The Serer-Noon also called Noon (sometimes spelt Non or None ) are an ethnic people who occupy western Senegal . They are part of the Serer people though they do not speak the Serer-Sine language natively.
31-733: They are found primarily in Senegal in the region of Thiès in areas like Fandène , Peykouk , Silman, Diankhène and Dioung . As well as being present in Senegal, they are also found in the Gambia . In the Thies area alone, their population is 32,900. Collectively, the Serer people make-up the third largest ethnic group in Senegal. In his Sketches of Senegal (1853), Abbé Boilat described them as "the most beautiful black people... tall and beautiful posture... who are always well dressed, very strong and independent" During
62-538: A polytechnic school, the University of Thiès . In the 1960s, French truck manufacturer Berliet had a small assembly plant here. Thiès is the transportation hub of a productive agricultural hinterland, producing rice , peanuts , manioc , millet , and fruit . The city is also a leading livestock -trading and meat -packing center. It has rail yards and repair shops, and aluminum phosphate deposits are worked at nearby Palo Dial and Taïba . The phosphate mined here
93-785: A few remains of old fortifications . École Française Docteur René Guillet , a French international school, is located in Thiès. Malick Sy high school is the largest school in the city and one of the biggest of Senegal. Many Senegalese politicians were trained in this school which also produced many laureates of the Senegalese General Contest. Thiès is twinned with: 14°47′N 16°55′W / 14.783°N 16.917°W / 14.783; -16.917 French conquest of Senegal Kingdom of Waalo Kingdom of Cayor Kingdom of Jolof Baol Kingdom of Sine The French conquest of Senegal started in 1659 with
124-439: A key role in the emergence of Senegal's labor movement . Their strikes in 1937 and again from 1947 to 1948 also marked the development of the independence movement across French West Africa . Thiès is best known for its tapestry -making industry, an exclusive factory having been set up in 1966, producing work designed by Senegal's top artists. The famous Birds of Paradise tapestry was manufactured in Thiès. The city also contains
155-535: A military post there in 1864, becoming an important force in the city's development ever since. The Spiritans founded a mission there in the late 19th century to help protect the local population from raids out of Mauretania seeking to capture slaves. In 1885, the Dakar–Saint-Louis railway , the first rail line in French West Africa, opened with a stop in Thiès. The French colonial administration created
186-725: A result, an ivory-carving industry developed in Dieppe after 1364. These travels, however, were soon forgotten with the advent of the Hundred Years War in France. Various European powers, such as Portugal , the Netherlands , and England then competed for trade in the area of Senegal from the 16th century onward. The island was captured by the Dutch in 1588, where they established defensive forts and developed trade further. In 1659, France established
217-555: Is the third largest city in Senegal with a population of 391,253 in 2023. It lies 72 km (45 mi) east of Dakar on the N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar , Bamako and St-Louis . It is the capital of Thiès Region and is a major industrial city. Before colonization , the Thiès Plateau was a wooded frontier between the kingdoms of Cayor and Baol inhabited by
248-401: Is valuable as a fertiliser and is one of Senegal's largest exports. Today, Thiès is developing increasingly as an extension of the congested Cap-Vert Peninsula. It is attracting industrial investments (electrical and mechanical engineering) and there are plans to link it to Dakar by highway and commuter train . Other attractions in Thiès include a museum , an artisanal and crafts village and
279-579: The American Revolutionary War . The states of the Wolof and Sereer , neighbouring the two colonial outposts, were particularly involved with the slave trade, having strong military organizations geared to supplying slaves to the Europeans. According to historians such as Professor François G. Richard and Professor Martin A. Klein , the Serer states such as Sine and Saloum were not heavily involved in
310-600: The Dakar-Niger line (built 1906–1923). The national network of paved roads created after World War II likewise converged on Thiès (the N3 road joins the N2 road in the town), which thus commands nearly all access to the Cap-Vert Peninsula (Dakar and Rufisque ). The railways brought commercial development and migrant laborers, including Bambara from eastern regions of Senegal and from Mali . The rail workers of Thiès played
