Thiédo
"Tiédo" (caption translation). This image shows a tiédo (or cedo, among other spelling variations), who was a warrior from the Senegambia region. According to Boilat, "he is sitting on some rocks near the town of Bakel, which is in the background" (p. 12). The image depicts clothing styles for these soldiers. David Boilat (1814-1901) was one of the first Catholic priests in the Senegambia region. His father was French and his mother a Signare, which was a term from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries used to describe a mixed-race, French-African woman. Boilat spoke Wolof and Serer; and made his drawings from life. The 24 plates based on these drawings are explained in an accompanying text. Boilat left Senegal around the age of 13, was educated in France and he returned to Senegal in 1842 where he lived for ten years working as a teacher. He returned to France where he completed his Esquisses sénégalaises in 1853. He also published a Wolof dictionary in 1858.
Image Title
Thiédo
RegID
SI-OB-988
Date
1850s
Title
Thiédo
Source
David Boilat, Esquisses sénégalaises: physionomie du pays, peuplades, commerce, religions, passé et avenir, récits et légendes (Paris: P. Bertrand, 1853), plate 6.
Language
French
Item sets
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Spatial Coverage
Africa--Western Savanna--Bakel
Reproduced In
David Boilat, Esquisses sénégalaises: physionomie du pays, peuplades, commerce, religions, passé et avenir, récits et légendes (Paris: P. Bertrand, 1853).
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
5-Apr-16
Identifier
Boilat04