ABSTRACT
In 1861 Baddibu, a Mandingo state on the north bank of the river Gambia, was swept by revolutionary change. In a few months the traditional ruling class was driven from the country and an attempt was made to replace the political system which had been established over three centuries earlier with new institutional forms. Three phases in this revolution can be identified. During the early part of the nineteenth century antagonism had grown between the strata of society throughout the Senegambia.' These tensions erupted violently in 1861 under the leadership of a Torodbe sllaykll, Maba Diakhou, and resulted in the expulsion of the ruling class in Baddibu and a tentative restructuring of its society. Following this, a lengthy phase of instability within the revolutionary leadership, and of attack from outside the state, was terminated by the exhaustion of local initiatives and the intervention of European powers in a colonial "solution". Meanwhile, the "Marabout" revolution had been carried far beyond the frontiers of Baddibu and speeded processes of social change in the Senegambia which have continued into the twentieth century.
