The Kingdom of Saloum was a Serer kingdom in present-day Senegal as well as parts of Gambia, then called Lower Saluum. The precolonial capital of Saloum was the city of Kahone. It was a sister to the Kingdom of Sine. Their history, geography and culture were intricately linked and it was common to refer to them as the Sine-Saloum and the Serer Kingdoms of Sine and Saloum.
Senegal's music is best known abroad due to the popularity of mbalax, a development of conservative music from different ethnic groups and sabar drumming popularized internationally by Youssou N'Dour.
The Senegambia is, in the narrow sense, a historical name for a geographical region in West Africa, named after the Senegal River in the north and the Gambia River in the south. However, there are also text sources which state that Senegambia is understood in a broader sense and equated with the term the Western region. This refers to the coastal areas between Senegal and Sierra Leone, where the inland border in the east was not further defined.
The Jolof Empire, also known as Great Jolof, or the WolofEmpire, was a Wolof state that ruled parts of West Africa situated in modern-day Senegal, Mali, Gambia and Mauritania from around the 12th century to 1549. Following the 1549 battle of Danki, its vassal states were fully or de facto independent; in this period it is known as the Jolof Kingdom.
The music of the Gambia is closely linked musically with that of its neighbor, Senegal, which surrounds its inland frontiers completely. Among its prominent musicians is Foday Musa Suso. Mbalax is a widely known popular dance music of the Gambia and neighbouring Senegal. It fuses popular Western music and dance, with sabar, the traditional drumming and dance music of the Wolof and Serer people.
The Wolof, the largest ethnic group in Senegal, have a distinctive musical tradition that, along with the influence of neighboring Fulani, Tukulor, Serer, Jola, and Malinke cultures, has contributed greatly to popular Senegalese music, and to West African music in general. Wolof music takes its roots from the Serer musical tradition, particularly from the Serer pre-colonial Kingdom of Saloum. Virtually all Wolof musical terminology including musical instruments comes from the Serer language.
The Diourbel Region is a region of Senegal with 2,080,811 inhabitants (2023). The regional capital is the city of Diourbel, and the largest city is Touba. The region corresponds roughly to the precolonial Kingdom of Bawol and is still called by that name. Bawol is an ancient kingdom formerly ruled by the Joof family, one of the members of the Serer ethnic group found in Senegambia. Inhabitants of the area are called Bawol-Bawol which takes its name from the Serer mode of pluralisation, other examples being : Sine-Sine or Siin-Siin, Saloum-Saloum, etc. The population is primarily comprised by the Serer people especially those from the Cangin group, the Safene in particular. The Serers are believed to be the original inhabitants of this area. The Wolof and other ethnic groups are also present. The Diourbel Region is rich in history and it is where the Cekeen Tumulus are located. Scholars such as Charles Becker, Henry Gravrand, and Victor Martin suggest that these monuments were built by the Serer people and form part of the Serer tumulus of Baol. They are some of the most sacred sites in Serer religion. The Département of Mbacke also includes Murid Islamic Sufi order's holy city of Touba. The installation of this order in Serer country is a controversial one, especially among those Serers who adhere to the tenets of Serer religion (see Serer history. However, some Serers are also Muslims and have headed this religious order.
Mbalax is the urban dance music of Senegal and the Gambia. The musical style is rooted in the indigenous instrumental and vocal styles accompanied by polyrhythmic sabar drumming of the Wolof, a social identity that includes both the original Wolof people of the Greater Senegambia region and the urban panethnic identity that arose during colonialism. A cultural value proved by Wolof is their one's and respect of other cultural and musical practices. Therefore the origins of mbalax include a fusion of Wolof, Soce, and Serer music, rhythms, and instrumentation. The Wolof ability to include the diverse styles from Senegambian groups has allowed the sabar and its modern music formation to thrive. It is not uncommon, for example, for a sabar event to include music of the Serer such as the njuup, which is connected to sacred ndut rite ceremonies. In this way many ethnic groups may participate and the inclusion also increases the accessibilyt and popularity of the genre. In the 1970s, mbalax arose as Senegalese fused indigenous music styles with urban dance music from the African diaspora, the West, and the continent. These foreign sounds included U.S. soul, jazz, and salsa. Afro Cuban musics from the diaspora, Congolese rumba, and rock were also fused with the rhythms of sabar that were now played on the electric bass, guitar and keyboards.
