Toucouleur people

NOTOC The Tukulor people (توكولور), also called Toucouleur or Haalpulaar, are a West African Fula ethnic group native to the Futa Tooro region of Senegal. There are smaller communities in Mali and Mauritania. The Toucouleur were Islamized in the 11th century; their early and strong Islamic heritage, which is seen as a defining feature, is a "matter of great pride for them". They were among the first Muslims in the area that became Senegal. They were influential in the spread of Islam to West Africa in the medieval era. They founded the vast Toucouleur Empire in the 19th century under Omar Saidou Tall who led a religious war against the neighboring ethnic groups and the French colonial forces. The Toucouleur are traditionally sedentary, settled primarily in the Senegal River valley, with farming, fishing and raising cattle as their main activities. The Toucouleur society has been patrilineal, polygynous and with high social stratification that included slavery and caste system. There are an estimated 1 million Toucouleur people in West Africa. They are found primarily in the northern regions of Senegal where they constitute 15% of the population. This region is irrigated by the Senegal River valley, overlaps southern Mauritania. During the colonial era, and in the modern times, some of the Toucouleurs resettled in western Mali. They are about a million Toucouleur people in Senegal River valley area, and about 100,000 in Mali. Besides Toucouleur, they are variously referred to as Torooɓe, Futanke, or Haalpulaar (French literature). The name Toucouleur is of unclear origin, with some sources stating it as a French derivation meaning "of every color", which itself may be a folk etymology. More likely it is a deformation of tekruri, a precolonial term meaning "people from Takrur". The supposed distinction between Toucouleurs and Fula people more generally was invented by French ethnographers in the 19th century.