Wolof people

Wolof people
A Wolof man in the Gambia
Total population
~7,676,940
Regions with significant populations
 Senegal7,192,000[1]
 Gambia300,000[2]
 Mauritania230,000[3]
Languages
Wolof • French • English •
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Serer people, Diola people, Lebou people

The Wolof people (UK: /ˈwoʊlɒf/)[4][5] are a West African ethnic group found in northwestern Senegal, the Gambia, and southwestern coastal Mauritania. In Senegal, the Wolof are the largest ethnic group (~39.7%), while elsewhere they are a minority.[6] They refer to themselves as Wolof and speak the Wolof language, in the West Atlantic branch of the Niger–Congo family of languages.[7]

Their early history is unclear. The earliest documented mention of the Wolof is found in the records of 15th-century, Portuguese-financed Italian traveller Alvise Cadamosto, who mentioned well-established Islamic Wolof chiefs advised by Muslim counselors.[7][8] The Wolof belonged to the medieval-era Wolof Empire of the Senegambia region.[8]

Details of the pre-Islamic religious traditions of the Wolof are unknown, and their oral traditions state them to have been adherents of Islam since the founding king of Jolof.[8] However, historical evidence left by Islamic scholars and European travelers suggest that Wolof warriors and rulers did not initially convert to Islam, although accepting and relying on Muslim clerics as counselors and administrators. In and after the 18th century, the Wolof were impacted by the violent jihads in West Africa, which triggered internal disagreements about Islam among the Wolof.[8] In the 19th century, as the colonial French forces launched a war against the Wolof kingdoms, the Wolof people resisted the French and converted to Islam.[8][9][10] Contemporary Wolofs are predominantly Sufi Muslims belonging to Mouride and Tijaniyyah Islamic brotherhoods.[7]

The Wolof people, like other West African ethnic groups, historically maintained a rigid, endogamous social stratification that included nobility, clerics, castes, and slaves.[7][11][12] The Wolof were close to the French colonial rulers, became integrated into the colonial administration, and have dominated the culture and economy of Senegal since the country's independence from France on 4 April 1960.[13]

They are also referred to as the Wollof,[14] Jolof, Iolof, Whalof, Ialof, Olof, and Volof, among other spellings.[15]

  1. ^ "Senegal Population 2019". World Population Review. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  2. ^ National Population Commission Secretariat (30 April 2005). "2013 Population and Housing Census: Spatial Distribution" (PDF). Gambia Bureau of Statistics. The Republic of The Gambia. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  3. ^ "What Is The Ethnic Composition Of Mauritania?". WorldAtlas. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference oed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Wolof". en.OxfordDictionaries.com. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  6. ^ "Africa: Senegal". CIA World Factbook. US Central Intelligence Agency. 14 November 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Levinson1996wol was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b c d e Levtzion, Nehemia; Pouwels, Randall (2000). The History of Islam in Africa. Ohio University Press. pp. 78–79. ISBN 978-0-8214-4461-0.
  9. ^ Gritzner, Janet (2005). Senegal. Infobase. pp. 40–41. ISBN 978-1-4381-0539-0.
  10. ^ Leichtman, Mara A. (2015). Shi'i Cosmopolitanisms in Africa: Lebanese Migration and Religious Conversion in Senegal. Indiana University Press. pp. 46–47. ISBN 978-0-253-01605-8.
  11. ^ Tamari, Tal (1991). "The Development of Caste Systems in West Africa". The Journal of African History. 32 (2). Cambridge University Press: 221–250. doi:10.1017/s0021853700025718. S2CID 162509491. Endogamous artisan and musician groups are characteristic of over fifteen West African peoples, including the Manding, Soninke, Wolof, Serer, Fulani, Tukulor, Songhay, Dogon, Senufo, Minianka, Moors, and Tuareg. Castes appeared among the Malinke no later than 1300, and were present among the Wolof and Soninke, as well as some Songhay and Fulani populations, no later than 1500.
  12. ^ Gomez, Michael A. (2002). Pragmatism in the Age of Jihad: The Precolonial State of Bundu. Cambridge University Press. pp. 23–24. ISBN 978-0-521-52847-4.
  13. ^ Appiah, Anthony; Gates, Henry Louis (2010). Encyclopedia of Africa. Oxford University Press. pp. 544–545. ISBN 978-0-19-533770-9.
  14. ^ Wollof - English Dictionary (PDF). Peace Corps The Gambia. 1995.
  15. ^ Lagacé, Robert O.; Skoggard, Ian. "Cultural Summary: Wolof". eHRAF World Cultures. Human Relations Area Files. ETHNONYMS: Chelofes, Galofes, Guiolof, Gyloffes, Ialofes, Iolof, Jalof, Jolof, Olof, Ouoloff, Valaf, Volof, Wollufs, Yaloffs, Yolof.