Unlike the semi-arid to arid north of Senegal, Ziguinchor has a tropical savanna climate, as it is under the influence of the West African Monsoon.

[citation needed] The first European settlement in the area was founded by the Portuguese in 1645 as a dependency of Cacheu populated by settlers from Cape Verde, and lancados and other Afro-Europeans.

[4] The Portuguese objective was to found a trading post and establish an alliance with the local mansa or king of the Kasa kingdom.

[4] Under the French, Ziguinchor became a major trade port, mostly due to the intensive groundnut cultivation which the colonial government encouraged in the interior.

During this period Ziguinchor became a main post for both the Senegalese Army and French forces, guarding the frontier that cut Jola families and communities in two.

As the capital of Casamance, Ziguinchor has been at the center of a three-decade-long conflict with Dakar that has flared into open civil war on more than one occasion.

With a population with a majority of Diola and Christian,[5] the effects of a large migration of Wolof Muslims fleeing drought in the north during the 1970s caused tensions to flare.

The 2004 peace accords, signed in Ziguinchor, were hoped to be the end of the violence, but in 2006, sporadic fighting by an MFDC split and laying of land mines again erupted in rural areas nearby.

The city was the scene of large protests in June 2023 after his conviction on charges that many Senegalese, especially youth, view as a political ploy by President Macky Sall to discredit a rival.

The "Nationale 4" highway crosses the Casamance River just east of the city, linking the region with Bignona about 25 km to the north, and (via The Gambia), the rest of Senegal.

Ziguinchor region is also known for growing great quantities of rice, oranges, mangoes, bananas, cashews, tropical fruits and vegetables, fish, and prawns, much of which are processed locally and exported from the city, its port, and its airport.

Ziguinchor is a melting pot of all the ethnic groups co-existing in Senegal: Mandinka, Jola, Wolof, Fula/Halpulaar, Mancagne, Manjack, Soninke, Serer, Bainouk, Balanta and Creole.

Resistant to first Islam and later Christianity, many Jola retain a degree of animist practices, while Basse Casamance is the only majority Catholic area in Senegal.

In the beginning of 2007 Sagna left the PS and led the Taku Défaraat Sénégal coalition in a failed presidential bid.

In the 2001 elections, the a Ziguinchor National Assembly seat was gained by the PDS, and held again in 2007, prompting speculation that Sagna and his party's days of dominating local politics were numbered.

The city Sports and Arts Associations conceived for the first time the concept of having specific suburbs barracking for each national team in order to give a vibrant and joyful atmosphere to the Football tournament that saw Algeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Zambia, Egypt, Congo play the first half of the Championship in that city.