It is a stark, flat, arid place bounded on the north by the Se'ne'gal River and the south by the Sahelian plain studded with baobab trees made famous in Le Petit Prince. Matam is populated by the tall noble Pulaar-speaking Toucouleur people who brought Islam to Senegal in the 18th century and gave us the music of Baaba Maal in the 21st century.