Lingeer Ngoné Dièye

Lingeer Ngoné Dièye (Serer: Lingeer Ngoone Jaay, or Lingeer Ngoneh Jaay) was a Lingeer from the Kingdom of Saloum, and early ancestor of the Guedj (Wolof: Géej; Serer: Geej) maternal dynasty of Cayor and Baol.[1][2] She was the wife of the 17th century Senegambian noble and Teigne Thié Yasin Demba Noudj Fall, and mother of the controversial Damel—Teigne Lat Soukabé Ngoné Fall ( fr ) who ruled as King of Cayor and Baol from 1697 to 1719 and became the first Guedj to rule in those kingdoms—after overthrowing the reigning maternal dynasty and installing his mother's matriclan. In usurping the throne, he committed fratricide by killing his paternal half-brother (the reigning king) and took his throne.[1][3][4][2] Ngoné Dièye was a Serer noble of the Dièye family of Saloum. In the Wolof Kingdom of Cayor, she became Queen when she married the King of Cayor, and later Queen Mother of Cayor and Baol when her son usurped the throne and unified Cayor and Baol. According to Cheikh Anta Diop, "The Guedj come from common people. They are distinguished by their adaptive ability and their military genius. The dynasty is named for the country of origin of the first founding Damel's mother. She was a commoner from the seacoast, who married the King; guedj meaning "sea" in Wolof. Her son, though he had no right to the throne, succeeded in being crowned, through his energy and mental agility."[5][1][2]

In 1697, the newly appointed French Director General of Trade in Senegal, André Brue, established a cordial relationship with Lingeer Ngoné Dièye. The Queen Mother regarded André as young enough to be her son, and referred to him as such. In one of her secret correspondences with André, she mediated between her own son (Lat Soukabé) and the French, and asked the French to ignore her son's ourbursts and insults. The Queen Mother intervened regularly during the reign of her son in an attempts to curb his excesses with the French.[6][7]

Lingeer Ngoné Dièye is the matriach and direct maternal ancestor of all the Guedj kings of Cayor and Baol, including the Senegambian hero Lat Dior. For several centuries until the French conquest of Baol and Cayor, Lingeer Ngoné Dièye's descendants dominated the political scene of Cayor and Baol.[8]