Origins
Traditional accounts among the Wolof agree that the founder of the state and later empire was the possibly mythical Ndiadiane Ndiaye (also spelled Njaajaan Njaay). Traditional stories of the ancestry of this leader vary. One suggests that he was "the first and only son of a noble and saintly Arab father Abdu Darday and a "Tukuler" woman, Fatamatu Sail." This gives him a Almoravid lineage, ie a Berber and Islamic background, on his father's side, and a link on his mother's side to Takrur. James Fearing adds that "In all versions of the myth, Njaajaan Njaay speaks his first words in Pulaar rather than Wolof, emphasizing once again his character as a stranger of noble origins."
It has been suggested that the foundations of the empire were set down by the voluntary association of several small states beginning with Waalo in the north and that just prior to the empire's formation, Waalo was divided into villages ruled by separate kings using the Serer title Lamane.
The legend of Ndiadiane Ndiaye begins with a dispute over wood near a prominent lake. This almost led to bloodshed among the rulers but was stopped by the mysterious appearance of a stranger from the lake. The stranger divided the wood fairly and disappeared, leaving the people in awe. The people then feigned a second dispute and kidnapped the stranger when he returned. They offered him the kingship of their land and convinced him to do so and become mortal by offering him a beautiful woman to marry. When these events were reported to the ruler of the Sine, also a great magician, he is reported to have exclaimed "Ndiadiane Ndiaye" in his native Serer language in amazement. The ruler of the Kingdom of Sine (Maad a Sinig Maysa Wali) then suggested all rulers between the Senegal River and the Gambia River voluntarily submit to this man, which they did.
Fearing writes that "Most versions of the myth explain how the new dynasty superimposed itself upon a preexisting social structure dominated by the laman, Wolof elders who claimed "ownership" of the land as the descendants of the founders of village communities. The laman retained many of their functions under the new monarchical order, becoming a kind of lesser nobility within the new state, and serving as electors when the time came to choose a new king from the Njaay dynasty."
John Donnelly Fage suggests although dates in the early 13th century (and others say 12th century) are usually ascribed to this king and the founding of the empire, a more likely scenario is "that the rise of the empire was associated with the growth of Wolof power at the expense of the ancient Sudanese state of Takrur, and that this was essentially a fourteenth-century development."
Read more about this topic: Jolof Empire
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