Al-Hajj Umar Tall

Umar Saidou Tall was born in 1794 in Halwar, Futa Toro (modern Senegal). A brilliant Torodbe Islamic scholar, he undertook an epic pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina between 1826 and 1831, where he was appointed the supreme West African Caliph of the Tijaniyya Sufi order by master Muhammad al-Ghali.

Returning across the Sahel, Umar stayed in Sokoto, marrying daughters of Sultan Muhammad Bello. In 1852 in Dinguiraye (Guinea), he launched an armed reform movement to unite the Senegambian and Niger territories, founding the Toucouleur Empire, which conquered Kaarta and Segou. Resisting French colonial military advances under Louis Faidherbe, he defended African territory until his dramatic disappearance in the Bandiagara caves of Dogon country in 1864.