Waalo

Waalo () was a kingdom on the lower Senegal River in West Africa, in what is now Senegal and Mauritania. It included parts of the valley proper and areas north and south, extending to the Atlantic Ocean. To the north were Moorish emirates; to the south was the kingdom of Cayor; to the east was Jolof.

==History== ===Origins=== Oral histories claim that, before becoming a kingdom, the area of Waalo was ruled by a patchwork of Lamanes, a Serer title meaning the original owner of the land. Etymological evidence suggests that the area was ruled by the Jaa'ogo dynasty of Takrur. This aligns with early Arabic written sources which describe an island town known as Awlil (Waalo) near the mouth of the Senegal river, in a region called Senghana.