The History of Senegal is commonly divided into a number of periods, encompassing the prehistoric era, the precolonial period, colonialism, and the contemporary era.

As we know now, according to Abdoulaye Camara, men appeared in Senegal 350000 years ago. The earliest evidence of human life is found in the valley of the Faleme in the south-east.

The remains found there are threatened not only by the acidity of the soil in West Africa that destroys the bones, but also by tourists, the machines used for the mining of phosphates in the Thiès Region, and vegetable crops and the increasing urbanization in the peninsula of Cap Vert. However, the presence of man in the Lower Paleolithic is attested by the discovery of stone tools characteristic of Acheulean such as hand axes reported by Théodore Monod at the tip of Fann in the peninsula of Cap-Vert in 1938, or cleavers found in the south-east. There were also found stones shaped by the Levallois technique, characteristic of the Middle Paleolithic. Mousterian Industry is represented mainly by scrapers found in the peninsula of Cap-Vert, as well in the low and middle valleys of the Senegal and the Faleme. Some pieces are explicitly linked to hunting, like those found in Tiémassass, near Mbour, a controversial site that some claim belongs to the Upper Paleolithic, while other argue in favor of the Neolithic.

Senegal ⁱ/ˌsɛnɨˈɡɔːl/ (French: le Sénégal), officially the Republic of Senegal (République du Sénégal, IPA: [ʁepyblik dy seneɡal]), is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north. Senegal is externally bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south; internally it almost completely surrounds The Gambia, namely on the north, east and south, exempting Gambia's short Atlantic Ocean coastline. Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres (76,000 sq mi), and has an estimated population of about 13 million. The climate is tropical with two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season.

Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, is located at the westernmost tip of the country on the Cap-Vert peninsula. About 500 kilometres (300 mi) off the coast, in the Atlantic Ocean, lie the Cape Verde Islands. During the 17th and 18th centuries, numerous trading posts, belonging to various colonial empires, were established along the coast. The town of St. Louis became the capital of French West Africa (Afrique occidentale française, or AOF) before it was moved to Dakar in 1902. Dakar later became its capital in 1960 at the time of independence from France.

Bruno Metsu (born 28 January 1954) is a retired French footballer and was the last manager of Qatari side Al-Gharafa. He was previously the manager of the Qatari national football team from 2008 to 2011 when he sacked due to poor performance in the recent Asia Cup.. He is perhaps most notable in Europe for coaching Senegal to a surprise victory over France in the opening match of the 2002 World Cup.

Metsu's playing career was largely based in his native France, along with a spell in Belgium with Anderlecht. After retiring as a player, he took up the assistant manager post at his last club, Beauvais, and by 1988, he became full-time manager of the club. He spent over a decade coaching in France before his first foray into international management.

Metsu took over African national side Guinea in 2000 before joining Senegal later that year. He helped the Francophone side to a spot in the 2002 World Cup, their first ever appearance in the tournament, where they were expected to prop up a group containing France, Denmark and Uruguay. Senegal pulled off a shock in the opening match of the tournament, however, beating former colonial masters and defending World Cup and European champions France 1–0. Metsu's side qualified from the group stage and beat Sweden in the round of 16, earning recognition as the first African side to reach the quarterfinals since Cameroon in 1990.