Historical connections between Wolof of Senegal and Dinka of South Sudan

Historical relationship between the Wolof of Senegal and the Dinka of South Sudan

Their early history is unclear. The earliest documented mention of the Wolof is found in the records of 15th-century, Portuguese-financed Italian traveller Alvise Cadamosto, who mentioned well-established Islamic Wolof chiefs advised by Muslim counselors. The Wolof belonged to the medieval-era Wolof Empire of the Senegambia region.

Details of the pre-Islamic religious traditions of the Wolof are unknown, and their oral traditions state them to have been adherents of Islam since the founding king of Jolof.

According to oral traditions, the Dinka originated from the Gezira in what is now Sudan. In medieval times this region was ruled by the kingdom of Alodia, a Christian, multi-ethnic empire dominated by Nubians. Living in its southern periphery and interacting with the Nubians, the Dinka absorbed a sizable amount of the Nubian vocabulary. From the 13th century, with the disintegration of Alodia, the Dinka began to migrate out of the Gezira, fleeing slave raids and other military conflicts as well as droughts.