| Suleyman Baal, leader of the clerical party in the emerging civil war among the Futanke of the Senegal River Valley, won military victories in the middle Senegal River Valley, paving the way for the new Islamic state of Futa Toro. His successor, Abd al-Qadir, greatly strengthened the new regime. He promoted religious education and the construction of mosques and extended Islamic authority by waging wars of conquest. Abd al-Qadir's jihad of 1776 entrenched the Islamic character of state and society in the region. (See Sudanic West and Central Africa) | 1 |