341-651: The Lamanes . The Lamanes managed the Noon towns and villages, and each village was an independent republic. The Lamanes in Noon country were the oldest men chosen from particular families. Although these Lamanes should not be confused with the ancient Serer Lamanes (the old powerful kings and landed gentry), the Lamanes in Noon country were very powerful during the colonial period. The Serer-Noon are mostly farmers who grow millet, peanuts, cotton etc. They tend to follow monogamy . Like many of
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#1732852233340372-669: The Senegambian ethnic groups, the Noons were among the most independent during the colonial period. The Noons also refused to pay taxes to the French administration of Senegal in the 19th century and launched many wars and massacres against the French. To force the Serer-Noon to pay tax to the French administration in Senegal, sometimes violence was used against them. In Noon country, their heads of state were
403-650: The Serer Noon , Serer N'Diéghem, and the Jola people , "who had egalitarian social structures and simple political institutions." Klein also notes that: "In times of peace, the Kingdom of Siin more readily supplied grain, cattle and other basic necessities to the French." According to Professor Mamadou Diouf and Professor Mara Leichtman (2009), the Serer Saafi were also purely egalitarian and rejected all forms of centralised government,
434-650: The Serer-Noon , an ethnic sub-group of the Serer people . The Serer-Noon still inhabit the Thiès-Nones neighborhood of the south-west city today. They speak the Noon language , one of the Cangin languages . The village of Dianxene, belonging to the kingdom of Cayor, was founded on the strategically important plateau in the 17th century. In 1860, it had only 75 inhabitants. The French founded
465-530: The 19th century muslim marabout jihads in Senegambia , the Serer-Noon resisted being islamized and continued to practice their beliefs to present. In the 1860s, Pinet Laprade , then the French governor of Senegal , and Captain Vincent described the Serer-Noon men as "fierce and cruel to foreigners" (the French ). They only traded with other Serers through barter and resented the authority of foreigners. Of all
496-699: The French conquest of Senegal. By 1860, the forts built between Médine and St. Louis allowed Faidherbe to launch missions against the Trarza Moors in Waalo (north of the Senegal river), who had previously collected taxes on goods coming to Saint-Louis from the interior. Faidherbe also started the westernization of the area by developing banks, civil administration, and also established an accord with Senegal's religion, Islam. Expansion continued under Governor Louis Brière de l'Isle from 1876 to 1881. Through diplomatic and military efforts, Briere reinforced French control on
527-484: The French had to agree upon recovering the two posts. The 19th century thus saw a decline in the slave trade, and the rise of commodity production instead. The trade of acacia gum , used for dyes for high-quality textiles and for medicine production, became paramount. Peanut cultivation also proved to be a valuable resource for the area. In the Franco-Trarzan War of 1825 , the French started to assert control of
558-477: The Noon were very resistant to Islamization, and still adhere to the tenets of Serer religion . The Serer religion involves cosmology, making offerings to Serer ancestral spirits and saints (i.e. the Pangool ). The Noon refer to the supreme being as Kokh Kox (probably derived from the deity Kooh ). Thi%C3%A8s Thiès ( [tjɛs] ; Arabic : ثيس , romanized : Ṯyass ; Noon : Chess )
589-535: The Senegal river, the "Peanut Basin" and the Guinea Coast in favour of the development of millet , peanut and cotton trade. He also developed railroad projects that would facilitate further expansion as far as French Sudan (modern Mali ). From 1880, France endeavoured to build a railway system, centered around the Saint-Louis – Dakar line that involved taking military control of the surrounding areas, leading to
620-492: The Serer group, the Noons rarely marry out. They usually marry among themselves or other groups of the Serer race, but rarely outside the Serer group. Noon culture forbids mix-marriages . Where a young Serer-Noon has left his or her village for more than three months, on their return, they were subjected to prove their sexual purity. The head griot would offer them a beverage that they must drink. If vomit after drinking it, they were found guilty and sentence to celibacy . This test
