The Imamate of Futa Toro (Arabic: إمامة فوتة تورو; Fula: Imaama Futa Toro; French: Imamat de Futa Toro) was a West African theocratic monarchy of the Fula-speaking people (Fulɓe and Toucouleurs) in the middle valley of the Senegal River, in the region known as Futa Toro. Following the trend of jihads in the late 17th century and early 18th century, the religious leader Sulayman Bal led a jihad in 1776. His successor, the expansionist Abdul Kader defeated the emirates of Trarza and Brakna and by his death in 1806, power became decentralized between a few elite families of Torodbes. Threatened by both the expansion of the Toucouleur Empire and the French in the mid-19th century, Futa Toro was eventually annexed in 1859. By the 1860s, the power of the Almamy became nominal and the state was further weakened when a cholera epidemic killed a quarter of its population in 1868.
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier
Futa Toro in the context of Toucouleur people
The Toucouleur people or Tukulor people (Arabic: تكرور, French: Toucouleur), also called Haalpulaar (Ajami: هَالْݒُلَارْ), are a West African ethnic group native to the Futa Toro region of Senegal. There are smaller communities in Mali and Mauritania. The Toucouleur were Islamized in the 11th century; their early and strong Islamic heritage, which is seen as a defining feature, is a matter of great pride for them. They were among the first Muslims in the area that became Senegal. They were influential in the spread of Islam to West Africa in the medieval era.
They founded the vast Toucouleur Empire in the 19th century under Omar Saidou Tall who led a religious war against the neighboring ethnic groups and the French colonial forces.