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 century, or possibly earlier, until 1549. The region that became Jolof was initially inhabited by the Soce and then the Serer peoples, who were driven south by the Wolof by the thirteenth century; before the empire's rise the land was ruled by Lamanes of the Mbengue, Diaw and Ngom families, related to the early rulers of neighbouring kingdoms such as Baol. For much of its early history Jolof was a vassal of the Mali Empire, remaining within that empire's sphere of influence until the latter half of the fourteenth century, when it stood on its own as the great power of the Senegambian interior. Its population consisted mostly of Wolof, Serer and Fula from north of the Senegal River, united under the Buurba Jolof at his capital, and its horse-borne authority reached from the Senegal valley to the Gambia. The empire the map shows ended in 1549: following the battle of Danki, its vassal states became fully or de facto independent, and the reduced rump on the Jolof heartland lived on as the Kingdom of Jolof.