Gabu Kansala Nova Lamego | |
|---|---|
 Gabu, Guinea-Bissau | |
  Gabu Location in Guinea-Bissau  Gabu Gabu (Africa) | |
| Coordinates: 12°17′0″N14°13′0″W / 12.28333°N 14.21667°W | |
| Country |  Guinea-Bissau |
| Region | Gabu Region |
| Elevation | 39 m (128 ft) |
| Population (2010) | |
• Total | 37,525 |
| • Ethnicities | Fula people |
| • Religions | Islam |
Gabu is the largest city in eastern Guinea-Bissau, the second most populated city in Guinea-Bissau and capital of the Gabu Region.
Founded under the name Kansala, Gabu was the capital of the Kaabu Empire until its destruction in 1867. The Portuguese renamed the town Nova Lamego ie "New Lamego", after the Douro town of Lamego. It was renamed Gabu (sometimes spelled Cabu [1] ) in honor of the pre-colonial empire after Guinea Bissau's independence.
Kaabu was founded by Mandinka immigrants from the Mali Empire in the 13th century, and was initially its vassal. Mansa Sala Sane established Kansala to replace the old, less centrally located Bainuk capital of Mampatim. The city was also the site of the sacred grove where the mansaba of Kaabu was crowned. [2] As the Mali empire waned, Sama Koli proclaimed independence in 1537 but maintained many of the trappings of Malian cultural heritage and established trade relations with the Portuguese on the coast. [3]
The defenses of the city were legendary: a series of seven concentric tata, each representing one of the core territories of the empire. [4] In the 1860s the Fula of Kaabu and its neighboring states, committed Muslims, launched the Kansala War to end animist Mandé dominance of the region. It ended with a big fire which caused extensive damage and casualties on both sides. Gabu thereafter became part of the Imamate of Futa Jallon and was finally assimilated into the Portuguese Empire. [3]
Gabu is now mostly known as a market town with the second largest market of Guinea-Bissau, notably trading coal and ceramics as well as agricultural products. Traders come from as far afield as Guinea, Senegal and Mali and Sierra Leone.
Gabú has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw), similar to that of the capital Bissau but with – due to its inland location – about a quarter less rainfall and larger diurnal temperature variations. As with all of Guinea-Bissau, there are two extremely contrasting seasons: a dry season from November to May with dusty harmattan winds and hot to sweltering, rainless weather, and a monsoonal wet season from June to October featuring heavy thunderstorm rains almost every day and hot, uncomfortably humid conditions.
| Climate data for Gabú | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 31.7 (89.1) | 34.4 (93.9) | 37.1 (98.8) | 38.0 (100.4) | 36.4 (97.5) | 33.1 (91.6) | 30.2 (86.4) | 29.2 (84.6) | 30.2 (86.4) | 31.2 (88.2) | 31.9 (89.4) | 30.5 (86.9) | 32.8 (91.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 22.8 (73.0) | 25.4 (77.7) | 28.4 (83.1) | 30.0 (86.0) | 29.6 (85.3) | 27.6 (81.7) | 26.1 (79.0) | 25.4 (77.7) | 25.9 (78.6) | 26.3 (79.3) | 25.7 (78.3) | 22.7 (72.9) | 26.3 (79.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 13.9 (57.0) | 16.5 (61.7) | 19.8 (67.6) | 22.0 (71.6) | 22.9 (73.2) | 22.1 (71.8) | 22.0 (71.6) | 21.7 (71.1) | 21.7 (71.1) | 21.4 (70.5) | 19.6 (67.3) | 15.0 (59.0) | 19.9 (67.8) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 3 (0.1) | 37 (1.5) | 159 (6.3) | 273 (10.7) | 420 (16.5) | 350 (13.8) | 180 (7.1) | 20 (0.8) | 2 (0.1) | 1,444 (56.9) |
| Source: Climate-Data.org [5] | |||||||||||||
Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers 36,125 square kilometres (13,948 sq mi) with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to its north and Guinea to its southeast.
The region now known as Guinea-Bissau, in West Africa, has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years. During the 13th century CE, it was a province of the Mali Empire which later became independent as the empire of Kaabu. The Portuguese Empire claimed the region during the 1450s, but its control was limited to several forts along the coast during most of this period; it gained control of the mainland after a series of "pacification campaigns" from 1912 to 1915, which used military forces to violently crush local resistance. The offshore Bijagos Islands were not colonized until 1936. Guinea-Bissau gained independence from Portugal in 1974. The introduction of multi-party politics in 1991 led to the first multi-party elections in 1994. A civil war broke out in 1998, which lasted until the following year.
Banjul, officially the City of Banjul, is the capital of The Gambia. It is the centre of the eponymous administrative division which is home to an estimated 400,000 residents, making it The Gambia's largest and most densely populated metropolitan area. The city Banjul is located on St Mary's Island, where the Gambia River enters the Atlantic Ocean.
The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, The Gambia, southern Senegal and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in Africa. They speak the Manding languages in the Mande language family, which are a lingua franca in much of West Africa. Virtually all of Mandinka people are adherent to Islam, mostly based on the Maliki jurisprudence. They are predominantly subsistence farmers and live in rural villages. Their largest urban center is Bamako, the capital of Mali.
Gabú Region is the easternmost region in Guinea-Bissau. Its capital is Gabú. The region borders Senegal to the north, Guinea to the east and south and the Guinea-Bissau regions of Tombali and Bafatá to the west. It covers an area of 9,150 km2, making it the largest of Guinea-Bissau's administrative regions. It is an inland region covered with savannah or light savannah woodland and receives an annual rainfall of more than 2,000 mm (79 in).
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Kaabu (1537–1867), also written Gabu, Ngabou, and N'Gabu, was a federation of Mandinka kingdoms in the Senegambia region centered within modern northeastern Guinea-Bissau, large parts of today's Gambia, and extending into Koussanar, Koumpentoum, and the Casamance in Senegal.
The Empire of Great Fulo, also known as the Denanke Kingdom or Denianke Kingdom, was a Pulaar kingdom of Senegal, which dominated the Futa Toro region from the early 16th century to 1776.
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Canquelifá, sometimes spelled Kankelefa, is a village in the Gabú Region of north-eastern Guinea-Bissau. It lies to the northwest of Buruntuma.
The Battle of Kansala or Turban Keloo was the siege of the capital of the Kaabu federation by the Imamate of Futa Jallon, allied with rebellious Fula people from Kaabu itself. The battle, which saw the town completely destroyed, ended Mandinka hegemony over Africa’s Atlantic coast begun by the Mali Empire.
Guelowar, also spelled Gelwar, Guelwar, Guelware, Gueleware or Gueloware, was a maternal dynasty in the pre-colonial Serer kingdoms of Sine and Saloum. They were from the Mandinka ethnic group. The offspring of Mandinka women and Serer men became the kings of Sine and Saloum. The dynasty lasted from the mid-14th century to 1969, the year both kings died.
Fuladu or Fuladugu is a historic region and former Fula kingdom in the Upper Casamance, in the south of Senegal, and including certain areas in The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. It was the last independent pre-colonial state in the area, ceasing to exist in 1903.
Manding, Manden or even Mandé is a region located in West Africa, a space between southern Mali and eastern Guinea. It is the historic home of the Mandinka community.
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The Soninke-Marabout Wars were a series of 19th-century civil wars across southern Senegambia pitting the traditional ruling classes of various states, mostly animist or only nominally Muslim, against Islamic reformers led by the marabout class. French and British forces frequently became involved in these conflicts, providing them an opportunity to extend colonial power into the hinterland.
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