Njembot Mbodj
Lingeer (Queen) of Waalo, a Senegambian precolonial kingdom
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Njembot Mbodj (or Njembot Mbooj or Njëmbët Mbooj, variations: Ndjeumbeut Mbodj or Djembet Mbodj, c. 1800 – 1846[2] or c. 1811—1846[3]) was a Lingeer (Queen) of Waalo, a Senegambian precolonial kingdom which is now part of present-day Senegal.
| Njembot Mbodj | |
|---|---|
| Lingeer | |
| Co-ruling Queen (Lingeer) of Waalo | |
| Reign | 1820–1846 |
| Predecessor | Fatim Yamar |
| Successor | Ndaté Yalla Mbodj |
| Kings | |
| Born | c. 1800[2] or c. 1811[3] |
| Died | 1 October 1846[3] |
| Spouse | Muhammad al-Habib, Emir of Trarza |
| Issue | Ely Ould Muhammad al-Habib, Emir of Trarza |
| Dynasty | Mbodj (paternal line) Tedyek (maternal line) |
| Father | Amar Fatim Borso Mbodj |
| Mother | Fatim Yamar |
She was proclaimed a Lingeer after her mother's death.[4] Her mother Lingeer Fatim Yamar died in 1820.[5]
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, Muhammad al-Habib (with whom she had a son called Ely[4]), which united the two kingdoms and made it easier for them to oppose French interests. Forced to flee to Kayor by the Franco-Trarzan War of 1825, 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.[2][4][6]
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