Editing History of Senegal (section)

==Kingdoms and empires==
[[File:Empire ghana.png|thumb|left|Location of the [[Ghana Empire]]]]

The medieval history of the Sahel is characterized by the consolidation of settlements into large state entities&nbsp;– the [[Ghana Empire]], the [[Mali Empire]] and the [[Songhai Empire]]. The cores of these great empires were located on the territory of the current [[Republic of Mali]], so current-day Senegal occupied a peripheral position.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Gerti Hesseling, ''Histoire politique du Sénégal. Institutions, droit et société'', Paris: Karthala, 1985, p. 103.</ref>

The earliest of these empires is that of Ghana, probably founded in the [[first millennium]] by [[Soninke people|Soninke]] and whose  [[animism|animist]] populations subsisted by agriculture and trade across the Sahara,<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Mahamadou Maiga, ''Le bassin du fleuve Sénégal&nbsp;– De la traite négrière au développement sous-régional autocentré'', Paris: L’Harmattan, 1995, p. 20.</ref> including gold, salt and cloth. Its area of influence slowly spread to regions between the river valleys of the [[Senegal River|Senegal]] and [[Niger River|Niger]].

A contemporary empire of Ghana, but less extensive, the kingdom of [[Tekrur]] was its vassal. Ghana and Tekrur were the only organized populations before Islamization. The territory of Tekrur approximates that of the current [[Fouta Toro]]. Its existence in the 9th century is attested by Arabic manuscripts. The formation of the state may have taken place as an influx of [[Fula people|Fulani]] from the east settled in the Senegal valley.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hrbek|first=I.|series=[[General History of Africa]] |title=volume 3: Africa from the 7th to the 11th Century: (abridged)|year=1992|publisher=James Carey|isbn=978-0852550939|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qDFcD0BuekQC&pg=PA67|page=67}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Creevey|first=Lucy|title=Islam, Women and the Role of the State in Senegal|journal=Journal of Religion in Africa|date=August 1996|volume=26|issue=3|pages=268–307|jstor=1581646|doi=10.1163/157006696x00299}}</ref> [[John Donnelly Fage]] suggests that Takrur was formed through the interaction of Berbers from the Sahara and "Negro agricultural peoples" who were "essentially Serer" although its kings after 1000 CE might have been Soninke (northern Mande).<ref>{{cite book|last=Fage|first=John Donnelly|title=The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 3|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521209816|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qwg8GV6aibkC&pg=PA483|editor=Roland Oliver|chapter=Upper and Lower Guinea|page=484}}</ref> The name, borrowed from Arabic writings, may be linked to that of the ethnicity [[Toucouleur people|Toucouleur]].<ref>{{in lang|fr}} « Discussion sur les croisements ethniques », séance du 2 février 1865, ''Bulletin de la société d'anthropologie'', tome 6, fasc. 4, p. 67.</ref> Trade with the Arabs was prevalent. The Kingdom imported [[wool]], [[copper]] and [[pearl]]s and exported gold and [[slaves]].<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Gerti Hesseling, ''op. cit.'', p. 104.</ref> Indeed, the growth of a vast empire by Arab-Muslim [[Jihad]]s is not devoid of economic and political issues and brought in its wake the first real growth of the [[History of slavery|slave trade]]. This trade called the [[trans-Saharan slave trade]] provided North Africa and [[Sahara|Saharan Africa]] with slave labor. The Tekrur were among the first converts to [[Islam]], certainly before 1040.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Raymond Mauny, ''op. cit.'', p. 523</ref>

[[File:WolofWaalo.jpg|thumb|left|[[Wolof people|Wolof]] of [[Waalo]], in "war costume" (1846)]]
[[File:MALI empire BLANK.PNG|thumb|Extension of the [[Mali Empire]] at its height]]

