Kaolack

Kaolack (كاولاك; Kawlax) is a town of 233,708 people (2012 census) on the north bank of the Saloum River about from its mouth and the N1 road in Senegal. It is the capital of the Kaolack Region, which borders The Gambia to the south. Kaolack is an important regional market town and is Senegal's main peanut trading and processing center. As the center of the Ibrahimiyya branch of the Tijaniyyah Sufi order founded by Ibrayima Ñas, it is also a major center of Islamic education. The Leona Niassene mosque (right) in Kaolack is one of the largest and best known in Senegal. Kaolack is the successor city to Kahone, historic capital of the kingdom of Saloum. Originally marked by a sacred tree on the right bank of the Saloum River facing the island of Kouyong, Kahone consisted of a number of distinct neighborhoods separated by open fields, each under the jurisdiction of a different dignitary or official. Kaolack, downriver, was one of these. One legend holds that it was founded by Sega and Massar, two brothers of Fulani origin from Macina in today's Mali. Sega’s son, Alioune Mboutou Sow, later served as the Chef de Canton of Kaolack. The Mboutou family house still stands in the middle of the town centre. Mboutou Sow's daughter Ramatoulaye (Rahmat'oullah) was given in marriage to the son of Amadou Bamba, hence the saying Kaolack worrou Mboutou (Kaolack, Mboutou's fiefdom). An alternative telling is that Kaolack was founded by a princess of Baol who took shelter there under the protection of the Maad Saloum Mbegan Ndour, whom she later married, and founded the traditional cult of the West African Nile monitor, known as mbossé in Wolof, the totem of the city. Mboutou Sow arrived later, and became chief through his erudition. French interests in the Saloum River increased in the early 19th century as legitimate articles of trade were sought to replace trade in slaves. By mid-century, peanut production had been introduced to the kingdom of Saloum and, with the permission of its king, a fortified factory was established by the French on the riverfront at Kaolack, more favorably placed for shipping than Kahone.