Alboury Ndiaye

Alboury Ndiaye (c. 1848 – 1901) was the last Buurba (king) of an independent Jolof in present-day Senegal, famed for his determined resistance to the French conquest. ^{1 2} Born at Tyal in Jolof, he lost his father in 1851 and was raised in Cayor alongside his kinsman Lat Dior; with Lat Dior he embraced Islam in the 1860s under the marabout Maba Diakhou Ba, whose daughter he married. He became Buurba in 1875, re-established firm royal control, continued the Islamization of Jolof and fortified his capital Yang-Yang; Jolof remained the last independent kingdom of northern Senegambia until Dodds marched on Yang-Yang in May 1890, and he then moved east to Ahmadu Tall and fought beside him until he died at Dosso in Niger in 1901. ^{1 2}

He was born about 1848 at Tyal in the Kingdom of Jolof on the English article, in its infobox and early-life narrative (citing Charles 1977, p. 84), which adds that his father was killed at Nguenenen in 1851 and his mother then fled with him to her native Ndiambour in Cayor. ¹ The French article gives c. 1847, likewise citing Charles (p. 84) — the same page of the same study behind both articles, so the one-year difference is a rounding disagreement, stated in full in the record. ² He was raised in Cayor alongside Lat Dior: the English article calls Lat Jor his older cousin, the French article calls him his uncle, and the record states both wordings without building an edge on either. ^{1 2} In the 1860s he joined Lat Jor in converting to Islam under the marabout Maba Diakhou Ba, and he married one of Maba's daughters. ^{1 2}

He became Buurba in 1875 and was enthroned as king at Yang-Yang on the French article; he re-established firm royal control and continued the Islamization of Jolof, where earlier ceddo kings had seen Islam as a threat, and fortified his capital Yang-Yang. ^{2 1} His predecessor is named differently by the two articles — Sanor Ndiaye in the English, Amadou Cheikhou Ba in the French — and no succession edge is built on the disagreement. ^{1 2} The French article records his 1885 agreement with the French and his refusal to send his son to the hostages' school. ² He backed his cousin Lat Dior against the French, coordinating their resistance until Lat Dior's death in 1886. ^{3 1}

Jolof remained the last independent kingdom of northern Senegambia until Dodds marched on Yang-Yang in May 1890 and the kingdom fell. ¹

After the fall of Jolof in 1890 Alboury established relations with Ahmadu Tall of the Ségou (Toucouleur) Empire, joined him at Nioro du Sahel in October 1890, and led Ahmadu's army against the French on 3 January 1891, holding them off long enough for Ahmadu to escape. ^{1 2} The two then moved east together for years: Alboury covered Ahmadu's retreat from Bandiagara in 1893 and travelled with him towards Sokoto. ¹ He died in 1901 at Dosso, Niger, on both articles. ^{1 2} The manner of his death differs between them, and both accounts are stated: the English article says he was ultimately killed in battle against the French in Dosso (citing Charles, pp. 127–130); the French article reports the local tradition that he died at Kalakala by a poisoned arrow shot by a child, and that his severed arm was brought to Dosso and buried in the great mosque facing the Djermakoy's palace. ^{1 2}

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum.

The sources agree on his fame for determined resistance to the French conquest of Senegal, and on Jolof's standing as the last independent kingdom of northern Senegambia until 1890. ¹ On his faith, both articles' infoboxes give his religion as Islam, generically, and both narrate his conversion, his marriage into a marabout's family and his policy of Islamization as a ruler; conversion, marriage and a policy of Islamization are practice and statecraft, not an attestation of a school or order for the man himself, and neither article names one. ^{1 2} His faith therefore stands unclassified in the data record under the two-source rule and the doubt rule. ^{1 2}

• The defined source entities cited above, recorded in data/source/.
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