Atlantic

The Atlantic group includes the Wolof, Serer, Jola and Manjak of Senegambia, the Fulbe herders scattered across the Sahel, and the Temne, Bullom and Sherbro of the south. The Wolof formed the Jolof Empire, which emerged from Mali's orbit in the mid-fourteenth century and held much of Senegambia until the defeat at Danki in 1549 left its vassals independent.

Portuguese ships reached the coast in the fifteenth century and found Wolof chiefs advised by Muslim clerics. In the sixteenth century Mande-speaking Mane invaders raided the Sierra Leone coast. In 1725 a Fulbe jihad founded the Imamate of Futa Jallon.