instead finish with the raiding force quickly retreating to a previous defended position prior to the enemy forces being...
which precipitated further incidents the following year. In response to this conflict with the former owners of Carabane, the residents of Kagnout, Bertrand-Bocandé convinced the governor of Senegal to send a warship to Carabane to frighten off the raiders. This single ship failed to faze the island's opponents, therefore Bertrand-Bocandé requested a detachment of soldiers and several other ships from the governor. When these reinforcements arrived from Gorée, the conflict was successfully ended. A treaty was signed on March 25, establishing the sovereignty of France not only in Casamance, but also in Kagnout and Samatit
Samatit
Samatit is a village in the rural community of Mlomp, Loudia Ouoloff, Oussouye, Ziguinchor, Casamance.-Geography:The nearest towns are Carabane, Kagnout, Loudia Diola, Elinkine, Santhiaba Ouolof.-External links:...
. For his involvement in the conflict, Bertrand-Bocandé was accepted into the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
and was given a land concession
Concession (territory)
In international law, a concession is a territory within a country that is administered by an entity other than the state which holds sovereignty over it. This is usually a colonizing power, or at least mandated by one, as in the case of colonial chartered companies.Usually, it is conceded, that...
. Bertrand-Bocandé left the island in 1857 for a leave of absence, but he abandoned his post as Resident in 1860. His tireless activity had a lasting effect on the island.
Karoninka people
°The Karoninka people are an ethnic group in West Africa related to the Jola. They live mainly in Casamance, Senegal, on the right bank of the Casamance River and the islands in the mouth, but also in The Gambia.-External links:...
. Troops led by Émile Pinet-Laprade
Émile Pinet-Laprade
-Biography:Succeeding Bernard Jauréguiberry, Pinet-Laprade was governor of Senegal from May 13, 1863 until July 14, 1863. Louis Faidherbe then took over until May 1, 1865, when Pinet-Laprade assumed the position again until July 14, 1863. Ferdinand Charles Alexandre Tredos then succeeded him...
attacked the Karoninka villages in March 1860, forcing them to submission. A period of calm ensued. While the Mandinka
Mandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....
Muslims continued, illegally, to practice slavery and trade, non-Muslim villages tended to come together, accepting the Resident of Carabane as the arbitrator of their disagreements.
In 1869, Carabane became autonomous, but it merged with Sédhiou in 1886. Its garrison of a dozen men was regularly stricken with tropical diseases such as malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
. In 1877, 527 people were counted on the island, mostly Jola, but also some Wolof
Wolof people
The Wolof are an ethnic group found in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania.In Senegal, the Wolof form an ethnic plurality with about 43.3% of the population are Wolofs...
s, Muslims, and a few Manjacks
Manjack people
The Manjack people are an ethnic group in Guinea-Bissau. They are known as Manjaku by the Manjacks themselves, Ndiago by the Wolofs of Senegal, Manjaco by the Portuguese, and Manjaque by the French...
from Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea was the name for what is today Guinea-Bissau from 1446 to September 10, 1974.-History:...
.
The first Catholic mission in Sédhiou was founded in 1875 and the first baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
s were celebrated that same year in Carabane. There were 17 people baptised in total, most of whom were residents of the island. The Holy Ghost Fathers
Holy Ghost Fathers
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit is a Roman Catholic congregation of priests, lay brothers, and since Vatican II, lay associates...
' mission in Carabane was founded in 1880 by Father Kieffer. On February 22, he settled on the island, but he served for only two years. The staff of the colonial administration was small: the manager of a customs post with four employees, a gunner
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
, a corporal
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
, and six European tirailleur
Tirailleur
Tirailleur literally means a shooting skirmisher in French from tir—shot. The term dates back to the Napoleonic period where it was used to designate light infantry trained to skirmish ahead of the main columns...
s. There were approximately 250 Christians in Carabane, mostly mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
s. The priest built his house out of Palmyra Palm
Borassus
Borassus is a genus of six species of fan palms, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and New Guinea. They are tall palms, capable of growing up to 30 m high. The leaves are long, fan-shaped, 2 to 3 m in length...
trunks. He visited nearby villages and sometimes went to Sédhiou. The founding of the mission in Carabane was followed by others in Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000...
(1888), Elinkine
Elinkine
Elinkine is a town in Casamance, Senegal, located at the mouth of the Casamance River, from Oussouye.-History:...
(1891), and several nearby locations in the 20th century. In 1900, a Spiritan
Holy Ghost Fathers
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit is a Roman Catholic congregation of priests, lay brothers, and since Vatican II, lay associates...
missionary, Father Wintz,In 1909, Father Wintz wrote a French—Jola dictionary published by the Elinkine Mission, and reedited in 1968. wrote the first catechism
Catechism
A catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
in the Jola language
Jola language
Jola or Diola is the name for a dialect cluster spoken in Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea Bissau. It belongs to the Bak branch of the Niger–Congo language family....
.
Temporarily transferred to Ziguinchor, the Carabane mission closed in 1888. Missionaries returned in 1890 and, although they immediately expanded the church building, it was still not large enough to accommodate all those who wished to attend. Thanks to subsidies by the bishop, Magloire-Désiré Barthet
Magloire-Désiré Barthet
Magloire-Désiré Barthet was Vicar Apostolic of Senegambia from July 30, 1889 to December 15, 1898. He was born on January 26, 1832 in Picarreau, Jura.-Bibliography:...
, and to donations by the parishioners, a new church was built and inaugurated on the Catholic feast day of Saint Anne
Saint Anne
Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...
in 1897. The mission also obtained two adjacent properties, lot #73 on the cadastral map. By the following year, the Christian community had performed 1,100 baptisms, as well as many catechumen
Catechumen
In ecclesiology, a catechumen , “‘down’” + ἠχή , “‘sound’”) is one receiving instruction from a catechist in the principles of the Christian religion with a view to baptism...
.
Competition between the French and the Portuguese began to show itself in the region during this period. Because the Portuguese-operated trading posts in Cacheu
Cacheu
Cacheu is a town in north western Guinea-Bissau, lying on the Cacheu River. Population 9,849 .-History and landmarks:The town of Cacheu is situated in territory of the Papel people....
and Farim
Farim
Farim is a town of northern Guinea-Bissau. It sits on the north bank of the Farim/Cacheu River, about 135 miles up the river from Cacheu. Population 6,405 .-History:...
asked for higher prices than the French-operated trading posts in Carabane and Seju, the Portuguese lost many traders to the French. This trend led to the ceding of Ziguinchor to France, which was negotiated in Carabane in April 1888 between Commissioner Oliveira and Captain Brosselard-Faidherbe
Henri Brosselard-Faidherbe
Henri Brosselard-Faidherbe was a French military officer and explorer.-Biography:Henri François Brosselard was born on June 3, 1855. The stepson of General Louis Faidherbe, he was permitted to attach the surname of his stepfather to his own...
