SPACEPHOTOS

Dakar, the capital of Senegal, appears in this northeast-looking, low-oblique photograph. The city, with a population of almost 2 million on the southern tip of the Cape Verde Peninsula, has one of the best harbors on the Atlantic coast of Africa. Dakar has several distinctions—it is the westernmost point of the African continent, the African city closest to South America, the sub-Saharan port nearest to western Europe, and an important station on the western trade route to and from South Africa. Dakar’s strategic location has made it an intercontinental maritime and air center, as well as an international rail terminus for Africa. Manufacturing industries include refined sugar, peanut oil, fertilizers, cement, textiles, fishing products, food processing, and handicrafts. Dakar is blessed with some of the finest medical facilities in Africa, including the Pasteur Institute.