Chapter 2 introduces the core antecedent condition under study: Senegal’s precolonial political geography. The chapter delineates the differences between areas that were home to precolonial states and those that lacked centralized political structures prior to colonization before introducing my strategy for measuring the territorial extent of Senegal’s precolonial kingdoms. The chapter then explains why these states left enduring legacies despite French colonial ambitions, migration induced by the introduction of a cash crop economy, and the religious conversion, notably the rise of Sufi Islamic practice by identifying the mechanisms of persistence: the enduring nature of village-based social hierarchies that have proven remarkably adaptable to these challenges.

Chapter 2 introduces the core antecedent condition under study: Senegal’s precolonial political geography. The chapter delineates the differences between areas that were home to precolonial states and those that lacked centralized political structures prior to colonization before introducing my strategy for measuring the territorial extent of Senegal’s precolonial kingdoms. The chapter then explains why these states left enduring legacies despite French colonial ambitions, migration induced by the introduction of a cash crop economy, and the religious conversion, notably the rise of Sufi Islamic practice by identifying the mechanisms of persistence: the enduring nature of village-based social hierarchies that have proven remarkably adaptable to these challenges.