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Jeleen Yatta Ntanye, more commonly known as Jelen, Jeléen, or Bemoim, was a
buumi Buumi (many variations : Buumy, Bumy, Bumi, etc.) was a royal title in the pre-colonial Serer Kingdoms of Sine, Saloum and Baol, as well as in the Jolof Empire. Among the Serer In the Serer kingdoms, the Buumi was the first in line to inherit ...
of the
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." Vo ...
who attempted to take control of the state with help from the Portuguese in the late 15th century.


Background

Jeleen was a member of the Ndiaye dynasty, the ruling family of the Jolof Empire. Oral sources do not all agree, but he was likely the son of the Buurba
Tase Daagulen Tase Daagulen (ruled –) was the eighth ruler, or ''Burba'', of the 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 ...
. Succession disputes were common at the time. The title of Buumi had been created in part to share power and attempt to reduce these conflicts.


Rule as Buumi

Jeleen ruled over
Waalo Waalo () was a kingdom on the lower Senegal River in West Africa, in what is now Senegal and Mauritania. It included parts of the valley proper and areas north and south, extending to the Atlantic Ocean. To the north were Moorish emirates; to the ...
, near the mouth of the
Senegal River The Senegal River ( or "Senegal" - compound of the  Serer term "Seen" or "Sene" or "Sen" (from  Roog Seen, Supreme Deity in Serer religion) and "O Gal" (meaning "body of water")); , , , ) is a river in West Africa; much of its length mark ...
. He played an important role in governing the empire, with the Buurba occupied with personal pleasures, and is credited in oral history as the first to establish a system of 'alkaldes' who served as customs agents. He moved his seat, or perhaps that of the whole empire, closer to the coast in order to better take advantage of the opportunities arising from the Portuguese trade that had begun a few decades earlier.


Alliance with the Portuguese

Portuguese accounts of Jelen begin when merchants said he did not pay for items he had bought from them. Bemoim, a term coming from his title 'Bumi' in
Wolof 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 Mal ...
, received an envoy from Portugal sent to address the dispute. No money changed hands, but Jelen gave the Portuguese monarch 100 slaves. In 1487, Jelen asked the Portuguese for help in a military campaign against his rivals, but this was denied. Jelen eventually had to withdraw to
Arguin Arguin ( : ''Arghīn''; ) is an island off the western coast of Mauritania in the Bay of Arguin. It is approximately in size, with extensive and dangerous reefs around it. The island is now part of the Banc d'Arguin National Park. History Th ...
, a Portuguese colonial garrison. From there, he went to Portugal and had an audience with
John II of Portugal John II (; ; 3 May 1455 – 25 October 1495), called the Perfect Prince (), was King of Portugal from 1481 until his death in 1495, and also for a brief time in 1477. He is known for reestablishing the power of the Portuguese monarchy, reinvigo ...
, likely in September or October 1488. He was treated as a visiting European monarch would have been. Jelen was baptized during the visit, on 3 November 1488, and given the
baptismal name A Christian name, sometimes referred to as a baptismal name, is a religious name, religious personal personal name, name given on the occasion of a Christian baptism, though now most often given by parents at birth. In Anglosphere, English-spe ...
João. Peter Russell argues that John II had in fact been trying to get Jelen to convert for a while, perhaps because John was interested in spreading Christianity in the area known to the Portuguese as
Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...
. They agreed that the Portuguese would send a force to Jolof to set up a fort and trading post at the mouth of the
Senegal river The Senegal River ( or "Senegal" - compound of the  Serer term "Seen" or "Sene" or "Sen" (from  Roog Seen, Supreme Deity in Serer religion) and "O Gal" (meaning "body of water")); , , , ) is a river in West Africa; much of its length mark ...
and restore Jelen to power. Jelen was murdered on the way back to West Africa by the Portuguese commander Pero Vaz da Cunha, who alleged Jelen had betrayed them.


See also

*
History of Senegal The history of Senegal is commonly divided into a number of periods, encompassing the prehistoric era, the precolonial period, colonialism, and the contemporary era. Paleolithic The earliest evidence of human life is found in the valley of the ...
*
History of The Gambia The first written records of the region come from Arab traders in the 9th and 10th centuries. In medieval times, the region was dominated by the Trans-Saharan trade and was ruled by the Mali Empire. In the 16th century, the region came to be r ...


Notes


Sources

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Further reading

* * {{Serer topics, state=collapsed Portuguese colonisation in Africa 1489 deaths