Along with its “mother city” of Mbacké, Touba forms an urban conurbation whose population currently stands at about 500,000. This makes it Senegal 's second largest urban agglomeration, after the greater Dakar-Cape Vert region.
The town of Mbacké is older than Touba. It was founded in the sparsely populated wilderness of Eastern Baol in the late 18th century by Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba's great-great-grandfather, for whom the town was named. Throughout the 19th century the town of Mbacké was a well-known center of Islamic learning. It was there that Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba was born c. 1853 and it is to Mbacké again that he returned when he embarked upon his spiritual career in 1884.
Mbacké is the administrative seat of a département, or province. During the colonial period it was a bigger place than Touba, characterized by commercial activities as well as administrative ones. Today, Mbacké is overshadowed by Touba, which has become the uncontested business center for the entire region. However, as it lies beyond the sacred precinct of the holy city, it fulfills certain auxiliary functions, such as secular entertainment, forbidden in Touba.
Beyond these two urban centers, new residential subdivisions are being created wherever water, pumped up from the aquifer, can be piped in. Some of these neighborhoods, such as Darou Salam, Ndame, Darou Marnane and Guédé Bousso, were once distinct Mouride villages and remain important subsidiary spiritual centers. Old Mouride villages further a field, such as Touba Bagdad, Ndindi Abdou and Darou Rahmane I and II, are currently in the early stages of a the urbanization process. Elsewhere, entirely new neighborhoods are being allotted from scratch.