the mid-fifteenth century, the Jolof had only recently freed themselves from vassalage to Mali, and they were therefore deeply familiar with the great empires of the nearby Sudan. This partially Islamized society would have also possessed clear knowledge of the dynasties that had long controlled the Maghreb, as well as a large part of Iberia. No small number of Arabic-speaking traders lived in their midst, and if only for that reason alone, the Jolof almost certainly had some advance notion or knowledge of the Europeans as well.
