Le Petit Sénégal
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Le Petit Sénégal, or Little Senegal, is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan consisting of a large West African immigrant community. Though referenced as Le Petit Sénégal in The New York Times as early as 2005, current West African residents do not use the name for their neighborhood.
Le Petit Sénégal is a smaller section of the much larger, and older, neighborhood of Harlem. The neighborhood's exact borders are difficult to define as it is still new, growing from nonexistent in 1985 to 6,500 by 2005.[1][2] Le Petit Sénégal is generally defined as located in Central Harlem. The neighborhood's main streets are the blocks surrounding West 116th Street between Lenox Avenue / Malcolm X Boulevard on the east and Frederick Douglass Boulevard to the west.[3]
Le Petit Sénégal is the main shopping and social area for many of Harlem's West African immigrants. The majority of these recent immigrants hail from French-speaking Senegal, reflecting the French local name of Little Senegal. However, West African languages, such as Wolof, are also spoken. There are also immigrants from other West African countries, including Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Gambia, and Burkina Faso.
West African shops, restaurants, bistros, bakeries, cafes, and other proprietorships can be found in the neighborhood.
References
- ^ Kankam, Nana (July 22, 2007). "Uptown, Africa Toujours". The New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
- ^ Daff, Marieme O. (January 1, 1997). "A Little Senegal in Harlem". Washington Square News. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Attah, Ayesha (July 30, 2007). "Mourides Celebrate 19 Years in North America". The AFRican. Archived from the original on March 22, 2009. Retrieved October 23, 2007.
116th Street in Harlem, New York is aptly named Le Petit Sénégal. It abounds in aromas of stewing mafe and yassa wafting out of restaurants, sidewalks turned into mosques and businesses stocked with merchandise right out of Dakar.
Further reading
- New York Times: A One-Woman Welcome Wagon in Le Petit Sénégal
- Boston Globe (taken from the New York Times): In Dense Stews From Senegal, Intriguing Secrets
- World Cup fans cheer on Senegal at Africa Kine restaurant Archived December 14, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
- An unexpected taste of Vietnam in Harlem's Little West Africa Archived September 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine