Ndaté Yalla Mbodj

Early life and Family Most historians cite Ndaté Yalla as being born in c. 1810 (or 1814 according to François-Xavier Fauvelle when Ndaté Yalla and her sister Ndjeumbeut were young. He was especially known for his anti-Islamic stance against the Senegalese Muslim jihadists at the time — especially Almamy Biran of Futa Toro, and for his famous line "A Brak should never convert to Islam".

When Ndaté Yalla was just over 16 years of age, she married her cousin and King of Waalo, Brak Yerim Mbanyik Tigereleh Mbodj (or Yerim Mbagnik Tegg Rell). That marriage was however a political one in order to advance Tedyek power.

Ndaté Yalla would go on to remarry to Sakoura Barka Diop, better known as Marosso Tassé Diop, a Prince of Cayor and Lord of Koki, who was a relative of Lat Dior Diop (future King of Cayor and Baol) and Sayerr Jobe - founder of Sere Kunda in the Gambia. Marosso Tassé, a warrior noble of Cayor would go on to command his wife's army against Moorish and eminent French threat in years to come. From that marriage, they had . in Nder, the capital. She succeeded her elder sister Ndjeumbeut Mbodj, reigning as Lingeer from 1846 to 1855 (the year Waalo fell to the French).

The Queen viewed the threat as an affront to her sovereignty and the sovereignty of Waalo. On 18 June 1847, she wrote a letter to the French governor in the following terms:

Maaroso Tassé Diop lost many of his men in battle. For him and his wife, their defeat was the ultimate "defeat" and "humiliation in a country which had known only glory and honour." ) and Maaroso Tassé's relatives in the royal family of Cayor, requested that the royal couple move to Cayor for refuge and protection. They left for Cayor, and received protection from their relatives. Queen Ndate Yalla Mbodj died in Dagana, where a statue erected in her honor still stands.

Her mother was one of those women who committed martyrdom at Talaata-i-Ndeer in the name of honour by burning themselves alive.

A primary school in Saint-Louis bears her name, as well as one of the taxi-boats that runs from Dakar to Rufisque.