Ndiadiane Ndiaye

Ndiadiane Ndiaye (also Njaajan Njaay) is the legendary founder of the Jolof Empire, remembered in Wolof and Serer lore; his reign dates are unknown. Tradition makes him the son of Fatoumata Sall, raised in the upper Senegal valley. After his mother remarried, he travelled down the Senegal River to Waalo, where his good judgments led the people to choose him as ruler.

After sixteen years there he founded the Jolof state by peaceful means. Tradition holds that the Wolof language took shape at his court from his subjects' Fula, Serer and Mandinka speech, and coronation baths recalled his emergence from the river. His son Sare Ndiadiane succeeded him, beginning the Ndiaye dynasty that ruled Jolof until the 19th century.