The Kingdom of Jolof (Arabic: جولوف), also known as Wolof and Wollof, was a West African rump state located in what is today the nation of Senegal. For nearly two hundred years, the Wolof rulers of the Jolof Empire collected tribute from vassal kings states who voluntarily agreed to the confederacy.[1] At the 1549 Battle of Danki, however, the Buurba Jolof was defeated by the lord of Kayor, resulting in the rapid disintegration of the empire. Jolof survived as a rump state, unable to access the Atlantic trade between its former vassal territories and the Portuguese.
History
In the aftermath of the Battle of Danki, the Deniankes of Futa Toro made Jolof and Waalo their vassals, although this was largely nominal. The burbas of Jolof tried several times in the late 16th and early 17th century to reconquer Cayor, but were not successful, although they retained some of their imperial cachet and influence with their former vassals.
Rebellion
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.[4] The Mauretanians still remained a problem, however; and Waalo in particular suffered from their constant raids.[5]
Baol and Kayor
In 1686, Baol split from Kayor under the teigne (king) Lat Sukabe Fall. The burba Jolof used this as an excuse to try and restore 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.[5]
19th Century and the Growing French Presence
In the early 19th century the Trarza Moors dominated the Senegal river valley through their monopoly on the lucrative trade in gum arabic. They frequently raided Jolof for slaves and booty until buurba Mba Buuri began paying an annual tribute around 1820, though raids restarted and conflict intensified in the 1830s and 40s. During this period central rule was weak, but the bergel Makura Niang, dominating a series of buurbas, maintained order in the kingdom. Upon his death around 1848 Jolof was torn by succession disputes and foreign intervention until 1864.
In 1865 Maba Diakhou Bâ's forces led by Lat Jor invaded Jolof and drove buurba Bakantam Khadi, who had refused to convert to Islam, into exile in Bambouk. Maba was forced to retreat a few months later to deal with a revolt and French invasion in his base in Saloum, and the buurba returned, moving the capital to Yang-Yang, but was not able to fully restore order.
In 1870 another reformer, Shaikh Amadou Ba of the Imamate of Futa Toro, again tried to convince the buurba to convert. Ultimately he succeeded in cowing the political leadership of the kingdom, Islamizing the state, and he settled there with his numerous followers.
Alboury Ndiaye
Resistance remained, however, led by the tuube Sanor Ndiaye and Alboury Ndiaye. After many setbacks, an alliance of Ndiaye, Lat Jor, Ibra Almaami of Futa Toro, and the French defeated and killed Amadou Ba in the battle of Samba Sadio on February 11, 1875. Alboury Ndiaye then became de facto buurba, with an elder uncle as a figurehead.
Ndiaye re-established firm royal control in Jolof, ended the frequent raiding, promoted trade and agricultural production, and continued the Islamization of the country. He supported his cousin Lat Jor in a dispute with the French over the construction of a railroad, creating tension temporarily resolved by a favorable treaty in 1885. In 1886 he defeated an invasion from Cayor by the damel installed by the French in place of Lat Jor in the battle of Gile. By 1890 Jolof was the only remaining independent kingdom in western Senegal, and Alboury Ndiaye was planning to evacuate much of the population eastwards away from French influence. To prevent this, a column led by Alfred Dodds marched on Yang-Yang in May, and Ndiaye moved eastwards across the Ferlo Desert to Futa Toro. Dodds installed a puppet buurba and officially established a protectorate over Jolof, ending its independence.
Society
Jolof society was, like many of its neighbors, composed of three groups - the freeborn (including both nobles and peasants), the artisan castes, and slaves, which were around 15% of the population. Most slaves were captured in war or raids, and those born into slavery could not be sold.
For much of Jolof's history Islamic practice was deeply syncreticized with pre-Islamic and animistic practices and the rulers and nobility were nominal Muslims at best. The marabout class was generally set apart, serving as providers of magical amulets and gri-gris as well as secretaries and priests for the nobility. The distinction between observant Muslim marabouts and quasi-pagan ceddos deepened over time and was at the heart of the religious conflicts of the 1860s.
Government
The buurba, or king, was the head of state. He appointed from the royal family the tuube, who served as regent in the king'd absence, and the buumi, who commanded a province and was the burba's presumed successor. The Lingeer, often the king's mother but sometimes his sister, ran the royal household and was the most powerful woman in the kingdom. Nobles with territorial commands were known as kangaame, and among these the most powerful and influential were the belep and bergel, each of whom ruled an important province on Jolof's borders and whose titles were hereditary.
The jaraaf jambuure was the council of nobles who elected new kings and advised them on all matters. Each caste and minority ethnicity also had a representative who served as an intermediary between them and the buurba. The ruler also controlled a force of slave soldiers which maintained order and formed the core of the kingdom's army.
