The race was conceived by Thierry Sabine after he became lost in the Ténéré desert in 1975 while competing in the Rallye Côte-Côte between Abidjan and Nice. Inspired by the experience, he organised the inaugural edition in December 1977, with 182 vehicles departing Paris and 74 surviving the roughly 10,000-kilometre journey to Dakar. The opening edition was won by Cyril Neveu on a Yamaha motorcycle.
The core route connected Europe and West Africa via the Sahara, passing through countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, and in certain editions, Niger. Competitors faced sand dunes, camel grass, mud, rocks, and erg terrain across individual stages that could stretch to 800–900 kilometres per day. Navigation was a significant competitive element, particularly in the early years before GPS technology was introduced in 1992.
Throughout the 1980s the rally grew rapidly in both participation and spectacle. Entry numbers rose from 216 in 1980 to a record 603 starters in the 1988 edition. The starting location shifted between Paris and other European cities, including Granada, Spain, Lisbon, Portugal, and Arras, France, while the route through Africa varied year by year to introduce new challenges and respond to political conditions on the ground.
Peugeot entered in 1987 and immediately dominated the car category, with Ari Vatanen taking that year's victory. The period also saw Stéphane Peterhansel establish himself in the motorcycle class, winning his first title in 1991 and going on to become the most successful competitor in the event's history. Mitsubishi emerged as the dominant force in the cars category from the mid-1990s onwards, eventually winning twelve times in the car class.
From 1992 the finish line shifted to Cape Town, South Africa, for one edition, marking the furthest southern extent of the rally and coinciding with the end of apartheid. The 1997 rally ran an all-Africa loop from Dakar to Agadez, Niger, and back, the first time the event did not include a European start.
Certain years saw the route pass through Egypt, as the 2000 edition ran from Dakar to Cairo. The 2003 rally used an especially unorthodox path from Marseille to Sharm El Sheikh. Route planners balanced sporting ambition with the logistical complexity of crossing multiple sovereign territories, each requiring governmental agreements and security coordination.
The last African edition of the Dakar Rally took place in 2007. Stéphane Peterhansel won the car category for Mitsubishi in a closely fought contest, while Cyril Despres took the motorcycle title. The 2008 event, planned to depart from Lisbon, was cancelled on 4 January 2008 following security threats in Mauritania linked to the killing of four French tourists in 2007. Organisers from the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) accepted offers from Chile and Argentina to host subsequent editions, and the rally moved permanently to South America for the 2009 season.
The African phase of the Dakar Rally produced the event's foundational identity — gruelling multi-week traversals of the Sahara and Sahel, open to professionals and amateurs alike. The terrain types established during those three decades, including dunes, rocky pistes, and river crossings, remain the standard against which subsequent editions are measured. The Africa route also resulted in a significant number of fatalities among competitors and spectators, prompting ongoing debate about safety standards in rally raid competition. Thierry Sabine himself died in 1986 when his helicopter crashed during the event, and his father Gilbert continued to organise the rally until 1993.