Richard Toll is a town in northern

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

, lying on the south bank of the

River Senegal ,french: Fleuve Sénégal) , name_etymology = , image = Senegal River Saint Louis.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Fishermen on the bank of the Senegal River estuary at the outskirts of Saint-Louis, Senegal ...

, just east of

Rosso Rosso is the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of the river zone allowing year-round navigation. The town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakchott. The Ar ...

. Originally a

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

town, it was named for the park of the Château de Baron Roger, laid out by botanist

Jean Michel Claude Richard Jean Michel Claude Richard (16 August 1787 – 1868) was a noted French botanist and plant collector active in Senegal, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Réunion, and a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. Richard was born in Volon, Haute-Saône. He was ...

. A rice-growing scheme was originally initiated by France's colonial development organisation, FIDES, in 1949 with an initial cultivated area of . The town's main industry is sugar. The estimated population in 2007 was 70,000.

History

Until 1817, at roughly the location of Richard Toll there were two communities, Ndiangué and Xhouma, inhabited by the Mbodi — descendants of Brack and followers of the royalist Walo tradition. In 1817 the French government's most senior representative in the region, Schmaltz, created an outpost community on the River Senegal, naming it l’Escale. In 1822, the new governor, , sent a botanist and

nurseryman A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general p ...

named

to work in L'Escale and renamed it Richard's Toll, with Toll being the word for Farm in

Pulaar Pulaar (in Adlam: , in Ajami: ) is a Fula language spoken primarily as a first language by the Fula and Toucouleur peoples in the Senegal River valley area traditionally known as Futa Tooro and further south and east. Pulaar speakers, known ...

, a local language. At this time there were 28 residents, and 1,148 nomadic workers living in Toll. It grew greatly in 1945 with the creation of the ''Mission Agricole du Sénégal'', which also brought other institutions such as a hospital, and chapel, and a school. There was a rapid demographic growth in 1970 with the implementation of the french: Compagnie Sucrière Sénégalaise, translation=Senegal Sugar Company, label=none, which brought in around 15,000 inhabitants and brought about two phenomena: the joining of the local villages, and the creation of new neighbourhoods. By 1980, Richard Toll had six neighbourhoods: Escale, Ndaingue, Ndiaw, Khoum Wadi, Khoum Peul, and Ndombo Al'Arabi. Since then the city has grown and evolved into what it is today, including the addition of neighbourhoods such as Campement, Thiaback, GAE2, and Taouey.

Population and demography

The latest estimate of the population available at the mayors office with was from 2005 which was at 46,547, however more recent estimates have put it around 90,000. The latest gender, and age breakdown the mayors office had was from 2006, which stated 77.79% of inhabitants were between the ages of 0 and 34, 20.71% were between the ages of 35 and 74, and 1.19% were over the age of 75. Women constituted 52.01% of the population, and men 47.99%.

Neighbourhoods

Richard Toll currently comprises 12 neighbourhoods: Ndiao, Ndiangue, Richard Toll Escale, Campement et Nourou, Thiabakh, Ndombo Al'Arabi, Khouma Gallo Malick, Gae II, Khouma Yakh Sabar, and Khouma Mbodiène/Khouma Thiarène.

Economic activities

The main economic activities in Richard Toll are agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry, and commerce. Less popular economic activities are transportation, tourism, and artisanal goods. Richard Toll is most known for its sugar refinery, which is French-owned and exports sugar to most of Senegal.

Popular culture

Marie Laforêt Marie Laforêt (born Maïtena Marie Brigitte Doumenach; 5 October 1939 – 2 November 2019) was a French singer and actress, particularly well known for her work during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1978, she moved to Geneva, and acquired Swiss citize ...

sang a song about Richard Toll.

References

External links

*{{Cite web , title = In a Corner of Senegal, a Victory Over Malaria , last = Yee , first = Amy , work =

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, date = 1 May 2018 , accessdate = 2018-08-03 , url = https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/opinion/in-a-corner-of-senegal-a-victory-over-malaria.html , quote = Populated places in Saint-Louis Region Communes of Senegal