Wolof people

Wolof people

A Wolof man in the Gambia
Total population
~7,676,940
Regions with significant populations
Senegal	7,192,000[1]
Gambia	258,065[2]
Mauritania	230,000[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, Jolof, Iolof, Whalof, Ialof, Olof, and Volof, among other spellings.