Two other major political entities were formed and grew during the 13th and 14th century: the [[Mali Empire]] and the [[Jolof Empire]] which become the vassal of the first in its heyday. Originating in the Mandinka invasion, Mali continued to expand, encompassing first eastern Senegal, and later almost all the present territory. Founded in the 14th century by the possibly mythical chief of the Wolof [[Ndiadiane Ndiaye]],<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Samba Lampsar Sall, ''Njajaan Njaay. Les mythes de fondation de l'Empire du Djolof'', Dakar, Université de Dakar, 1982, 157 pages (Mémoire de Maîtrise)</ref> who was a Serer of [[Waalo]] (Ndiaye is originally a Serer surname<ref>William J. Foltz. From French West Africa to the Mali Federation, Volume 12 of Yale studies in political science, p136. Published by Yale University Press, 1965</ref>
<ref>Both Ndiadiane's name and surname are Serer in origin. For the surname Njie or Ndiaye which Ndiadiane Ndiaye got his name from see Cheikh Anta Diop and Egbuna P. Modum. "Towards the African renaissance: essays in African culture & development", 1946–1960, p28. Published by Karnak House (1996). {{ISBN|0-907015-85-9}}</ref><ref>The name comes from the Serer language. See: Victoria Bomba Coifman. ''History of the Wolof state of Jolof until 1860 including comparative data from the Wolof state of Walo'', University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1969, p. 276.</ref><ref>See also: Godfrey Mwakikagile. ''Gambia and Its People: Ethnic Identities and Cultural Integration in Africa'', p. 94.</ref><ref>Mam Kumba Njie (or Ndiaye) is a Serer Goddess in the [[Serer religion]] as well as the [[Almoravid]] invasion of [[Tekrur]]. See Henry Gravrand. "La Civilisation Sereer", ''Pangool'', p. 91. See also:
*Ed Hindson & Ergun Caner. ''The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics: Surveying the Evidence for the Truth of Christianity'', p. 21. Harvest House Publishers, 2008. {{ISBN|0-7369-2084-6}}</ref> which is also found among the Wolof). Djolof expanded its dominance of small chiefdoms south of the Senegal River ([[Waalo]], [[Cayor]], [[Baol]], [[Kingdom of Sine|Sine]]&nbsp;– [[Kingdom of Saloum|Saloum]]), bringing together all the Senegambia to which he gave religious and social unity:{{dubious|date=April 2012}} the "Grand Djolof" <ref>{{in lang|fr}} Jean Boulègue, ''Le grand Jolof, XIII<sup>e</sup>-XVI<sup>e</sup> siècle'', vol. 1: ''Les Anciens Royaumes Wolof'', Façades, Blois; Paris: Karthala, 207 pp.</ref>  which collapsed in 1550.

The Jolof Empire was founded by a voluntary confederacy of States; it was not an empire built on military conquest in spite of what the word "empire" implies.<ref name="Charles"/><ref name="Ham"/> The Serer tradition of Sine attests that the [[Kingdom of Sine]] never paid tribute to Ndiadiane Ndiaye nor to any member of his descendants that ruled Djolof. Historian [[Sylviane Diouf]] states that "Each vassal kingdom—Walo, Takrur, Kayor, Baol, Sine, Salum, Wuli, and Niani—recognized the hegemony of Jolof and paid tribute."<ref>[[Sylviane Diouf|Diouf, Sylviane]], ''Servants of Allah: African Muslims enslaved in the Americas'' (New York: New York University Press, 1998), 19</ref> It went on to state that, Ndiadiane Ndiaye himself received his name from the mouth of [[Maad a Sinig Maysa Wali Jaxateh Manneh|Maissa Wali]] (the King of Sine).<ref name="Diouf">Diouf, Niokhobaye. "Chronique du royaume du Sine" par suivie de Notes sur les traditions orales et les sources écrites concernant le royaume du Sine par Charles Becker et Victor Martin. Bulletin de l'Ifan, Tome 34, Série B, n° 4, 1972. p706</ref> In the epics of Ndiadiane and Maissa Wali, it is well acknowledged that Maissa Wali was pivotal in the founding of this Empire.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} It was he who nominated Ndiadiane Ndiaye and called for the other  states to join this confederacy, which they did, and the "empire" headed by Ndiadiane, who took residence at Djolof.<ref name="Diouf"/><ref>Stride, G.T. & C. Ifeka: "Peoples and Empires of West Africa: West Africa in History 1000–1800" page 22. Nelson, 1971</ref> It is for this reason scholars propose that the empire was more like a voluntary confederacy than an empire built on military conquest.<ref name="Charles">Charles, Eunice A. Precolonial Senegal: the Jolof Kingdom, 1800–1890. African Studies Center, Boston University, 1977. p 3</ref><ref name="Ham">Ham, Anthony. West Africa. Lonely Planet. 2009. p 670. ({{ISBN|1741048214}})</ref>

The arrival of Europeans engendered autonomy of small kingdoms which were under the influence of [[Jolof Empire|Djolof]]. Less dependent on trans-Saharan trade with the new shipping lanes, they turn more readily to trade with the [[New World]]. The decline of these kingdoms can be explained by internal rivalries, then by the arrival of Europeans, who organized the mass exodus of young Africans to the New World.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Gerti Hesseling, ''op. cit.'', p. 105</ref> [[Ghazi warriors|Ghazis]], wars, epidemics and famine afflicted the people, along with the [[Atlantic slave trade]], in exchange for weapons and manufactured goods. Under the influence of [[Islam]], these kingdoms were transformed and [[marabouts]] played an increasing role.

In [[Casamance]], the [[Bainuk people|Baïnounks]], the [[Manjaques]] and [[Diola (people)|Diola]] inhabited the coastal area while the mainland&nbsp;– unified 13th century under the name of [[Kaabu]]&nbsp;– was occupied by the [[Mandinka people|Mandingo]]. In the 15th century, the king of one of the tribes, Kassas gave his name to the region: Kassa [[Mansa (title)|Mansa]] (King of Kassas). Until the French intervention The Casamance was a heterogeneous entity, weakened by internal rivalries.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Djibril Diop, ''Décentralisation et gouvernance locale au Sénégal. Quelle pertinence pour le développement local ?'', Paris: L'Harmattan, 2006, p. 29.</ref>