Njembot Mbodj

Njembot Mbodj (or Njembot Mbooj or Njëmbët Mbooj, variations: Ndjeumbeut Mbodj or Djembet Mbodj, c. 1800 – 1846^[1] or 1811—1846^[2]) was a Lingeer (Queen) of Waalo, a Senegambian precolonial kingdom which is now part of present-day Senegal.

Njembot Mbodj became ruler at an early age, after the deaths of her parents. She soon proved herself an able leader despite her youth; in this, she was aided by her personality, which has been described as being both assertive and brave. In 1831 she got her uncle, Fara Penda Adam Sall Mbodj, elected as brak to replace her cousin Yerim Bagnik Teg Rela Mbodj. After the withdrawal of the French, the Trarza invaded Waalo in an attempt to destabilize the kingdom. Njembot Mbodj arranged for herself a marriage with the leader of the Trarza, Mohammed el-Habib (with whom she had a son called Ely Ndjeumbeut el-Habib^[3]), which united the two kingdoms and made it easier for them to oppose French interests. Forced to flee to Kayor by the invading French, she was later able to return home and to contain the power struggle in Waalo. In 1840, at the death of the brak, she managed to engineer the election of Malick Mbodj as replacement. Njembot Mbodj herself died in 1846, and was succeeded by her sister Ndate Yalla Mbodj.^[4][5][6][3]

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References

1. Sheldon, Kathleen, Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa, Rowman & Littlefield (2016), p. 179 ISBN 9781442262935 (Retrieved 25 July 2019)
2. Fauvelle-Aymar, François-Xavier; Bertrand, Hirsch; Les ruses de l'historien: Essais d'Afrique et d'ailleurs en hommage à Jean Boulègue, KARTHALA Editions (2013), p. 240, ISBN 9782811109400 (Retrieved 25 July 2019)
3. Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku; Gates, Henry Louis; Niven, Steven J.; (Editors: Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong, Henry Louis Gates), Dictionary of African Biography, Volumes 1-6, OUP, USA, (2012), p. 162 ISBN 9780195382075
4. Kathleen E. Sheldon (2005). Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5331-7.
5. Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong; Mr. Steven J. Niven (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
6. Barsi, Monica; Preda, Alessandra; Le Cantique des cantiques dans les lettres françaises: Convegno internazionale di studi – Gargnano Palazzo Feltrinelli – 24-27 giugno 2015, LED Edizioni Universitarie (2016), p. 326, ISBN 9788879167680