Toucouleur Empire
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The Toucouleur Empire was founded in the nineteenth century by El Hadj Umar Tall of the Toucouleur people, in part of present-day Mali.
Umar Tall returned from the Hajj in 1836 with the titles of El Hadj and caliph of the Tijaniyya brotherhood of the Sudan. After a long stay in Fouta-Toro (present day Senegal), he moved to Fouta Djallon (present-day Guinea), which became the staging ground for his 1850 jihad.
Abandoning his assault on the French colonial army after an 1857 failure to conquer Medina fort, Umar Tall struck out against the Bambara kingdoms with much greater success. Conquering Ségou on March 10, 1861, he made it the capital of his empire, though a year later he left its management to his son Ahmadu Tall to conquer Hamdullahi, capital of the Peul empire of Massina. Umar Tall again tasted defeat in a failed attempt to conquer Timbuktu, and retreated to Deguembéré, near Bandiagara of the Dogon region. In 1864, he died there in an explosion of his gunpowder reserves.
His nephew Tidiani Tall succeeded him and installed the capital of the Toucouleur Empire at Bandiagara. At Segou, Ahmadu Tall continued to reign, successfully suppressing the attempts of several neighboring cities to break away, but he found himself in increasing conflict with his brothers.
In 1890, the French, allied with the Bambara, entered Ségou, and Ahmadu fled to Sokoto in present-day Nigeria, marking the effective end of the empire.
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This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article from the French Wikipedia, retrieved on July 1, 2005.