.
In 1901, the administrative capital of Casamance was transferred from Carabane to Ziguinchor, a status which was transferred in turn to Oussouye
Oussouye Department
' is one of the departments of Senegal, located in the Ziguinchor Region....
two years later. By 1904, Carabane had lost several of its amenities, including its customs services, which were centralized. The island's trading houses were abandoned and the number of Christians dwindled from 1,000 to 300 by 1907.
Despite the anti-clerical
Anti-clericalism
Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen...
movement's growth in France at the time, education in Carabane continued to be administered by the Holy Ghost Fathers for the boys and by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny
Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny is a Roman Catholic religious order founded in 1807. Located around the world, its members perform a variety of charitable works, but they devote themselves especially to missionary work and providing education for the poor....
for the girls. A chapel also continued to be run on the island.
In 1913, just before the outbreak of , Carabane suffered a fire which caused its business to decline. People gradually left the island in search of work in Ziguinchor and even Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
. On December 1915, Marcel de Coppet, administrator of Ziguinchor, visited the island in order to recruit tirailleurs
Senegalese Tirailleurs
The Senegalese Tirailleurs were a corps of colonial infantry in the French Army recruited from Senegal,French West Africa and throughout west, central and east Africa, the main province of the French colonial empire...
. Six inhabitants of the island accepted the position: a Christian, a pagan, and four Muslims.
In the aftermath of the Great War, the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholicism in Senegal
The Roman Catholic Church in Senegal is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome....
encountered great difficulties in the region. There was insufficient staffing, the cost of living was rising, and the harsh climate began to wear on the buildings. In 1920, the diocese had, in addition to Carabane, thirteen churches and approximately thirty-five chapels. The thirteen churches were located in Dakar, Saint-Louis
Saint-Louis, Senegal
Saint-Louis, or Ndar as it is called in Wolof, is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 km north of Senegal's capital city Dakar, it has a population officially estimated at 176,000 in 2005. Saint-Louis...
, Gorée
Gorée
Île de Gorée Île de Gorée Île de Gorée (i.e. "Gorée Island"; is one of the 19 communes d'arrondissement (i.e. "commune of arrondissement") of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is a island located at sea from the main harbor of Dakar ....
, Rufisque
Rufisque
Rufisque is a city in the Dakar region of western Senegal, at the base of the Cap-Vert Peninsula. It has a population of 179,797 . In the past it was an important port city in its own right, but is now a suburb of Dakar....
, Thiès
Thiès
Thiès is the third largest city in Senegal with a population officially estimated at 320,000 in 2005. It lies 60 km east of Dakar on the N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar, Bamako and St-Louis...
, Ngazobil
Ngazobil
Ngazobil is a village in Senegal, located on the Petite Côte, south of Dakar.-History:Since the 19th century, Ngazobil has housed a Catholic mission, one of the oldest in Senegal, established by François Libermann of Saverne, founder of the Congregation of The Holy Spirit.Louis-Philippe Walter...
, Joal, Fadiouth, Foundiougne, Kaolack
Kaolack
Kaolack is a town of 172,305 people on the north bank of the Saloum River and the N1 road in Senegal. It is the capital of the Kaolack Region, which borders The Gambia to the south. Kaolack is an important regional market town and is Senegal's main peanut trading and processing center...
, Ziguinchor, Bignona
Bignona
Bignona is a town located in the Ziguinchor Region of Senegal. It briefly appears in the movie Binta and the Great Idea.-Notable people:*Landing Savané, politician*Ibrahima Sonko, footballer*Lamine Diarra, footballer*Séni Camara, sculptor...
and Banjul
Banjul
-Transport:Ferries sail from Banjul to Barra. The city is served by the Banjul International Airport. Banjul is on the Trans–West African Coastal Highway connecting it to Dakar and Bissau, and will eventually provide a paved highway link to 11 other nations of ECOWAS.Banjul International Airport...
. In 1922, the Governor decreed which buildings were authorized to practise Catholicism. While the Carabane church was one of the buildings selected, some members blamed the colonial administration for having facilitated the expansion of Islam in the country
Islam in Senegal
Islam is the predominant religion in Senegal. Ninety-four percent of the country's population is estimated to be Muslim. Most Muslims in Senegal are members of one of the Sufi brotherhoods. Islam has existed in Senegal for more than a millennium...
.
In taking leadership of the diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
, Archbishop Le Hunsec
Louis Le Hunsec
Louis Le Hunsec, C.S.Sp. was Vicar Apostolic of Senegambia and then titular archbishop of Marcianopolis...
noted that the island of Carabane, heavily populated when trading was concentrated there, had lost its influence and now had fewer than 500 inhabitants. He considered transferring the mission to Oussouye
Oussouye Department
' is one of the departments of Senegal, located in the Ziguinchor Region....
, which became a reality in 1927. Starting in 1937, the mission in Oussouye also performed baptisms and funerals in Carabane.
In the same year, a reform school
Reform school
A reform school in the United States was a term used to define, often somewhat euphemistically, what was often essentially a penal institution for boys, generally teenagers.-History:...
was created on the island, operating until 1953, when it was replaced by another in Nianing
Nianing
Nianing is a city in Petite Côte, Senegal, south of Dakar, from M'Bour.-History:Nianing was once a major trading post for cotton and peanuts.Today, the city is situated on the main road that leads from M'Bour to Joal-Fadiouth.-Administration:...
. A report submitted in 1938 by an educational advisor to Marcel de Coppet, Governor General of French West Africa
French West Africa
French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea , Côte d'Ivoire , Upper Volta , Dahomey and Niger...
, detailed the daily life of the prisoners in the school which housed up to 22 boys, mostly convicted for theft but also occasionally for murder.
Recent history
Carabane's population continued to decline gradually after . In 1950, the construction of a seminary was planned in Carabane, but it was transferred to a new building in NyassiaNyassia
Niassia is a village and commune in Ziguinchor Department, Ziguinchor Region, Casamance, Senegal.-Administration:Niassia is the capital of the rural community of Niassia and Niassia district...
in 1959. The Carabane mission closed its doors during the wet season of 1953, 83 years after its inception. The nuns and their interns moved to Ziguinchor.
