Takrur was the name of the capital of the state which flourished on the lower Senegal River. Takruri was a term, like Bilad-ul-Sudan, that was used to refer to all people of West African ancestry.

The formation of the state may have taken place as an influx of Fulani from the east settled in the Senegal valley.John Donnelly Fage suggests that Takrur was formed through the interaction of Berbers from the Sahara and "Negro agricultural peoples" who were "essentially Serer".

Located in the Senegal valley, along the border of present-day Senegal and Mauritania, it was a trading centre, where gold from the Bambuk region,salt from the Awlil and Sahel grain were exchanged. It was rival of the Ghana Empire and the two states clashed from time to time with the Soninké usually winning. Despite these clashes, Takrur prospered throughout the 9th and 10th centuries.

According to Levtzion, "It is significant that the cotton tree and the manufacture of cloth were first reported from Takrur."

The kings of Takrur eventually adopted Islam. Sometime in the 1030s during the reign of king War Jabi, the court converted to Islam, the first regent to officially pronounce orthodoxy in the Sahel, establishing the faith in the region for centuries to come. In 1035 that War Jabi introduced Sharia law in the kingdom. This adoption of Islam greatly benefited the state economically and created greater political ties that would also affect them in the coming conflicts between the traditionalist state of Ghana and its northern neighbours.

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