Umar Tall
Encyclopedia
El Hadj
Umar ibn Sa'id Tall , (c.
1797 - 1864 CE
), born in what is now actual Senegal was a West Africa
n political leader, Islamic scholar, and Toucouleur
military commander who founded a brief empire
encompassing much of what is now Guinea
, Senegal
, and Mali
.
as Omar; the patronymic
, ibn Sa'id, is often omitted; and the final element of his name, Tall (Arabic
: طعل), is spelt variously as Taal or Tal.
The honorific
El Hadj (also al-Hajj or el-Hadj), reserved for a Muslim
who has successfully made the Hajj
to Mecca
, almost always precedes Umar Tall's name.
(present-day Senegal
), Umar Tall attended a madrassa before embarking on the Hajj
in 1820. When returning from the Hajj
he camped near Damascus
there he met Ibrahim Pasha
, Umar Tal befriended the Pasha
healed his son from a deadly fever, Umar Tal was highly inspired by the trends set by the Pasha. In 1826, after many years of scholarship, Umar Tall returned with the title El Hadj and assumed the caliphate
of the Tijaniyya sufi brotherhood
in the Sudan
.
Settling in Sokoto
, he took several wives, one of whom was a daughter of the Fula
Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammed Bello
. In 1836, El Hajj Umar Tall moved to the Kingdom of Fouta Djallon
and then to Dinguiraye
, in present-day Guinea
, where he began preparations for his jihad
.
army, equipped with European light arms, invaded several neighboring, non-Muslim, Malinké regions and met with immediate success. Umar Tall pressed on into what is today the region of Kayes
in Mali, conquering a number of cities and building a tata (fortification
) near the city of Kayes that is today a popular tourist destination.
In April 1857, Umar Tall declared war on the Khasso
kingdom and besieged the French
colonial
army at Medina Fort
. The siege failed on July 18 of the same year when Louis Faidherbe
, French governor of Senegal, arrived with relief forces.
and Ségou
. The Kaarta capital of Nioro du Sahel
fell quickly to Umar Tall's mujahideen
, followed by Ségou on March 10, 1861.
While Umar Tall's wars thus far had been against the animist Bambara or the Christian
French, he now turned his attention to the smaller Islam
ic states of the region. Installing his son Ahmadu Tall
as imam
of Ségou, Umar Tall marched down the Niger
, on the Massina
imamate of Hamdullahi
. More than 70,000 died in the three battles that followed until the final fall and destruction of Hamdullahi on March 16, 1862.
, only to be repulsed in 1863 by combined forces of Tuaregs, Moors
, and Fula
s. Meanwhile, a rebellion broke out in Hamdullahi
under Balobo
, brother of executed Massina monarch Amadu Amadu
; in 1864, Balobo's combined force of Fulas and Kounta
s drove Umar Tall's army from the city and into Bandiagara
, where Umar Tall died in an explosion of his gunpowder
reserves on February 12. His nephew Tidiani Tall
succeeded him as the Toucouleur emperor, though his son Ahmadu Seku did much of the work to keep the empire intact from Ségou. However, the French continued to advance, finally entering Ségou itself in 1890.
El Hadj Umar Tall remains a legendary figure in Senegal, Guinea, and Mali, though his legacy varies by country. Where the Senegalese tend to remember him as a hero of anti-French resistance, Malian sources tend to describe him as an invader who prepared the way for the French by weakening West Africa. Umar Tall also figures prominently in Maryse Condé
's historical novel
Segu.
Audio files
Hajji
Hajji or El-Hajj, is an honorific title given to a Muslim person who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca, and is often used to refer to an elder, since it can take time to accumulate the wealth to fund the travel. The title is placed before a person's name...
Umar ibn Sa'id Tall , (c.
Circa
Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...
1797 - 1864 CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
), born in what is now actual Senegal was a West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
n political leader, Islamic scholar, and Toucouleur
Toucouleur
The Toucouleurs are a Fula agricultural people who live primarily in West Africa: the north of Senegal in the Senegal River valley, Mauritania, and Mali.-History:...
military commander who founded a brief empire
Toucouleur Empire
The Toucouleur Empire was founded in the nineteenth century by El Hadj Umar Tall of the Toucouleur people, in part of present-day Mali....
encompassing much of what is now Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
, Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, and Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
.
Name
Umar Tall's name is spelled variously: in particular, his first name is commonly transliterated in FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
as Omar; the patronymic
Patronymic
A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage.In many areas patronyms...
, ibn Sa'id, is often omitted; and the final element of his name, Tall (Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
: طعل), is spelt variously as Taal or Tal.
The honorific
Honorific
An honorific is a word or expression with connotations conveying esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term is used not quite correctly to refer to an honorary title...
El Hadj (also al-Hajj or el-Hadj), reserved for a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
who has successfully made the Hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
to Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
, almost always precedes Umar Tall's name.
Early life
Born Umar bin Sa'id in Halwar in the Kingdom of Fouta TooroKingdom of Fouta Tooro
The Kingdom of Fouta Tooro or the Kingdom of Fuua Tooro was a pre-colonial West African state of the Fula-speaking people centered around the middle valley of the Senegal River...
(present-day Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
), Umar Tall attended a madrassa before embarking on the Hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
in 1820. When returning from the Hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
he camped near Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
there he met Ibrahim Pasha
Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt
Ibrahim Pasha was the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Wāli and unrecognised Khedive of Egypt and Sudan. He served as a general in the Egyptian army that his father established during his reign, taking his first command of Egyptian forces was when he was merely a teenager...
, Umar Tal befriended the Pasha
Pasha
Pasha or pascha, formerly bashaw, was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors, generals and dignitaries. As an honorary title, Pasha, in one of its various ranks, is equivalent to the British title of Lord, and was also one of the highest titles in...
healed his son from a deadly fever, Umar Tal was highly inspired by the trends set by the Pasha. In 1826, after many years of scholarship, Umar Tall returned with the title El Hadj and assumed the caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
of the Tijaniyya sufi brotherhood
Tarika
Tarika may refer to:*Tarika , musical group from Madagascar*Tariqah, school of Sufism...
in the Sudan
Sudan (region)
The Sudan is the name given to a geographic region to the south of the Sahara, stretching from Western to Eastern Africa. The name derives from the Arabic bilâd as-sûdân or "land of the Blacks"...
.
Settling in Sokoto
Sokoto
Sokoto is a city located in the extreme northwest of Nigeria, near to the confluence of the Sokoto River and the Rima River. As of 2006 it has a population of 427,760...
, he took several wives, one of whom was a daughter of the Fula
Fula people
Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...
Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammed Bello
Muhammed Bello
Muhammed Bello was the son and aide of Usman dan Fodio. He became the second Sultan of Sokoto following his father's 1815 retirement from the throne. Bello faced early challenges from dissident leaders such as 'Abd al-Salam, and rivalries between the key families of his father's jihad...
. In 1836, El Hajj Umar Tall moved to the Kingdom of Fouta Djallon
Kingdom of Fouta Djallon
The Kingdom of Fouta Djallon was a pre-colonial West African state based in the Fouta Djallon highlands of modern Guinea.-Origin:...
and then to Dinguiraye
Dinguiraye
Dinguiraye is a small town in northern Guinea, known for its large mosque which until recently was thatched. Population 20,085 . The town is also home to an important Islamic group founded by El Hadj Umar Tall in the nineteenth century.-References:...
, in present-day Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
, where he began preparations for his jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
.
Initial conquests
In 1848, El Hajj Umar Tall's ToucouleurToucouleur
The Toucouleurs are a Fula agricultural people who live primarily in West Africa: the north of Senegal in the Senegal River valley, Mauritania, and Mali.-History:...
army, equipped with European light arms, invaded several neighboring, non-Muslim, Malinké regions and met with immediate success. Umar Tall pressed on into what is today the region of Kayes
Kayes Region
Kayes Region is one of eight first level national subdivisions, called Regions in Mali. It is the first administrative area of Mali and covers an area of 120,760 km²...
in Mali, conquering a number of cities and building a tata (fortification
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
) near the city of Kayes that is today a popular tourist destination.
In April 1857, Umar Tall declared war on the Khasso
Khasso
Khasso or Xaaso was a West African kingdom of the 17th to 19th centuries, occupying territory in what is today Senegal and the Kayes Region of Mali. Its capital was at Medina until its fall....
kingdom and besieged the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
army at Medina Fort
Siege of Medina Fort
The Siege of the Fort du Médine took place in 1857 at Médine near Kayes modern-day Mali, when the Toucouleur forces of al-Hājj Umar Taal unsuccessfully besieged French colonial troops under General Louis Faidherbe, governor of Senegal.-Origin:...
. The siege failed on July 18 of the same year when Louis Faidherbe
Louis Faidherbe
Louis Léon César Faidherbe was a French general and colonial administrator. He created the Senegalese Tirailleurs when he was governor of Senegal.- Background :...
, French governor of Senegal, arrived with relief forces.
Conqueror of the Bambara
After his failure to defeat the French, El Hadj Umar Tall launched a series of assaults on the Bambara kingdoms of KaartaKaarta
Kaarta, or Ka'arta , was a short-lived Bambara kingdom in what is today the western half of Mali.As Bitòn Coulibaly tightened his control over Ségou, capital of his newly-founded Bambara Empire, a faction of Ségou Bambara dissatisfied with his rule fled west...
and Ségou
Bambara Empire
The Bamana Empire was a large pre-colonial West African state based at Ségou, now in Mali. It was ruled by the Kulubali or Coulibaly dynasty established circa 1640 by Kaladian Coulibaly also known as Fa Sine or Biton-si-u...
