Imamate of Futa Toro

Imamate of Futa Toro
1776–1859
Location of Torobe Imamate
CapitalOrefonde
Common languagesArabic (official)
Pulaar language
Religion
Sunni Islam
GovernmentTheocratic monarchy
Almamy 
• 1776–1804
Abdul Kaader
• 1875–1891
Abdul Ba Bakar
History 
• Established
1776
• Incorporated into Senegal Colony
1877
• Disestablished
1859
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Empire of Great Fulo
Tukulor Empire
French West Africa
Today part ofSenegal

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.[1] 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.