The Serer people are a West African ethnoreligious group. They are the third-largest ethnic group in Senegal, making up 15% of the Senegalese population. They are also found in northern Gambia and southern Mauritania.
Senegalese wrestling is a type of folk wrestling traditionally performed by the Serer people and now a national sport in Senegal and parts of The Gambia, and is part of a larger West African form of traditional wrestling. The Senegalese form traditionally allows blows with the hands (frappe), the only one of the West African traditions to do so. As a larger confederation and championship around Lutte Traditionnelle has developed since the 1990s, Senegalese fighters now practice both forms, called officially Lutte Traditionnelle sans frappe and Lutte Traditionnelle avec frappe for the striking version.
The Kingdom of Sine was a post-classical Serer kingdom along the north bank of the Saloum River delta in modern Senegal. The inhabitants are called Siin-Siin or Sine-Sine.
The French conquest of Senegal started in 1659 with the establishment of Saint-Louis, Senegal, followed by the French capture of the island of Gorée from the Dutch in 1677, but would only become a full-scale campaign in the 19th century.
Guelowar, also spelled Gelwar, Guelwar, Guelware, Gueleware or Gueloware, was a maternal dynasty in the pre-colonial Serer kingdoms of Sine and Saloum. They were from the Mandinka ethnic group. The offspring of Mandinka women and Serer men became the kings of Sine and Saloum. The dynasty lasted from the mid-14th century to 1969, the year both kings died.
Lamane or laman (Serer: Laamaan or Lamaan, mean "master of the land" in Serer. The name was also sometimes the title of chiefs or kings of the Serer people of the Senegambia region which includes modern day Senegal and the Gambia. This title was also used by some kings of the Wolof kingdoms. The title is sometimes used interchangeably with the old title Maad. After the Guelowars' migration to the Sine and the foundation of the Kingdom of Sine, "lamane" denotes a provincial chief answerable to the King of Sine and Saloum.
The prehistoric and ancient history of the Serer people of modern-day Senegambia has been extensively studied and documented over the years. Much of it comes from archaeological discoveries and Serer tradition rooted in the Serer religion.
The medieval history of the Serer people of Senegambia is partly characterised by resisting Islamization from perhaps the 11th century during the Almoravid movement, to the 19th century Marabout movement of Senegambia and continuation of the old Serer paternal dynasties.
Teigne was a Serer title for the monarchs of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Baol, now part of present-day Senegal. The Kingdoms of Baol and Cayor became intricately linked especially post 1549 when the Faal family came to into prominence, and it was the same family that eventually ruled both Kingdoms with the exception of few interruptions, notably Lat Joor Ngoneh Latir Jobe who was of a different patrilineage.
This is a timeline of the history and development of Serer religion and the Serer people of Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania. This timeline merely gives an overview of their history, consisting of calibrated archaeological discoveries in Serer countries, Serer religion, politics, royalty, etc. Dates are given according to the Common Era. For a background to these events, see Roog, Serer religion, Serer creation myth, Serer prehistory, Lamane, States headed by Serer Lamanes, Serer history and Serer people.
Lingeer was the title given to the mother or sister of a king in the Serer kingdoms of Sine, Saloum, and previously the Kingdom of Baol; and the Wolof kingdoms of Cayor, Jolof, Baol and Waalo in pre-colonial Senegal. The word "Lingeer" means "queen" or "princess" in Serer and Wolof language. The Lingeer was considered the “great princess of royal courts.” These kingdoms utilized a bilineal system, as a candidate for kingship could not succeed to the throne if he was not a member of the reigning materlineage, and thus, the Lingeer's maternal lineage was highly significant. In similarity, a candidate could not succeed to the throne as king if he was not a member of the noble reigning patriclans. That was particular so among the Serer who retained much of their old culture, customs and traditional religion where women played a significant role compared to the Wolof who adopted Islam. Various Lingeers have been noted for their resistance efforts to colonial conquest.
Babacar Sedikh Diouf or Babacar Sédikh Diouf is a Senegalese historian, author, researcher, campaigner against "Wolofization", a Pan-Africanist, and former teacher. He has written extensively about the history and culture of Senegal, Africa, and that of the Serer ethnic group to which he belongs. He usually writes by the pen name Babacar Sedikh Diouf.
