Lat Dior

Lat Dior (Lat Jor Ngoné Latir Jop, 1842 – 26 October 1886) was damel (king) of Cayor, the Wolof state in present-day Senegal, and a national hero of Senegal for twenty-five years of resistance to French colonialism. ^{1 2} Born at Keur Amadou Yalla, raised in a nominally Muslim milieu and schooled in a Quranic school, he was elected damel as a youth, defeated and exiled; he took refuge with the marabout Maba Diakhou Ba in Saloum, embraced Islam under him and remained a practicing Muslim for the rest of his life, then recovered Cayor and ruled it, fought the Dakar–Saint-Louis railway with all his might, and after his deposition in 1883 waged a three-year guerrilla war until he was killed at Dekhele in October 1886, when Cayor ceased to exist. ^{1 2}

He was born in 1842 at Keur Amadou Yalla in north-eastern Cayor on the French article; the English article gives c. 1842 and the same place. ^{2 1} The English article gives his Guedj maternal lineage and adds that he was raised in a nominally Muslim milieu and studied at a Quranic school as a child, on oral histories kept by griots (citing Monteil 1963). ¹ After his defeat and exile he took refuge with the marabout Maba Diakhou Ba in Saloum: the English article says he formally became Maba's talibe (disciple) to seal their alliance and remained a practicing Muslim for the rest of his life. ¹ The French article says Maba, a disciple of El Hadj Omar Tall, required his conversion as the price of help, that the ceddo Lat Dior converted and took the name Silmakha Diop, and he went on to lead Maba's armies. ^{2 1}

The two articles date his reigns differently: the French gives him as damel 1861–1863, then 1871–1883, with a title line of 1862–1886, while the English has him installed in 1862, recognised by treaty in 1870–1871 and deposed in 1883; the museum states both datings rather than merging them. ^{2 1} He recovered Cayor and ruled it, and fought the Dakar–Saint-Louis railway with all his might. ^{1 2} His kinsman Alboury Ndiaye was his ally: the English Alboury article calls Lat Jor his older cousin, while the French Alboury article calls him his uncle — a discrepancy the record states, while the alliance itself, on which all sources agree, is the edge written. ^{3 4} Alboury supported the exiled Lat Jor, secretly sustained him after his deposition, and defeated the French-backed damel Samba Laobé Fall at Guilé in June 1886 in the campaign to restore him; the English article adds that Samba Lawbe Fall was killed on 6 October 1886, after which Lat Jor fought his last battle. ^{2 1}

After his deposition in 1883 he waged a three-year guerrilla war until he was killed at Dekhele in October 1886, and with his death Cayor ceased to exist as a state. ¹ The day of his death is debated and every variant is stated: the French article's lead and infobox give 26 October 1886, and the Italian article and the older English text it derives from agree on 26 October; the French article's own closing narrative has his army march to Dékhélé on 27 October 1886, and the French Alboury article dates the battle to 26–27 October; the English article's infobox instead gives 26 December 1886, against its own narrative sequence and against the French tradition — the record follows 26 October as the majority scholarly tradition and records the December date as the rejected outlier. ^{2 1 4}

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum.

Lat Dior stands in Senegalese memory as a national hero for a quarter-century of resistance to French colonialism. ¹ On his faith, no two independent sources name a school or order for him: the English article's infobox alone gives his religion as "Islam (Tijaniyyah)" — an order named in that one field, uncited there, and nowhere in the article's body — while the French article's infobox gives his religion as Islam with no order, and neither biography attests a Tijani initiation of Lat Dior himself. ^{1 2} What both articles do attest is his conversion and practice: his discipleship to Maba and his remaining a practicing Muslim for the rest of his life; Maba's own standing in the Tijani tradition descending from Umar Tall is Maba's attestation, not Lat Dior's, and discipleship to a marabout is not by itself a documented order affiliation for the disciple. ^{1 2} His faith therefore stands unclassified in the data record, with the Tijaniyyah claim recorded as a single-infobox tradition. ¹

• The defined source entities cited above, recorded in data/source/.
• Revisions of this article must be dated, and must name the source that changed each fact.