Baol, Kingdom of

The kingdom of Baol, situated along the coast and inland to the south of Dakar in present Senegal, had in the fourteenth century been a satellite state of the Wolof empire of West Africa.

It had been conquered some time after 1556 by the neighboring state of Cayor, which had controlled it until 1686, but late in the seventeenth century, Jolof invaded Cayor, causing many of its inhabitants to flee to Baol.

European missionaries introduce Christianity to Senegal and the Casamance in the nineteenth century.

It is only in the 1850s that the French begin to expand onto the Senegalese mainland after they abolish slavery and begin promoting an abolitionist doctrine, adding native kingdoms like the Walo, Cayor, Baol, kingdoms and the Jolof Empire.

French colonists progressively invade and take over all the kingdoms except Sine and Saloum under Governor Louis Faidherbe.

Yoro Dyao is in command of the canton of Foss-Galodjina and is set over Wâlo (Ouâlo) by Louis Faidherbe, where he serves as a chief from 1861 to 1914.

Senegalese resistance to the French expansion and curtailing of their lucrative slave trade is led in part by Lat-Dior, Damel of Cayor, and Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Famak Joof, the Maad a Sinig of Sine, resulting in the Battle of Logandème (1859).