Senegal, which covers an area of 196,722 km2, is located in Sudano-Sahelian West Africa. It is bordered to the north by Mauritania, to the east by Mali, to the south by Guinea-Bissau and Guinea Conakry and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean on a frontage of 700 km.

Until 1945, the political organization of Senegal was a perfect illustration of "colonial order": From the commander of circle to the governor, there was a hierarchical, authoritarian, immutable system.

Only the natives of the "four communes" (Dakar, Gorée, Rufisque, Saint-Louis) had the privilege to elect their municipal councils. Thus was born a Senegalese political class that would find a parliamentary expression after World War II with the institutions created by the new colonial policy.