.jpg) | |
| Royal titles | |
| Lamane (alsoreligious) | |
| Maad | |
| Maad a Sinig | |
| Maad Saloum | |
| Teigne | |
| Lingeer | |
| Line of succession | |
| Buumi | |
| Thilas | |
| Loul Religious titles | |
| Saltigue | |
Buumi (many variations : Buumy, Bumy, Bumi, etc.) was a royal title in the pre-colonialSerer Kingdoms ofSine,Saloum andBaol,[1] as well as in theJolof Empire.
In the Serer kingdoms, the Buumi was the first in line to inherit the throne of theMaad a Sinig (King of Sine) orMaad Saloum (king of Saloum).[2] In some cases, a Buumi could act as regent if the king was too young, as was the case withMaad a Sinig Ama Joof Gnilane Faye Joof, whose uncle was appointedregent until he came of age. In Sine, the Buumi usually resided atSomb Rongodior.[3] In many cases, he was elected by theMaad a Sinig, but the GreatJaraff and the Council of Electors decided which member of the royal family succeeded to the throne. When a Maad a Sinig died without nominating a Buumi, as was the case with Maad a Sinig Mbackeh Ndeb Njie, the "thilas" (the second in line to the throne) could succeed him, as was the case withMaad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb Joof.[4]
The Buumi had their own army and led a contingent of the country in times of war. AtThe Battle of Fandane-Thiouthioune (18 July 1867) also known as the Battle of Somb,[5] theBuumi Somb commanded the army of eastern Sine.[6] In the Kingdom of Saloum, which had a very similar political structure to Sine, the two most important were theBuumis ofKaymor andMandak. In Sine, there was also theBuumi Nguess andBuumi Ndidor.[7] Although they were all important figures, they should not be confused with theBuumi (heir apparent).[8]
In theJolof Empire, the title ofBuumi was adopted in the late 15th century after a long period of succession disputes between paternal and maternal lineages. BuurbaTase Daagulen, supported by the Loogaar ofWaalo, had managed to take the throne. TheBuumi, a descendant of the Waalo-Waalo family in question, became an important and powerful figure, nearly equalling the power of the Buurba himself. This power-sharing setup was designed to bring the succession crises to an end.[9]
One of the earliestBuumi of Jolof, and the most well-known, wasBuumi Jeleen Yatta Ntanye (also known as Bemoi amongst the Portuguese). In 1488 he visited the KingJohn II of Portugal to seek support to claim the throne of Jolof. The King of Portugal granted this request, after his conversion to Catholicism, but Jeleen was assassinated by Pero Vaz da Cunha upon arriving at the mouth of theSenegal River. Da Cunha, the leader of the expedition, was afraid to stay in Senegal and risk dying of disease, but claimed that Jeleen had committed treason, hence why he was killed.[10][11][12][13][14]
