Jolof Empire

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The Jolof Empire (French: Diolof or Djolof) ruled various parts of Senegal.

The Jolof also called Dyolof or Wolof was an empire in modern day Senegal founded by the Wolof that still dominated the region. Its capital was Linguère, about 152 miles east-northeast of Dakar. Little is known about Jolof's early rise other than it had direct trade or was possibly a vassal of the Mali Empire.

The Jolof Empire was at its peak in the early 16th century, when profitable trade was carried on with the Portuguese. In 1549 the western province of Cayor declared independence. In 1555 Baol also separated. Jolof found itself as a mere neighbor to the kingdoms surrounding it while vying for trade with the Portuguese. Wolof was absorbed into the French colony administered from Dakar in 1890.

The name still applies to a cultural area in northern Senegal (the eastern part of the Louga Region) corresponding with the historical kingdom, and its inhabitants are called Jolof-Jolof. The area is a semi-arid part of the sahel, near the Sahara desert.

The area is inhabited primarily by sedentary Wolof-speakers (most of whom practice agriculture) and semi-nomadic Pulaar-speaking Fulbe (Fula) pastoralists. Many of the Wolof-speakers in the area descend from Pulaar-speaking Tukulóor from the Senegal River Valley. There are also a few long-established villages of Arabic-speaking Moors with ancestry in what is now Mauritania.

Because of a combination of political conflicts and desertification, over the past few centuries several waves of emigration of Wolof-speakers from the Jolof southward into other regions of Senegal has contributed to the spread of the Wolof language and Islam throughout Senegal. People of whose ancestors migrated from the Jolof into other regions are sometimes called Njolofeen.

[edit] Brief Jolof History

1200 Jolof settled as small kingdom.
1350 Jolof begins dominating neighboring states such as Waalo.
1500 Jolof at height of power.
1549 Jolof reduced to kingdom as Kayor state breaks off from empire followed by Bawol.
1875–1890 Annexed to empire of Ahmadu Shaykhu.
1895 Under French sovereignty.
1900 State extinguished.