the 19th century under Umar Tal that led a religious war against their neighboring ethnic groups and the French colonial forces. The Toucouleur society has been patrilineal, polygynous and with high social stratification that included slavery and caste system. Toucouleur society is divided into strict and rigid caste hierarchies.Marie-Hélène Le Divelec (1967), Les "nouvelles" classes sociales en milieu urbain : le cas du Sénégal et celui du Nigéria du Nord, Civilisations, Institut de Sociologie de l'Université de Bruxelles, Vol. 17, No. 3 (1967), pages 240-253; Quote: "In Senegal too the social structure is based on a rigid system of castes, each having a specific political, economic or ritual function. Caste antagonisms are much more important than tribal differences." The highest status among the five Toucouleur castes is of the aristocratic leaders and Islamic scholars called Torobe. Below them are the Rimbe, or the administrators, traders and farmers. The Nyenbe are the artisan castes of the Toucouleur society. The fourth caste strata is called the Gallunkobe or the slaves or descendants of slaves "who have been freed". The bottom strata among the Toucouleurs are the Matyube or slaves. The slaves were acquired by raiding pagan ethnic groups or purchased in slave markets, or the status was inherited. The hierarchical social stratification has been an economically closed system, which historically has meant a marked inequality. Property and land has been exclusively owned by the upper caste members. Occupations and caste memberships are inherited. The Toucouleur castes have been endogamous, segregated and intermarriage has been rare. The clerics among Toucouleur like the Wolof people formed a separate group. The religious leaders were not necessarily endogamous nor an inherited post in Toucouleur people's long history, but it has been rare for lower caste people to become religious specialist, states Rüdiger Seesemann, as they were viewed as not sufficiently adhering to the "clerical standards of piety". Wolof people The Wolof people are a West African Muslim ethnic group found in northwestern Senegal, The Gambia, and southwestern coastal Mauritania. In Senegal, the Wolof are the largest ethnic group (~ 39%), and their combined population exceeds 6 million. The Wolof people, like other West African ethnic groups, have historically maintained a rigid, endogamous social stratification that included nobility, clerics, castes and slaves. The Wolof caste system has existed at least since the 15th century. The social strata have included a free category called geer, a castes category