Senegal's independence was declared on August 20, 1960, and after the dissolution of the short-lived Mali Federation
Mali Federation
The Mali Federation was a country in West Africa. It was formed by a union between Senegal and the Sudanese Republic...
, Casamance saw the arrival of officials coming from the north. Although many of them were Wolofs and Muslims, they did not know the Jola country and its traditions. The periods of drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
that ravaged the Sahel
Sahel
The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian Savannas in the south.It stretches across the North African continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea....
in the 1970s forced peanut farmers to move to regions where rice was all that grew.
Discontent began to spread among the people, which sometimes escalated to violence. Casamance has since experienced years of conflict
Casamance Conflict
The Casamance Conflict is a low-level civil war that has been waged between the Government of Senegal and the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance since 1982 over the question of independence for the Casamance region....
which put local initiatives in jeopardy, such as nature reserves and the first network of villages. In 1998, in the middle of the conflict, the French commune of Bon-Encontre
Bon-Encontre
Bon-Encontre is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in south-western France....
committed to providing Carabane with humanitarian aid, both economically and culturally. Carabane has remained one of the calmest areas of Casamance throughout the conflict. Nonetheless, a few small incidents were reported around April 2000. The rebels may have wanted to take advantage of Carabane's reputation to attract media attention.
The ceasefire
Ceasefire
A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces...
of 2004 brought relative peace, but in the meantime, the sinking of the Joola in 2002 claimed the lives of many inhabitants of Carabane and curtailed much of its ability to engage in trade and accept tourists. Considering the problems brought on by the conflict and the sinking of the Joola along with the threat of coastal erosion
Coastal erosion
Coastal erosion is the wearing away of land and the removal of beach or dune sediments by wave action, tidal currents, wave currents, or drainage...
on the island, some fear the worst. Thus, after years of development and community outreach, Carabane is experiencing difficulties in a number of ways.
Administration
Gaullism
Gaullism is a French political ideology based on the thought and action of Resistance leader then president Charles de Gaulle.-Foreign policy:...
, unlike those of the AEF, especially because of the governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
, Félix Éboué
Félix Éboué
Félix Adolphe Éboué was a Black French colonial administrator and Free French leader. He was the first black French man appointed to high post in the French colonies, when appointed as Governor of Guadeloupe in 1936...
. even a regional capital, Carabane is now just one of 23 villages in the rural community of Diembéring
Diembéring (rural community)
Diembéring is a rural community of Senegal in Cabrousse, Oussouye, Ziguinchor, Casamance. It is situated in the west of the country along the Atlantic coast.-Geography:There are several villages in Diembéring, including:*Boucott-Diembéring*Boucotte Diola...
, of which Kabrousse
Kabrousse
Kabrousse is a village in the rural community of Diembéring, Oussouye, Ziguinchor, Casamance, Senegal.It is a coastal village located a few kilometers south of Cap Skirring...
, Cap Skirring
Cap Skirring
Cap Skirring, also spelled Cap Skiring, is a town on the Atlantic Ocean coast of the Basse Casamance region of Senegal. It is a popular seaside resort with Europeans and has an airport and a golf course. The town was first occupied by fishermen. It was discovered by the French of Ziguinchor as a...
, and Boucott-Diembéring
Boucott-Diembéring
Boucott-Diembéring is a village in the rural community of Diembéring, Cabrousse, Oussouye, Ziguinchor, Casamance....
are the largest centres. This rural community is located in the Kabrousse Arrondissement. It is part of Oussouye Department
Oussouye Department
' is one of the departments of Senegal, located in the Ziguinchor Region....
, the smallest and least central of the three departments in Ziguinchor Region
Ziguinchor Region
Ziguinchor is a region of Senegal . The region is also referred to historically and popularly as Basse Casamance.-Departments:Ziguinchor region is divided into 3 departments:*Bignona...
. In a country which includes some 13,000 villages, the village is considered, by a 1972 decree, the elementary entity in the administrative body of the nation. Each is administered by a leader, assisted by a council. After consultation, the nomination of a leader is established by the prefect and approved by the Minister of the Interior. Under Senegalese law, the leader of the village has certain prerogatives, including law enforcement, tax collection, and keeping of vital record
Vital record
Vital records are records of life events kept under governmental authority, including birth certificates, marriage licenses, and death certificates. In some jurisdictions, vital records may also include records of civil unions or domestic partnerships....
s in the village.
While this administrative structure was decreed by a government anxious to deal with interlocutors
Interlocutor (politics)
An interlocutor is someone who formally explains the views of a government and also can relay messages back to a government. Unlike a spokesperson, an interlocutor often has no formal position within a government or any formal authority to speak on its behalf, and even when they do, everything an...
, such a restructuring has not taken place in Casamance. Jola society is devoid of any formal hierarchy. It has no leader with genuine permanent authority. Instead, there are village elders who meet when important decisions need to be made. According to Italian anthropologist
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
Paolo Palmeri, the leader of the village has very little power in reality, as he is merely responsible for relations with the national administration. He simply allows the village to continue practicing its traditions. In a society where politics are inextricably linked to religion, the real holders of power are the fetish
Fetishism
A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a man-made object that has power over others...
priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
s. The very notion of a village is almost inappropriate in this context: it might be more appropriately considered a clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
or an aggregation of kinship
Kinship
Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....
. Other specialists, such as Christian Sina Diatta, compare Jola communities to those of mound-building termites
Mound-building termites
Mound-building termites or just mound builders are a group of termite species that live in mounds. This group of termites live in Africa, Australia and South America. The mounds sometimes have a diameter of 30 metres. Most of the mounds are found in well drained areas. Termite mounds usually out...
, in which each member performs a specific function and where the queen is easily replaceable.
Population
In 2003, the village of Carabane's official population count stood at 396 people and 55 households, but it fluctuates with the seasons and sometimes reaches some 1,750 people, according to local sources. Most of the population is Jola. The Jola are very distinct from other major ethnic groups in SenegalEthnic groups in Senegal
Ethnic groups in Senegal are numerous for such a small area, and subgroups can be distinguished within several of them. According to one 2005 estimate, there are twenty groups of varying size....
by their language
Jola language
Jola or Diola is the name for a dialect cluster spoken in Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea Bissau. It belongs to the Bak branch of the Niger–Congo language family....
