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Wolof People
The Wolof people () are a Niger-Congo peoples, Niger-Congo ethnic group native to the Senegambia, Senegambia region of West Africa. Senegambia is today split between western Senegal, northwestern the Gambia, Gambia and coastal Mauritania; the Wolof form the largest ethnic group within Senegambia. In Senegal as a whole, the Wolof are the largest ethnic group (~39.7%), while elsewhere they are a minority. They Endonym and exonym, refer to themselves as ''Wolof'' and speak the Wolof language, in the West Atlantic languages, West Atlantic branch of the Niger–Congo family of languages; English inherited ''Wolof'' as both the adjectival ethnonym and the name of the language. Their early history is unclear. The earliest documented mention of the Wolof is found in the records of 15th-century, Portuguese-financed Italian traveller Alvise Cadamosto, who mentioned well-established Islamic Wolof chiefs advised by Muslim counselors. The Wolof belonged to the medieval-era Wolof Empire of the ...
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Wolof Language
Wolof ( ; , ) is a Niger–Congo language spoken by the Wolof people in much of the West African subregion of Senegambia that is split between the countries of Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, it belongs to the Senegambian branch of the Niger–Congo language family. Unlike most other languages of its family, Wolof is not a tonal language. Wolof is the most widely spoken language in Senegal, spoken natively by the Wolof people (40% of the population) but also by most other Senegalese as a second language. Wolof dialects vary geographically and between rural and urban areas. The principal dialect of Dakar, for instance, is an urban mixture of Wolof, French, and Arabic. ''Wolof'' is the standard spelling and may also refer to the Wolof ethnicity or culture. Variants include the older French , , or , which now typically refers either to the Jolof Empire or to jollof rice, a common West African rice dish. Now-archaic forms incl ...
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Jihad
''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God's guidance, such as an introspection, internal struggle against evil in oneself, efforts to build a good Muslim community (''ummah''), and struggle to defend Islam. Literally meaning 'struggle', the term is most frequently Islam and war, associated with warfare. ''Jihad'' is classified into inner ("greater") ''jihad'', which involves a struggle against one's own passions and impulses, and outer ("lesser") ''jihad'', which is further subdivided into ''jihad'' of the pen/tongue (debate or persuasion) and ''jihad'' of the sword (warfare). Much of Muslim opinion considers inner ''jihad'' to have primacy over outer ''jihad'', although many Western scholars disagree. The analysis of a large survey from 2002 reveals considerable nuance in the co ...
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Imamate Of Futa Toro
The Imamate of Futa Toro (; ; ) was a West African theocratic monarchy of the Fula-speaking people ('' Fulɓe'' and Toucouleurs) in the middle valley of the Senegal River, in the region known as Futa Toro. Following the trend of jihads in the late 17th century and early 18th century, the religious leader Sulayman Bal led a jihad in 1776. His successor, the expansionist Abdul Kader defeated the emirates of Trarza and Brakna and by his death in 1806, power became decentralized between a few elite families of Torodbes. Threatened by both the expansion of the Toucouleur Empire and the French in the mid-19th century, Futa Toro was eventually annexed in 1859. By the 1860s, the power of the Almamy became nominal and the state was further weakened when a cholera epidemic killed a quarter of its population in 1868. Origins Futa Toro is a strip of agricultural land along both sides of the Senegal River. The people of the region speak Pulaar, a dialect of the greater Fula languag ...
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Sudan (region)
Sudan is the geographical region to the south of the Sahara, stretching from Western Africa to Central and Eastern Africa. The name derives from the Arabic ' () and ' (), both meaning "the land of the Africans, Blacks", referring to West Africa and northern Central Africa. History According to some modern historians, of all the regions of Africa, western Sudan "is the one that has seen the longest development of agriculture, of markets and long-distance trade, and of complex political systems." It is also the first region "south of the Sahara where African Islam took root and flowered." Middle Ages Its medieval history is marked by the Trans-Saharan trade, caravan trade. The sultanates of eastern Sudan were Sultanate of Darfur, Darfur, Sultanate of Bagirmi, Bagirmi, Sultanate of Sennar, Sennar and Wadai Sultanate, Wadai. In central Sudan, Kanem–Bornu Empire and the Hausa Kingdoms. To the west were Wagadou, Mandé peoples, Manden, Songhai Empire, Songhay and the Mossi peo ...
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Atlantic Slave Trade
The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage. Europeans established a coastal slave trade in the 15th century and trade to the Americas began in the 16th century, lasting through the 19th century. The vast majority of those who were transported in the transatlantic slave trade were from Central Africa and West Africa and had been sold by West African slave traders to European slave traders, while others had been captured directly by the slave traders in coastal raids. European slave traders gathered and imprisoned the enslaved at slave fort, forts on the African coast and then brought them to the Americas. Some Portuguese and Europeans participated in slave raids. As the National Museums Liverpool explains: "European traders captured some Africans in raids along the coast, but bou ...