651-579: The caste system, Islam and slavery. Conflicts erupted with the Muslims to the north, as when Marabout Nasr al Din attacked Mauritania and the Wolof across the border in 1673, but he was defeated through an alliance between local forces and the French. During the Napoleonic Wars , Great Britain captured Gorée in 1803 and Saint-Louis in 1809, and proclaimed the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, to which
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#1732852233340682-511: The commune of Thiès in 1904. As an important railway junction, the city was an important site during the general strikes of 1945-1946 and 1947-1948. Léopold Sédar Senghor , later the first president of independent Senegal, was elected mayor of Thiès in November 1956. At first a simple rail stop, or "escale", on the Dakar-Saint Louis line (completed in 1885) Thiès became a rail junction with
713-676: The establishment of Saint-Louis, Senegal , followed by the French capture of the island of Gorée from the Dutch in 1677, but would only become a full-scale campaign in the 19th century. According to some historians , French merchants from the Normandy cities of Dieppe and Rouen traded with the Gambia and Senegal coasts, and with the Ivory Coast and the Gold Coast , between 1364 and 1413. Probably, as
744-465: The ground under the orders of Faidherb, Kumba Ndoffene spent the next few years of his life destroying French infrastructure and their economic base in Senegal, as well as defending his country from another threat - Islamic jihad by the Muslim marabouts of Senegambia . In 1871 he was assassinated by the French. The precolonial monarchies of Sine and Saloum continued up to 1969 without interruption, despite
775-482: The military occupation of mainland Senegal. The construction of the Dakar-Niger Railway also began at the end of the 19th century under the direction of the French officer Gallieni . However, there was much opposition of the railroads being built from the natives. This was especially true with Muslim leader Lat Jor and his following. The first Governor General of Senegal was named in 1895, overseeing most of
806-594: The mouth of the Senegal river against the rival state of Trarza . In the 1850s the French, under the governor Louis Faidherbe , began to expand their foothold onto the Senegalese mainland at the expense of the native kingdoms. From 1854 Faidherbe started to establish a series of inland forts up the Senegal River . In 1855 he conquered the Kingdom of Waalo defeating Queen Ndaté Yalla Mbodj (the reigning Lingeer of Waalo at
837-526: The rise of internal slavery, the Siin may have been demoted to the rank of second player, in so far as the kingdom was never a major supplier of captives. In his 1968 publication: Islam and Imperialism in Senegal: Sine-Saloum, 1947-1914 , Professor Martin A. Klein notes that, although slavery had existed in Wolof and Serer culture, as well that of their neighbors, the institution of slavery did not exist among
868-579: The slave trade. François G. Richard posits that: The Kingdom of Sine remained a modest participant in the Atlantic system, secondary to the larger Wolof, Halpulaar [speakers of the Pulaar language i.e. the Fula and Toucouleur people ] or Mandinka polities surrounding it on all sides... As practices of enslavement intensified among other ethnic groups during the 18th century, fueling a lucrative commerce in captives and
899-767: The time) and her husband Marosso Tassé Diop (commander of her army ). A counter-attack by the Toucouleur in 1857 led to the Siege of Medina Fort in which the Toucouleur failed. In 1859, the Serers of Sine , led by their king - Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Famak Joof launched an attack against the French and their ally forces, resulting in the Battle of Logandème . Although defeated at Logandème in Fatick , and one of his principalities (Fatick) burned to
930-570: The trading post of Saint-Louis, Senegal . The European powers continued contending for the island of Gorée, until in 1677, France led by Jean II d'Estrées during the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678) ended up in possession of the island, which it would keep for the next 300 years. In 1758 the French settlement was captured by a British expedition as part of the Seven Years' War , but was later returned to France in 1783, following French victory in
961-511: Was just one of many tests carried out by the head griot. The head male griot would test the young man whilst the head female griot would test the young woman. They speak the Noon language , which is one of the Cangin languages rather than a dialect of the Serer-Sine language . Their language is closely related to Saafi and the Laalaa language . Like many of the Serer group to which they belong,