Ndiaye

The Ndiaye, or Njaay, dynasty ruled Jolof and was founded, according to Wolof and Serer oral tradition, by the legendary Ndiadiane Ndiaye. The epic makes him a man of Futa Toro who travelled down the Senegal River to Waalo, where the village elders chose him as ruler for the fairness of his judgements.

After sixteen years in Waalo he is said to have united the Wolof-speaking lands between the Senegal and Gambia rivers, mostly by consent, into the Jolof Empire. An early vassal of Mali, it became independent in the second half of the fourteenth century. Ndiadiane's son Sare succeeded him, and his descendants bore the title buurba.

After the battle of Danki in 1549 the empire collapsed and its vassal states broke away. Jolof survived as a smaller kingdom under the same dynasty.