Kingdom of Jolof

In 1670, wandering Muslim clerics from Mauretania stirred up a rebellion against the Wolof rulers by a ruse. They promised to show the Wolof people how to produce millet without the labor of planting. During the ensuing rebellion, the Mauretanians invaded, killed the rulers of Waalo and Kayor and defeated the burba Jolof. However, when the Mauretanians could not deliver on their promise, the Wolof restored their rulers and drove the invaders out. This claim is questionable because most rural Wolofs are strong farmers who produce millet and other crops.[2] The Mauretanians still remained a problem, however; and Waalo in particular suffered from their constant raids.[3]

In 1686, Baol split from Kayor under the teny (king) Lat Sukabe Fall. The burba Jolof used this as an excuse to try and hem in his crumbling empire and invaded Kayor. Sukabe, fearing for his own security, invaded Kayor and killed the burba Jolof in battle. He then annexed Kayor creating a union of the two states that would last until his death in 1702. Thereafter, the two states would be ruled by his sons. By the late 18th century, Kayor was pre-eminent again and annexed Baol while inflicting serious defeats on the Muslim al-Mami of Futa Toro in 1786.[3]

Around 1875, Ahmadu Shaykhu of the Imamate of Futa Jallon took his jihad to Djolof. The empire was more or less annexed until 1890. From then on, it was absorbed into the French colony administered from Dakar. The state was formally extinguished in 1900. Ahamdu Shaykou was from Fouta Toro, precisely from Wourou Madiyou.

• List of rulers of Jolof
• Cayor Kingdom
• History of Senegal
• History of the Gambia
• Wolof people
• Serer people
• Mali Empire
• Jolof Empire

• Ogot, Bethwell A. (1999). General History of Africa V: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06700-2.