7 - Muslim revolutions in the eighteenth century

Summary

The military defeat of the marabout movement led by Nasir Al Din in the latter half of the seventeenth century led, in many areas, to the development of underground Islamic movements opposed to ceddo regimes and the disastrous slave trade throughout Senegambia.

In various states controlled by powerul military aristocracies, Muslim communities under the leadership of highly influential families of marabouts built up their forces. They aimed, in gradual stages, to wrest political and social autonomy from existing regimes. Increasingly, at the same time, these Muslim communities, interlinked through far-reaching networks of religious, political, and economic solidarity that transcended state frontiers to cover the whole of Senegambia, tried either to create new states outright or to organize the violent seizure of established power by proclaiming a holy war.

Thus, right at the end of the seventeenth century, Malik Sy founded the Muslim theocracy of Bundu. This was followed, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, by the Muslim revolution in Futa Jallon led by Karamoko Alfa. Following Muslim successes in this borderline region of Senegambia, there was a lull until the second half of the eighteenth century before the triumph of the Toorodo group of Muslims led by the marabout Suleyman Bal in Futa Toro, the bastion of the Denyanke regime. This triple success testifies to both the continuity and the solidarity of the marabout movement throughout Senegambia.