Thiès
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Thiès (Wolof: Khes) is the second largest city in Senegal with a population of 237,849 (2002 census). It lies east of Dakar on the N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar, Bamako and St-Louis. It is the capital of Thiès Region. It is best known for its tapestry-making industry, an exclusive factory having been set up in 1966, producing work designed by Senegal’s top artists. The famous Birds of Paradise tapestry was manufactured in Thiès.
The city is also a leading livestock-trading and meat-packing center, the city is a road and rail hub in an area producing rice, peanuts, manioc, millet, and fruit. It has rail yards and repair shops, and alumina phosphate deposits are worked at nearby Palo. The city also contains a polytechnic school. In 1863 the French built a fort at a village on the site of Thiès, and commercial development ensued after 1885.
Other attractions in Thiès include a museum, an artisanal and crafts village and a few remains of old fortifications. The town was the centre of the 1947-8 Senegal railway workers' strike on the Dakar-Niger Railway against racist employment conditions.
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