Editing Waalo (section)

==Society==
===Government===
{{further|Lingeer Ndoye Demba|Joos Maternal Dynasty}}
The royal capital of Waalo was first [[Ndiourbel]] (Guribel) on the north bank of the [[Senegal River]] (in modern [[Mauritania]]), then [[Richard Toll|Ndiangué]] on the south bank of the river. The capital was moved to [[N'Der|Nder]] on the west shore of the [[Lac de Guiers]].

Waalo had a complicated political and social system, which has a continuing influence on [[Wolof people|Wolof]] culture in Senegal today, especially its highly formalized and rigid caste system. The kingdom was indirectly hereditary, ruled by three matrilineal families: the Logar, the Tedyek, and the [[Joos Maternal Dynasty|Joos]], all from [[:Category: Senegambian languages|different ethnic]] backgrounds. The Joos were of [[Serer people|Serer]] origin. This [[Serer maternal clans|Serer matriclan]] was established in Waalo by [[Lingeer Ndoye Demba]] of [[Kingdom of Sine|Sine]]. Her grandmother [[Lingeer Fatim Beye]] is the matriarch and early ancestor of this dynasty. These matrilineal families engaged in constant dynastic struggles to become "[[Brak (African kings)|Brak]]" or king of Waalo, as well as warring with Waalo's neighbors. The royal title "[[Lingeer]]" means queen or royal princess, used by the Serer and Wolof. Several Lingeer, notably [[Njembot Mbodj]] and [[Ndaté Yalla Mbodj]] ruled Waalo in their own right or as regents.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weikert |first1=Imche |editor1-last=Fauvelle-Aymar |editor1-first=François-Xavier |editor2-last=Hirsch |editor2-first=Bertrand|title=Les ruses de l'historien. Essais d'Afrique et d'ailleurs en hommage à Jean Boulègue |date=2013 |publisher=Karthala Editions|location=Paris |url=https://www.cairn.info/les-ruses-de-l-historien--9782811109394-page-15.htm |language=French |chapter=Les souveraines dans les systèmes politiques duaux en Afrique: L’exemple de la lingeer au Sénégal|series=Hommes et sociétés |pages=15–29 |doi=10.3917/kart.fauve.2013.01.0015 |isbn=978-2-8111-0939-4 |s2cid=246907590 }}</ref>

The Brak ruled with a kind of legislature, the ''Seb Ak Baor'', that consisted of three great electors who selected the next king. Their titles come from [[Fula language|Pulaar]] terms that initially meant 'masters of initiation', and originate from the period before Ndiadiane Ndiaye when [[Takrur]] dominated the area.{{sfn|Boulegue|2013|p=39}} There was also a complicated hierarchy of officials and dignitaries.  Women had high positions and figured prominently in the political and military history of Waalo.

Provinces were ruled by semi-independent ''Kangam'', such as the Bethio. Shifting allegiances between these powerful nobles, the Brak, other kingdoms, and the French of Saint-Louis led to a series of civil wars.{{sfn|Barry|1972|p=189}}

===Religion===
Waalo had its own traditional African religion. Islam was initially the province of the elite, but in the aftermath of Marabout War the ruling class increasingly rejected it while it become more and more widespread among the ruled. The Brak himself converted only in the 19th century.{{sfn|Barry|1972|p=157}}