, egalitarian society, freedom from political hierarchy, and lack of slavery. Their traditions have persevered because of their independent spirit as well as their geographical isolation. This ethnic group accounts for 80 to 90% of the residents of Basse Casamance, but only 6 to 8% of the total population of Senegal. They are the largest ethnic group in Carabane, followed by Wolofs, Lebous, and Serers
Serer people
The Serer people along with the Jola people are acknowledged to be the oldest inhabitants of The Senegambia....
(including Niominka
Niominka people
The Niominka people are an ethnic group in Senegal living on the islands of the Saloum River delta. They are currently classified as a subgroup of the Serer.-Population:...
fishermen). Manjacks
Manjack people
The Manjack people are an ethnic group in Guinea-Bissau. They are known as Manjaku by the Manjacks themselves, Ndiago by the Wolofs of Senegal, Manjaco by the Portuguese, and Manjaque by the French...
also live on the island, some of whom came from Saint-Louis
Saint-Louis, Senegal
Saint-Louis, or Ndar as it is called in Wolof, is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 km north of Senegal's capital city Dakar, it has a population officially estimated at 176,000 in 2005. Saint-Louis...
and Gorée
Gorée
Île de Gorée Île de Gorée Île de Gorée (i.e. "Gorée Island"; is one of the 19 communes d'arrondissement (i.e. "commune of arrondissement") of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is a island located at sea from the main harbor of Dakar ....
at the time of the first colonization. Two communities from neighbouring countries, one from Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
(the Susu people
Susu people
The Soso are a major Mande ethnic group living primarily in Guinea. Smaller communities are also located in the neighboring countries of Sierra Leone, Senegal and Mali. The Susu are descendants of the thirteenth century Mali Empire...
) and the other from Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
, have settled on the other side of the island at a distance from the village. There are also seasonal workers who come to fish: Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
ians, Guineans, and Gambians
The Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....
.
The indigenous population was originally animist
Animism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
, but while the fetishes and sacred groves dedicated to initiation rites
Rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ritual event that marks a person's progress from one status to another. It is a universal phenomenon which can show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures....
such as boukout
Boukout
Boukout is a Jola rite of passage practiced in Ziguinchor, Senegal.-Origin:There is evidence that this ritual has existed at least since the 12th century...
survive as cultural icons of Casamance, the monotheistic
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
belief systems of Catholicism
Roman Catholicism in Senegal
The Roman Catholic Church in Senegal is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome....
and Islam
Islam in Senegal
Islam is the predominant religion in Senegal. Ninety-four percent of the country's population is estimated to be Muslim. Most Muslims in Senegal are members of one of the Sufi brotherhoods. Islam has existed in Senegal for more than a millennium...
have become the most widely held in Carabane. The 1988 census reported that Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s account for 94% of the population of Senegal, but only 26.5% of the population of Oussouye Department, where Carabane is located. Still, this department is largely rural, while Carabane has historically supported great ethnic diversity. Islam has not been practiced by Wolof and Serer fishermen since the 19th century, but the colonial administration brought with it many translators, guides, and secretaries from Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
, many of whom were Muslim. The arrival of fishermen from heavily Islamized
Islamization
Islamization or Islamification has been used to describe the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam...
communities has accentuated this trend.
Education and health
Daughters of the Holy Heart of Mary
The Daughters of the Holy Heart of Mary is a Roman Catholic religious order. It was the first indigenous religious order in Africa.-History:The order was founded on May 24, 1858 by Bishop Aloyse Kobès, who would go on to become the first Vicar Apostolic of Senegambia.-External links:*...
began teaching classes for girls. Soon, there were 60 students. A school infrastructure description in the region in 1900 reveals that the boys' school in Carabane was open from December to August each year, and that holidays ran from September to November, when parents needed their children in the fields to help cultivate rice. In 1903, when Carabane lost its status as capital, the school was instructing 63 boys and 102 girls. In 1914, it had only 56 boys and 26 girls, a situation similar to that in Bignona
Bignona
Bignona is a town located in the Ziguinchor Region of Senegal. It briefly appears in the movie Binta and the Great Idea.-Notable people:*Landing Savané, politician*Ibrahima Sonko, footballer*Lamine Diarra, footballer*Séni Camara, sculptor...
.
Elinkine
Elinkine is a town in Casamance, Senegal, located at the mouth of the Casamance River, from Oussouye.-History:...
, the Aline Sitoe Diatta
Aline Sitoe Diatta
Aline Sitoe Diatta : a Senegalese heroine of the resistance to French colonialism, often called the Joan of Arc or the Marianne of Senegal....
High School in Oussouye
Oussouye Department
' is one of the departments of Senegal, located in the Ziguinchor Region....
, and then a university in either Dakar or Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000...
. Carabane's kindergarten is located in a community house, called "House of Women and Children," founded in 1988 under the auspices of Caritas
Caritas (charity)
Caritas Internationalis is a confederate of 164 Roman Catholic relief, development and social service organisations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide....
Ziguinchor.
In 1895, the government established a medical post in Carabane, but it closed the following year. In 1898, the Daughters of the Holy Heart of Mary opened a clinic at the same time as the girls' school.
As of 2010, the village has a health facility which is connected to that of Oussouye and Ziguinchor. It provides vaccinations, family planning
Family planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
consultations, and prenatal information. A maternity hospital was founded in 1991 which is decorated with a fresco by Malang Badji, one of the most famous artists in the region.
In particular, the location of the island does not allow easy access to serious or urgent medical assistance. There is a pirogue
Pirogue
A pirogue is a small, flat-bottomed boat of a design associated particularly with the Cajuns of the Louisiana marsh. In West Africa they were used as traditional fishing boats. These boats are not usually intended for overnight travel but are light and small enough to be easily taken onto land...
-ambulance for the transportation of people off the island in the case of medical emergencies.
Economy
The testimonies of explorers and colonial administrators demonstrate that Carabane has participated in rice cultivation, fishery, trade, and palm winePalm wine
Palm wine also called Palm Toddy also called "Kallu" written in Malayalam and கள்ளு in Tamil or simply Toddy is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, and coconut palms...
production for centuries. The island experienced a decline in the 20th century, when Ziguinchor emerged as the regional capital, and more recently because of the negative economic consequences resulting from the Casamance Conflict and the Joola tragedy. Because of these recent difficulties, the sale of local products in the capital is only possible if they are transported first by boat and then by bush taxi, a combined journey of 9–12 hours. Carabane is seeking out new economic possibilities, particularly through the revival of tourism.
