Saint-Louis, or Ndar as it is called in Wolof, is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and 320 km north of Senegal's capital city Dakar, Saint-Louis was the capital of the French colony of Senegal from 1673 until 1902 and French West Africa from 1895 until 1902, when the capital was moved to Dakar. From 1920 to 1957 it also served as the capital of the neighboring colony of Mauritania.

Whether coming from Dakar or elsewhere in the country, the sole point of access to central Saint-Louis is the Gustave Eiffel-designed Pont Faidherbe, the impressive metallic structure which has linked N’Dar to the eastern mainland since 1899.