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Wolof Language Map
Wolof or Wollof may refer to: * Wolof people, an ethnic group found in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania * Wolof language, a language spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania * The Wolof or Jolof Empire, a medieval West African successor of the Mali Empire from the 14th to 16th centuries in present-day Senegal * The Wolof or Jolof Kingdom The Kingdom of Jolof (), 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 ..., a rump survival of the earlier empire in the same area from the 16th to the 19th centuries {{disambig Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...
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Ghana Empire
The Ghana Empire (), also known as simply Ghana, Ghanata, or Wagadu, was an ancient western-Sahelian empire based in the modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali. It is uncertain among historians when Ghana's ruling dynasty began. The first identifiable mention of the imperial dynasty in written records was made by Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī in 830. Further information about the empire was provided by the accounts of Cordoban scholar al-Bakri when he wrote about the region in the 11th century. After centuries of prosperity, the empire began its decline in the second millennium, and would finally become a vassal state of the rising Mali Empire at some point in the 13th century. Despite its collapse, the empire's influence can be felt in the establishment of numerous urban centers throughout its former territory. In 1957, the British colony of the Gold Coast, under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah named itself Ghana upon independence. Etymology The word ...
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Jollof Rice
Jollof (), or jollof rice, is a rice dish from West Africa. The dish is typically made with long-grain rice, tomatoes, chilis, onions, spices, and sometimes other vegetables and/or meat in a single pot, although its ingredients and preparation methods vary across different regions. The dish originated in Senegal. Regional variations are a source of competition among the countries of West Africa, and in particular between Nigeria and Ghana, over whose version is the best; in the 2010s this developed into a friendly rivalry known as the "Jollof Wars". In French-speaking West Africa, a variation of the dish is known as riz au gras. The Senegalese version, thieboudienne, has been recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage dish. History and origin The Jolof or Wolof Empire was a confederacy state that ruled parts of West Africa situated in modern-day Senegal, Mali, The Gambia and Mauritania from around the 12th century and was later known as the Jolof Kingdom. Acco ...
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Jolof Kingdom
The Kingdom of Jolof (), 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.Mwakikagile, Godfrey ''Ethnic Diversity and Integration in the Gambia'' 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 The last Buurba of a united Jolof Empire, Leele Fuli Fak, was killed at Danki in 1549. His sons were children, and so their uncle Alboury became regent. He refused to yield power when they came of age, however, leading to a civil war where Giran Buri Jeleen defeated and killed him. With Jolof weakened, the Deniankes of Futa Toro made Jolof and Waalo t ...
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Gambia
The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for the western part, which is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean.Hoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A–Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publications. p. 11. . Its territory is on both sides of the lower reaches of the Gambia River, which flows through the centre of the country and empties into the Atlantic. The national namesake river demarcates the elongated shape of the country, which has an area of and a population of 2,769,075 people in 2024 which is a 47% population increase from 2013. The capital city is Banjul, which has the most extensive metropolitan area in the country. The second and third-largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama. Arab Muslims, Arab Muslim merchants traded with indigenous West Africans in The Gambia throughout the 9th ...
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Jolof Empire
The Jolof Empire (), also known as Great Jolof or the Wolof Empire, was a Wolof state in modern-day Senegal, that ruled portions of Mauritania and Gambia from the mid-14th centuryFage, J. D.; Oliver, Roland; "The Cambridge History of Africa." Volume 3. Cambridge University Press, 1975, p. 486, (or possibly earlier) until 1549. Following the battle of Danki, its vassal states were fully or ''de facto'' independent; in this period it is known as the Jolof Kingdom. Origins The region that became Jolof was initially inhabited by the Soce and then Serer peoples, who were driven south by the Wolof by the 13th century. Wolof oral traditions relate that was named after a local chief Jolof Mbengue. The empire consisted mostly of Wolof, Serer and Fula from north of the Senegal River. Before the empire's rise, the region was ruled by Lamanes of the Mbengue, Diaw and Ngom families. They were related to early rulers of neighboring kingdoms such as Baol. Jolof was a vassal of the Mal ...
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Endogamy
Endogamy is the cultural practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting any from outside of the group or belief structure as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. Its opposite, exogamy, describes the social norm of marriage outside of the group. Endogamy is common in many cultures and ethnic groups. Several religious and Ethnic religion, ethnic religious groups are traditionally more endogamous, although sometimes mating outside of the group occurs with the added dimension of requiring Marital conversion, marital religious conversion. This permits an exogamous marriage, as the convert, by accepting the partner's religion, becomes accepted within the endogamous group. Endogamy may result in a higher rate of recessive gene–linked genetic disorders. Adherence Endogamy can encourage sectarianism and serves as a form of self-segregation. For instance, a community resists integration or comple ...
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