The Tukulor people (), also called Toucouleur or Haalpulaar, are a West African ethnic group native to Futa Tooro region of Senegal. There are smaller communities in Mali and Mauritania. The Toucouleur were Islamized in the 11th century; their early and strong Islamic heritage, which is seen as a defining feature, is a "matter of great pride for them". They have been influential in the spread of Islam to West Africa in the medieval era, later founded the vast Toucouleur Empire in the 19th century under Omar Saidou Tall that led a religious war against their neighboring ethnic groups and the French colonial forces. They speak the Pulaar language, and are distinct from but related to the Fula, Wolof and Serer people. The Toucouleur are traditionally sedentary, settled primarily in the Senegal River valley, with farming, fishing and raising cattle as their main activities. The Toucouleur society has been patrilineal, polygynous and with high social stratification that included slavery and caste system. There are an estimated 1 million Toucouleur people in West Africa. Distribution and languages They are found primarily in the northern regions of Senegal where they constitute 15% of the population. This region is irrigated by the Senegal River valley, overlaps southern Mauritania. During the colonial era, and in the modern times, some of the Toucouleurs resettled in western Mali. They are about a million Toucouleur people in Senegal River valley area, and about 100,000 in Mali. The Pulaar language, also called the Fula or Fulani language, is their first language. It is an Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo language family of languages. Locally, they are variously referred to as , Futanke, or Haalpulaar (French literature). The name Toucouleur is of unclear origin, with some sources stating it as a French derivation meaning "of every color", which itself may be a folk etymology. Other sources citing it as a deformation of tekruri a precolonial term meaning "people from Tekrur", signifying that they are descendants of the West African kingdom of Takrur that thrived between the 5th and 13th centuries. History According to the oral traditions of the Toucouleur and Serer, the Toucouleurs are descendants of Serer and Fula ancestors. This tradition is supported by many scholars including Foltz and Phillips. A mutually acceptable bantering-style interaction, called the joking relationship by anthropologists, exists between the Serers and Toucouleurs. The Toucouleur people have long inhabited the Senegal River area, with