The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs

The Senegal River is the natural as well as official border between Senegal and Mauritania, and in this panoramic picture, between the small city of Matam, Senegal on the right, and the village of Tofunde Cive, Mauritania on the left.  Along the beach on the Mauritanian side is a row of small shops selling goods such as tea, fabric, personal care products and cell phones.  Senegalese shoppers cross the river in pirogues to shop in the boutiques, which exist in Mauritania almost primarily for Senegalese consumption on the other side of the river.