Transportation and energy
From the colonizers' perspective, Carabane's position at the mouth of the river was an undeniable asset. In the 20th and 21st centuries, in terms of trade and tourism issues, this location is more of a disadvantage because it effectively separates the island from the rest of the country. The problem was compounded by the GambianThe Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....
enclave and the sinking of the Joola.
Roads in Senegal
The system of roads in Senegal is extensive by West African standards, with paved roads reaching each corner of the country and all major towns.-International highways:Dakar is the endpoint of three routes in the Trans-African Highway network...
connect to Ziguinchor, down the N1 to Kaolack
Kaolack
Kaolack is a town of 172,305 people on the north bank of the Saloum River and the N1 road in Senegal. It is the capital of the Kaolack Region, which borders The Gambia to the south. Kaolack is an important regional market town and is Senegal's main peanut trading and processing center...
. The N4 and N5 roads cross the Gambia (both the country and the river
Gambia River
The Gambia River is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul...
), the former running through Nioro du Rip
Nioro du Rip
Nioro du Rip is a city in the south-west of Sénégal, situated about to the south-west of Kaolack and is from the border with The Gambia.-History:...
to Farafenni
Farafenni
Farafenni is a town in The Gambia, lying on the Trans-Gambia Highway in the North Bank Division, just south of the border with Senegal. It is an important market town....
, and the latter crossing the river to Banjul
Banjul
-Transport:Ferries sail from Banjul to Barra. The city is served by the Banjul International Airport. Banjul is on the Trans–West African Coastal Highway connecting it to Dakar and Bissau, and will eventually provide a paved highway link to 11 other nations of ECOWAS.Banjul International Airport...
. The two roads merge in Bignona before descending to Ziguinchor. However, traffic is forbidden on both roads between 7 p.m. and 10 a.m., and the routes are subject to frequent accidents and constant demining
Demining
Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing either land mines, or naval mines, from an area, while minesweeping describes the act of detecting of mines. There are two distinct types of mine detection and removal: military and humanitarian.Minesweepers use many tools in order to accomplish...
operations. Alternatively, it is possible to travel by plane to the airport in Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor Airport
Ziguinchor Airport is an airport serving Ziguinchor, the capital of the Ziguinchor Region in Senegal....
or Cap Skirring
Cap Skirring Airport
Cap Skirring Airport is an airport serving Cap Skirring , a town in the Ziguinchor region of Senegal.-Airlines and destinations:...
, or to travel by boat to one of these locations. Reaching Carabane from either town is relatively straightforward.
By boat, the distance between Dakar and Carabane is 265 kilometres (143.1 nmi), although Ziguinchor is only 48 kilometres (29.8 mi) away. Before the launch of the Joola, other boats, mostly well-worn ones, made the connection: first Cap Skirring, then the Casamance Express, and then Island Karabane. In January 1991, a brand new ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
went into operation. Like its predecessors, it connected Dakar to Ziguinchor, stopping near Carabane where canoes could reach the island. On September 26, 2002, 180 extra passengers boarded the already overloaded ship at this stop,This figure does not take into account the passengers who boarded without a ticket. Members of the military and their families were allowed to ride free of charge. and a few hours later, the Joola sank. For security reasons, the Joolas successor, the Wilis, stopped calling at Carabane, to the great displeasure of the inhabitants. Tourists have been rare since then, and from time to time, inhabitants of the island have found it necessary to move to Dakar or Ziguinchor.These difficulties were presented in the French documentary Un nouveau bateau pour la Casamance, meaning "A New Boat for Casamance", as part of the Thalassa series on December 1, 2006, Web.archive.org Significant modifications to the Aline Sitoe Diatta
Aline Sitoe Diatta
Aline Sitoe Diatta : a Senegalese heroine of the resistance to French colonialism, often called the Joan of Arc or the Marianne of Senegal....
, which replaced the Wilis in March 2008, are under consideration to allow it to stop safely at the island. The construction of a berth
Berth (moorings)
A berth is a location in a port or harbour used specifically for mooring vessels while not at sea.-Locations in a port:Berth is the term used in ports and harbors to define a specific location where a vessel may be berthed, usually for the purposes of loading and unloading.Most berths will be...
was announced, but a projected completion date has not been set.
By the beginning of 2008, the island still did not have a power grid. Public lighting employs solar energy, and the hotels and some of the houses use diesel generator
Diesel generator
A diesel generator is the combination of a diesel engine with an electrical generator to generate electrical energy....
s. Although wide roads were constructed on the island when urban-scale growth was predicted, there are still no cars to make use of them.
Rice cultivation
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
explorers
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
, show them to be similar to those still in use, particularly with respect to flooding and transplanting. Only the varieties of rice have changed.
The basic tool used is the kayendo,Also spelled kajandu, kajendo, kadiendo, or kadiandou a kind of wooden spade or shovel ranging from 40 to 70 cm (15.7 to 27.6 ), surrounded by a sharp wrought iron blade and attached to a very long, straight, cylindrical neck. The two parts are connected by strips of torn Palmyra Palm
Borassus
Borassus is a genus of six species of fan palms, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and New Guinea. They are tall palms, capable of growing up to 30 m high. The leaves are long, fan-shaped, 2 to 3 m in length...
leaves. The main part is manufactured from a very hard wood measuring 2 to 2.5 m (6.6 to 8.2 ) in length. The kayendo is mainly used to plough rice fields, but is also used for other purposes, such as excavation and construction. Men perform the clearing and ploughing while the women take care of the sowing, replanting, and weeding as well as the harvesting between October and January.
An even checkerboard plot model dominates the green landscape during the rainy season, which becomes more austere after harvest. The rice fields differ only in terms of soil type and location. Where mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
s are populous, such as in Carabane, the rice paddy field
Paddy field
A paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing rice and other semiaquatic crops. Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice farming in east, south and southeast Asia. Paddies can be built into steep hillsides as terraces and adjacent to depressed or steeply sloped features such...
s between them must be protected from the channels of saltwater which overflow during high tide. Rice farmers must therefore build levee
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...
s, dig ditches, and create ponds. The fish and shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
which subsequently become trapped are harvested at the end of the rainy season, when the basins are emptied. The plots of land which were safeguarded from flooding are then cleared and ploughed. Several years of drainage are required to desalinate the soil.
Millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
and vegetables are among some of the other crops grown in Carabane. A few domestic farm animals such as pigs are raised, but they are normally left to roam free.
Palm oil and palm wine
Among the agricultural activities practised during the dry season, which halts work in the rice fields, the most traditional are those related to the exploitation of African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), which provides two products which are very popular in the region: palm oilPalm oil
Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the...
and palm wine
Palm wine
Palm wine also called Palm Toddy also called "Kallu" written in Malayalam and கள்ளு in Tamil or simply Toddy is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, and coconut palms...
. Palm oil is an essential ingredient in local cuisine. As a carefully preserved condiment, it is combined with plain rice on holidays. The oil comes from the fruit clusters which are picked by men and then deseeded, allowed to dry, crushed in a mortar, and boiled by women.
Vitis vinifera
Vitis vinifera is a species of Vitis, native to the Mediterranean region, central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran....
. The recent partial Islamization
Islamization
Islamization or Islamification has been used to describe the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam...
of the region has not challenged its consumption. Fruit clusters are collected exclusively by the men. Supported by a strap, the harvester climbs the tree, cuts the bud, and holds out a funnel which allows the resulting fluid to flow drip by drip into an elongated calabash
Calabash
Lagenaria siceraria , bottle gourd, opo squash or long melon is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable, or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. For this reason, the calabash is widely known as the bottle gourd...
or, more recently, a bottle. The alcohol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
content of palm wine develops throughout the day. The locals consume large quantities on a daily basis, and even more at banquets and ceremonies dedicated to fetishes
Fetishism
A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a man-made object that has power over others...
. Palm wine is often traded for rice or sold in the city. Many Jola proverbs attest the popularity of the drink, such as Bunuk abajut birto, which means "With palm wine, one never stands up," or Ulako, kumusaet jígabulaju, which means "Sit down, don't spill the palm wine."
Aquaculture
The island's proximity to the river and the ocean suggests that the area is suited to fishing and related activities, yet the indigenous people, mostly land-dwellers, have long been content to practise artisan fishingArtisan fishing
Artisan fishing is a term used to describe small scale low-technology commercial or subsistence fishing practices. The term particularly applies to coastal or island ethnic groups using traditional techniques such as rod and tackle, arrows and harpoons, throw nets and drag nets, and traditional...
, just to supply their own daily needs. Pirogue
Pirogue
A pirogue is a small, flat-bottomed boat of a design associated particularly with the Cajuns of the Louisiana marsh. In West Africa they were used as traditional fishing boats. These boats are not usually intended for overnight travel but are light and small enough to be easily taken onto land...
s cut from the trunks of kapok
Kapok
Ceiba pentandra is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae , native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and to tropical west Africa...
trees are most often used, along with traps, nets, baskets, and fences. In the early 20th century, experienced fishermen from other parts of Senegal, along with others from Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
, and Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, developed deep-sea fishing on the island and introduced new equipment.
The collection of shellfish, especially oysters, is another traditional activity which still takes place in Casamance, which is one of three oyster-producing regions in Senegal, along with Petite Côte
Petite Côte
The Petite Côte is a stretch of coast in Senegal, running south from the Cap Vert peninsula to the Sine-Saloum delta.The northern section near Dakar contains popular seaside resorts such as Saly-Portudal, Rufisque, Nianing and Popenguire, while the entire coast is home to the city of M'Bour and...
and Sine-Saloum
Sine-Saloum
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....
. Oysters collect on the roots of mangrove trees which are uncovered at low tide. They are harvested during the dry season, mainly by women, who control, from harvest to distribution, an activity that requires little investment and provides them with some financial independence. Oysters are an important component of the family diet. Rich in dietary mineral
Dietary mineral
Dietary minerals are the chemical elements required by living organisms, other than the four elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen present in common organic molecules. Examples of mineral elements include calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, zinc, and iodine...
s and vitamin C
Vitamin C
Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...
, they are the second largest source of animal protein among the Jola people after fish, followed by chicken, and pork. Oysters are readily associated with rice, the staple food
Staple food
A staple food is one that is eaten regularly and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a diet, and that supplies a high proportion of energy and nutrient needs. Most people live on a diet based on one or more staples...
, and in times of shortage, even replace it. Locally, oysters are boiled or grilled on a wood fire and consumed with a spicy sauce. Those destined for sale or preservation, however, are sun-dried or smoked. In some villages, including Carabane, they are kept alive for several weeks before being transported to market. Oysters are also a source of income, and Carabane is located in the center of the collection zone, which is one of the reasons why boats formerly called at the island. Oysters were once easily transported from Carabane to Dakar, where they were either sold by the pickers themselves or by hawkers
Hawker (trade)
A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with peddler or costermonger. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells items or food that are native to the area...
.
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s, such as sand fiddler crabs
Uca pugilator
Uca pugilator, the sand fiddler crab is a small fiddler crab found in sandy or muddy intertidal areas, or mangrove-covered ground, where it digs its holes in the root-filled ground. It uses these holes for shelter from the elements and predators. The carapace is a square shape, tapering slightly to...
and shrimp, among the mangroves also occupy a significant place in the local economy. While a large number of shrimp species inhabit the Senegambian area, a single family exists in Casamance: Penaeidae
Penaeidae
Penaeidae is a family of prawns, although they are often referred to as penaeid shrimp. It contains many species of economic importance, such as the tiger prawn , whiteleg shrimp, Atlantic white shrimp and Indian prawn. Many prawns are the subject of commercial fishery, and farming, both in marine...
. Southern pink shrimp (Farfantepenaeus notialis) are the most commonly collected. They were traditionally caught as part of local artisan fishing by men, women, and children. Shrimp collection in the area experienced significant development in the 1960s, following the establishment of European industrial units. The local fishermen switched to this method, and there was an increased presence of fishermen from other areas. A study in 2005 revealed the extent to which the shrimp population in the region has been depleted, citing multiple causes, including diminishing rainfall, over-salinization of the estuary, and poorly controlled harvesting. Along with the mangrove degradation, the civil unrest, and the inadequate fishery regulation, Casamance has had to deal with the closure in 2003 of a major industrial complex in Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor
Ziguinchor is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000...
which treated and exported shrimp and other crustaceans and employed more than 2,000 people.
Grouped into cooperatives,An example of a cooperative run by women: women play a leading role in the island's economy. Notably through microcredit
Microcredit
Microcredit is the extension of very small loans to those in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit...
