Chapter 1 offers a brief historical overview of nineteenth-century urban Senegal, with a focus on Saint-Louis. It begins with the never-ending territorial rivalry between the Portuguese, English, French, and Dutch, which ended with French dominance in the eighteenth century. It discusses the ethno-cultural groups who lived in and contributed to the economic life of the region. These were the originaires or first inhabitants of Saint-Louis, European merchants, traders, administrators, civil servants, and the métis – the product of mariage à la mode du pays (marriage according to the custom of the country) between European men and African women, whose female offspring became known as signares. The French referred to these groups collectively as habitants. Of the habitants, the signares played a significant role in the economic development of the region, and feature prominently in the chapter. They engaged in trade, including the slave trade, which, in addition to inheritances, enabled them to acquire substantial holdings in real estate, river boats, and slaves, among them children, who remained in their households as wards after the abolition of slavery. The chapter ends with the harmonious coexistence of the habitants who practiced Islam and Christianity and the Catholic religious orders that served the community.