Toucouleur people

Toucouleur / Tukulor people

A Tukulor man and woman (1853 David Boilat painting)
Total population
(1 million (2010))
Regions with significant populations
Major:  Senegal, Minor:  Mali,  Mauritania
Languages
Fulani language
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Serer people, Wolof people, Fulani people

The Toucouleur people, also called Tukulor or , are a West African ethnic group. They are found mostly in Futa Toro region of Senegal, with some in Mali and Mauritania. The Toucouleur have been Muslims who embraced Islam in the 11th century, their early and strong Islamic heritage is a matter of great pride for them. They have been influential in the spread of Islam to West Africa in the medieval era, later founded the vast Tukulor Empire in the 19th century under Umar Tal that led a religious war against their neighboring ethnic groups and the French colonial forces.

They speak the Fulani language, and are distinct from but related to the Fula, Wolof and Serer people. 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.

The Fulani language, also called the Fula or Pulaar, is their first language. It is an Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo language family of languages. Locally, they are variously referred to as Pulaar: Torooɓe, Futanke, or Haalpulaar (French literature).

The name Toucouleur is of unclear origin, with some sources stating it as a French derivation meaning "of color", which may be a folk etymology. Other sources citing it as a deformation of tekruri a pre-colonial term meaning "people from Tekrur", considering them the descendants of the West African kingdom of Takrur that thrived between the 5th and 13th centuries.