, they engage in fishing-related activities, such as smoking fish and processing shrimp, oysters, and shellfish in general. As there is no industrial activity on the island (the closest such activity is in Ziguinchor), the island is experiencing a rural exodus
Rural exodus
Rural flight is a term used to describe the migratory patterns of peoples from rural areas into urban areas.In modern times, it often occurs in a region following the industrialization of agriculture when fewer people are needed to bring the same amount of agricultural output to market and related...
of young people. They return to help their parents in the rice fields and participate in religious ceremonies during the dry season, but they tend to settle off the island permanently.
Tourism
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
placed an emphasis on tourism
Tourism in Senegal
Tourism in Senegal is a vital part of this West African nation's economy.-Scale:From a relatively small industry at the introduction of the first Club Med resort in the 1970s, Tourism has grown to be an important part of the Senegales economy...
early in its history. The results were promising, and developing the industry further became a priority in the country's 4th Economic and Social Plan (1973–1977). Casamance subsequently became the main tourist destination in the country. Already having been described in the 19th century by Captain Brosselard-Faidherbe
Henri Brosselard-Faidherbe
Henri Brosselard-Faidherbe was a French military officer and explorer.-Biography:Henri François Brosselard was born on June 3, 1855. The stepson of General Louis Faidherbe, he was permitted to attach the surname of his stepfather to his own...
as a kind of Brazil in Africa, Carabane seemed well-placed to attract visitors in search of exoticism
Exoticism
Exoticism is a trend in art and design, influenced by some ethnic groups or civilizations since the late 19th-century. In music exoticism is a genre in which the rhythms, melodies, or instrumentation are designed to evoke the atmosphere of far-off lands or ancient times Exoticism (from 'exotic')...
as well as vacationers seeking sandy beaches and kite surfing.
At the same time, national and even international controversy threatened the industry from the beginning. Those who opposed tourism in Senegal described it as a new form of colonialism
Neocolonialism
Neocolonialism is the practice of using capitalism, globalization, and cultural forces to control a country in lieu of direct military or political control...
while supporters saw it as a panacea that would cure the country of underdevelopment
Underdevelopment
Underdevelopment is a term often used to refer to economic underdevelopment, symptoms of which include lack of access to job opportunities, health care, drinkable water, food, education and housing...
. The idea of alternative tourism was discussed. Several towns in Basse Casamance, including Carabane, were selected to test an integrated agritourism
Agritourism
Agritourism, as it is defined most broadly, involves any agriculturally-based operation or activity that brings visitors to a farm or ranch. Agritourism has different definitions in different parts of the world, and sometimes refers specifically to farm stays, as in Italy...
managed by the villagers themselves. In the early 1970s, the agritourism promoter Christian Saglio, a young French sociologist who later became the director of the Leopold Sedar Senghor French Institute
Leopold Sedar Senghor French Institute
The Leopold Sedar Senghor French Institute is a Dakar-based organizational body dedicated to the diffusion of French culture in Senegal. Its secondary purpose is to promote the culture of Senegal and, more generally, cultural diversity...
in Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
, believed in Carabane's potential. He stated that he wanted to make the island the "Gorée
Gorée
Île de Gorée Île de Gorée Île de Gorée (i.e. "Gorée Island"; is one of the 19 communes d'arrondissement (i.e. "commune of arrondissement") of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is a island located at sea from the main harbor of Dakar ....
of Casamance", using it as a hub for other camps. Saglio suggested the restoration of old buildings and canopy bed
Canopy bed
A canopy bed is a decorative bed somewhat similar to a four-poster bed. A typical canopy bed usually features posts at each of the four corners extending four feet high or more above the mattress...
s.
Niomoune
Niomoune is a village in the rural community of Kafountine, Diouloulou, Bignona, Ziguinchor, Casamance, Senegal....
and Carabane were the first two villages to attempt to apply this innovative approach, but both failed. The inhabitants were reluctant to participate, and the young inexperienced promoter had to abandon some of his ethnographic
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
theories in favour of being careful to understand the daily realities of villages. The project was eventually abandoned, and the Catholic missions
Catholic missions
As the church normally organizes itself along territorial lines, and because they had the human and material resources, religious orders—some even specializing in it—undertook most missionary work, especially in the early phases...
house was transformed by the nuns themselves into a modern, functional building. Despite the failure of Saglio's initiative in Carabane, agritourist camps were set up over the following decade in a dozen other nearby towns.The camps were set up in Elinkine
Elinkine
Elinkine is a town in Casamance, Senegal, located at the mouth of the Casamance River, from Oussouye.-History:...
, Enampore
Enampore
Enampore is a village in the Casamance region of Senegal. It lies about 23 kilometres from the Casamance's chief town Ziguinchor. It is noted for its impluvium houses, which are a distinctive feature of Jola architecture....
, Baïla
Baïla
Baïla is a village in the rural community of Suelle, Sindian, Bignona, Ziguinchor, Casamance, Senegal.-History:Boukout, a Jola rite of passage, took place in Baïla for the first time in 1971, but it was 36 years before it was held there again. On August 4, 2007, thousands of people gathered for the...
, Thionck Essyl
Thionck Essyl
Thionck Essyl is a town in Ziguinchor, Senegal, located 65 km north-west of the region capital.-History:...
, Coubalan
Coubalan
Coubalan is a small city in the urban community of the same name, located in Tenghory, Bignona, Ziguinchor, Casamance....
, Affiniam
Affiniam
Affiniam is a small town in south-western Senegal . It is locatedin the Bignona Department in the Ziguinchor Region.-External links:*...
, Abéné
Abéné
Abéné is a village in the rural community of Kafountine, Diouloulou, Bignona, Ziguinchor, Casamance, Senegal...
, Oussouye and Palmarin
Palmarin
Palmarin is a coastal village in Senegal, located in Sine-Saloum near Sangomar Point between Joal-Fadiouth and Djifer.-History:Palmarin was formerly part of the Kingdom of Sine...
.
While Carabane's tourism sector has suffered because it has not taken part in the network of villages, tourists have avoided travelling to Casamance in general because of the civil unrest. The signing of a ceasefire
Ceasefire
A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces...
in 2004 allowed tourism to resume, but not to the extent it had reached before the conflict.
