Peste et société urbaine à Dakar: l'épidémie de 1914

The plague and urban society in Dakar : the 1914 epidemic.- Despite outbreaks occurring in various coastal cities since the turn of the century, the authorities in Dakar were taken by surprise when the plague reached the city in 1914. The epidemic lasted for one year and spread into the hinterland despite the attempts to cordon the urban area as soon as the disease had been identified. The sanitary precautions imposed by the administration were generally opposed by the African population, partly because they ran against the grain of beliefs and customs, partly because they looked (and often actually were) discriminatory. The news of the war in Europe also contributed to this negative attitude which impeded the action of the medical service.