[1]: 321  This distinguishes the people of Cayor from their neighbors, who to the present day refer to themselves by doubling the name of their native region (Waalo-Waalo, Saloum-Saloum e.g.).

The legend of Ndiadiane Ndiaye, the first Buurba Jolof, claims that the ruler of Cayor voluntarily submitted to him, but this is likely a later invention to celebrate the unity of the empire.

[4]: 6 In 1549, the damel (dammeel in Wolof,[5] often translated into European languages as "king") Dece Fu Njogu, having failed to send tribute to the Buurba Léléfoulifak for several years, sent his son Amary Ngone Sobel Fall to do so.

Amary, aided by his uncle the Teigne of Baol, led an army to a lake called Danki, and left them there to go to the Buurba's court with a small escort.

[4]: 11 During the height of the Tubenaan movement in the late 17th century, marabouts across the region began to aspire to political power for the first time, advocating a restoration of traditional Islamic values.

In Cayor, the powerful marabout Ndiaye Sall allied with Yacine Bubu, who had recently and controversially been removed from her position as lingeer by her nephew, the Damel Detye Maram.

[1]: 328  Yacine Bubu, determined to protect the power of the royal family and prevent Sall from establishing a theocracy, convened a secret assembly of notables to reach out to Makhoredia Diouf, Buur of Saloum, for support against the marabouts.

He took over Cayor and declared himself the Damel-Teigne, imposing the hegemony of his maternal line, the Geej, over the previously dominant Dorobe and Guelwaar matriclans.

He also strengthened central power, coopted the marabouts with royal appointments, and frequently clashed with the French over their attempts to impose a trade monopoly on the kingdom.

[7] During the 18th century, under the leadershup of Damel Maïsa Teindde Ouédji, Cayor annexed the Kingdom of Baol but was then embroiled in a succession dispute after his death.

[9]: 41–2 In 1776, inspired by the rise of the Imamate of Futa Toro, the marabouts of Cayor again began to agitate for political power under the leadership of Malamin Sarr.

[2] Soon after, the Almamy of Futa Toro Abdul Kader joined with the Buurba of Jolof to avenge the clerics and re-establish his influence over Cayor.

As the invading army crossed the Ferlo Desert, the damel removed food stores and poisoned wells so that the exhausted Torodbe could not replenish their supplies.

[10]: 601 Birima Ngoné Latir was crowned damel in 1855, succeeding his uncle who had raised him after his father Makodou Koumba, the Teigne of Baol, had been driven into exile.

[12][10]: 604  A brutal war resulted, with the reigning teigne Thié Yasin Ngoné Déguèn coming to support the marabouts with the promise of becoming damel.

After winning battles at Mboul and Mekhe, and 2 years of conflict, Birima Ngoné Latir defeated the Baol-Baol army and Makodou Koumba was reinstalled as teigne.

He ruled for 3 years, before quarreling with Alboury Ndiaye, Bourba of Jolof, and invading despite a treaty promising to inform the French before making war.

Slaves were generally treated well and those that were owned by the kingdom often exercised military and political power, such as the Farba Demba War Sall.

Fiercely opposed to the strict practice of Islam advocated by the marabouts, they were renowned drinkers, brave fighters, and inveterate raiders, including within Cayor.

[4]: 7 Trans-Saharan traders brought Islam to the region in the 8th century, and it rapidly became the dominant tradition among the Wolof, to the point where historians can find no traces of a pre-Islamic organized religion.