. The Kaarta capital of Nioro du Sahel
Nioro du Sahel
Nioro du Sahel often referred to as simply Nioro is a town and commune in the Kayes Region of western Mali, 241 km from the city of Kayes. It is located 275 miles north-west of the capital Bamako...
fell quickly to Umar Tall's mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
, followed by Ségou on March 10, 1861.
While Umar Tall's wars thus far had been against the animist Bambara or the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
French, he now turned his attention to the smaller Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic states of the region. Installing his son Ahmadu Tall
Ahmadu Tall
Ahmadu Seku Tall was a Toucouleur ruler of the Toucouleur Empire and of Ségou from 1864-1884 . Ahmadu Seku's father, El Hadj Umar Tall, conquered Ségou on March 10, 1861...
as imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
of Ségou, Umar Tall marched down the Niger
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
, on the Massina
Massina Empire
The Massina Empire was an early nineteenth-century Fulbe Jihad state centered in the Macina and Inner Niger Delta area of what is now the Mopti and Ségou Regions of Mali...
imamate of Hamdullahi
Hamdullahi
Hamdullahi was a nineteenth-century imamate in what is now the Mopti Region of Mali...
. More than 70,000 died in the three battles that followed until the final fall and destruction of Hamdullahi on March 16, 1862.
Death and legacy
Now controlling the entire Middle Niger, Umar Tall moved against TimbuktuTimbuktu
Timbuktu , formerly also spelled Timbuctoo, is a town in the West African nation of Mali situated north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali...
, only to be repulsed in 1863 by combined forces of Tuaregs, Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
, and Fula
Fula people
Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...
s. Meanwhile, a rebellion broke out in Hamdullahi
Hamdullahi
Hamdullahi was a nineteenth-century imamate in what is now the Mopti Region of Mali...
under Balobo
Balobo
Balobo, or Ba Lobbo, was the son of Massina Empire ruler Amadu Seku, and brother of Amadu Amadu, the Empire's last king.After the 1862 fall of the Empire's capital Hamdullahi to El Hadj Umar Tall's Toucouleur Empire, Amadu Amadu was captured and executed, leaving Balobo the leader of remaining...
, brother of executed Massina monarch Amadu Amadu
Amadu Amadu
Amadu Amadu was the last ruler of the Fula Massina Empire in what is now the Mopti Region of Mali...
; in 1864, Balobo's combined force of Fulas and Kounta
Kunta family
The Kunta family is among the best-known examples of a lineage of Islamic scholarship with widespread influence throughout Mauritania, Senegambia, and other parts of the Western Sudan....
s drove Umar Tall's army from the city and into Bandiagara
Bandiagara
Bandiagara is a city in the Dogon region of Mali in Africa. The name translates roughly to "large eating bowl"—referring to the communal bowl meals are served in....
, where Umar Tall died in an explosion of his gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
reserves on February 12. His nephew Tidiani Tall
Tidiani Tall
Tidiani Tall succeeded his uncle, El Hadj Umar Tall, as head of the Toucouleur Empire following Umar's 1864 death near Bandiagara....
succeeded him as the Toucouleur emperor, though his son Ahmadu Seku did much of the work to keep the empire intact from Ségou. However, the French continued to advance, finally entering Ségou itself in 1890.
El Hadj Umar Tall remains a legendary figure in Senegal, Guinea, and Mali, though his legacy varies by country. Where the Senegalese tend to remember him as a hero of anti-French resistance, Malian sources tend to describe him as an invader who prepared the way for the French by weakening West Africa. Umar Tall also figures prominently in Maryse Condé
Maryse Condé
Maryse Condé is a Guadeloupean, French language author of historical fiction, best known for her novel Segu . Maryse Condé was born as Maryse Boucolon at Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, the youngest of eight children. In 1953, her parents sent her to study at Lycée Fénelon and Sorbonne in Paris,...
's historical novel
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
Segu.
External links
- Al-hajj Umar Taal
- African Legends page
- Map of the Toucouleur Empire
- The Chronicles of al hajj Umar Tall
- Al Hajj Umar at Mekkah
- The Umarian Tidjaniya, video of Tall's birthplace, photos, etc.
- The Writings of al hajj Sekou Tall (Tall's grandson)
Audio files
- Wolof praise song of Umar Tall (RealAudioRealAudioRealAudio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fidelity formats for music. It can also be used as a streaming audio format, that is...
file)