Shaikh Amadu Ba and Jihad in Jolof

Shaikh Amadu Ba1 was a Muslim cleric from the Fuuta Tooro in Senegal. In early 1869 he began preaching a message of return to pure Islam and adherence to the Tijaniyya2 in the Fuuta and in neighboring Wolof states, and soon had attracted a large Tukolor and Wolof following.3 When he inaugurated the militant phase of his jihad later in that year, however, he met with resistance from various Senegambian rulers and from the French in Saint Louis.4 In 1870 Amadu gained a territorial base for his movement by conquering the Wolof kingdom of Jolof and remained there until 1875, when he was defeated and killed by a coalition of Senegambian rulers who feared the success his movement had attained.