Tour operators continue to advertise the island as a lost paradise surrounded by mangroves where travellers' exotic dreams come to life, but this type of discovery tourism is not as popular as traditional beach-related tourism. Thus, visitors from France, Spain, and Italy often combine tours of the cases á impluvium
Impluvium
The impluvium is the sunken part of the atrium in a Greek or Roman house . Designed to carry away the rainwater coming through the compluvium of the roof, it is usually made of marble and placed about 30 cm below the floor of the atrium.The name is also used for a type of dwelling typical of...
in Enampore
Enampore
Enampore is a village in the Casamance region of Senegal. It lies about 23 kilometres from the Casamance's chief town Ziguinchor. It is noted for its impluvium houses, which are a distinctive feature of Jola architecture....
or Mlomp
Mlomp
Mlomp is a rural community and village in the Ziguinchor Region of Senegal in the Casamance, situated approximately south-west of Ziguinchor.As of 2000 it had a population of 7,628, rising to around 8,500 in 2006...
with a few days of relaxation in Carabane. The area is also very conducive to the interests of fishing enthusiasts. Along the beach, small stalls offer traditional crafts and clothes at prices lower than those in Cap Skirring
Cap Skirring
Cap Skirring, also spelled Cap Skiring, is a town on the Atlantic Ocean coast of the Basse Casamance region of Senegal. It is a popular seaside resort with Europeans and has an airport and a golf course. The town was first occupied by fishermen. It was discovered by the French of Ziguinchor as a...
or Saly
Saly
Saly is a seaside resort area on the Petite Côte of Senegal, south of Dakar. It is the top tourist destination in all of West Africa.-History:...
. Badji Malang, a local painter, potter, sculptor, and poet, has created a camp in the area.
Although remaining separate from the local tourism network, Carabane has demonstrated its support for social solidarity and holism
Holism
Holism is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone...
by joining GENSEN (Global Ecovillage Network Senegal), a network of Senegalese ecovillage
Ecovillage
Ecovillages are intentional communities with the goal of becoming more socially, economically and ecologically sustainable. Some aim for a population of 50–150 individuals. Larger ecovillages of up to 2,000 individuals exist as networks of smaller subcommunities to create an ecovillage model that...
s.
Historic sites
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
-style church building which is no longer in use, and a former slave-trade building. There is also a French cemetery where a Troupes de marine
Troupes de marine
The or Infanterie de marine, formerly Troupes coloniales, are an arm of the French Army with a colonial heritage. The Troupes de marine have a dedicated overseas service role. Despite their title they have been a part of the Army since 1958...
-Captain with the name Aristide Protet was shot with a poisoned arrow and buried standing up in front of the sea, according to his last wishes. Some tour guides falsely claim that this was Auguste Léopold Protet
Auguste Léopold Protet
Auguste Léopold Protet was a French Navy admiral. He founded Dakar, fought in the Second Opium War, and was killed in the Taiping Rebellion at the Fengxian District of Shanghai on the afternoon of May 17, 1862...
, the founder of the city of Dakar, but the name Aristide Protet is clearly shown on the tomb's plaque.
Near the beach are ruins of buildings, pontoons
Pontoon (boat)
A pontoon is a flotation device with buoyancy sufficient to float itself as well as a heavy load. A pontoon boat is a flattish boat that relies on pontoons to float. Pontoons may be used on boats, rafts, barges, docks, floatplanes or seaplanes. Pontoons may support a platform, creating a raft. A...
, and wells, with a large tree in the center. A huge piece of metal in its midst bears the inscription CEO Forrester & Co. Vauxhall Foundry. 18 Liverpool S3.
Carabane was added to the list of historic sites and monuments of Senegal in 2003. An application for Carabane to become a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
was filed with UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
on November 18, 2005.
Inspired by Gorée's example, Carabane is attempting to pay homage to victims of slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
by starting a small museum like the House of Slaves
The door of no return
The House of Slaves and its Door of No Return is a museum and memorial to the Atlantic Slave Trade on tiny Goree Island, 3 km off the coast of the city of Dakar, Senegal. Its museum, opened in 1962 and curated until his death in 2009 by Boubacar Joseph Ndiaye, is said to memorialise the final...
. Historic research has not established with certainty the role that Carabane played in the African slave trade
African slave trade
Systems of servitude and slavery were common in many parts of Africa, as they were in much of the ancient world. In some African societies, the enslaved people were also indentured servants and fully integrated; in others, they were treated much worse...
.
Like Gorée and Saint-Louis
Saint-Louis, Senegal
Saint-Louis, or Ndar as it is called in Wolof, is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 km north of Senegal's capital city Dakar, it has a population officially estimated at 176,000 in 2005. Saint-Louis...
, Carabane places great importance on its cultural heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
. The architectural reminders of this heritage require significant restoration as they have experienced considerable degradation. In 1964, French anthropologist Louis-Vincent Thomas
Louis-Vincent Thomas
Louis-Vincent Thomas was a French sociologist, anthropologist, ethnologist, and scholar whose specialty was Africa. He was the founder of thanatology. After having taught at Cheikh Anta Diop University, he became a sociology professor at Paris Descartes University.His writings deal with socialism,...
posed the question of whether Carabane should be preserved, and this question continues to be relevant. The local people suggest that the entire Diogue
Diogue
Diogue is both an island and a village in the rural community of Kafountine, Diouloulou, Bignona, Ziguinchor, Casamance. In 2003, there were 563 people and 78 households in Diogue....
–Nikine
Nikine
Nikine is a village in Kabrousse, Diembéring, Oussouye, Ziguinchor, Casamance, Senegal....
–Carabane area needs saving.
Further reading
Cartography Entrée de la Casamance et mouillage de Carabane, nautical chartNautical chart
A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a maritime area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land , natural features of the seabed, details of the coastline, navigational hazards, locations of natural and man-made aids...
drawn up by Aristide Vallon
Aristide Vallon
Counter Admiral Aristide Louis Antoine Vallon was born in Le Conquet. He became Commandeur of the Légion d'honneur on January 18, 1881 and was appointed Governor of Senegal the following year. After serving in this position, he became Deputy of Senegal and subsequently Deputy of Brest, France. He...
in 1862, corrected in 1869 and edited in 1871
- Africa. West Coast. Senegal. Entrance to the River Kasamanze (Karabane Anchorage), map drawn up in 1909 and edited in 1921
Filmography Casamance: l'autre Sénégal, documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by Virginie Berda, 2006 Un nouveau bateau pour la Casamance, news report by Anne Gouraud and Olivier Bonnet produced by France 3
France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
for the television series Thalassa, 2006