Kingdom of Guinala | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Kingdom | ||||||||
| Capital | Bruco | ||||||||
| Common languages | Biafada | ||||||||
| Religion | African traditional religions | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| Farim | |||||||||
| Currency | cloth, iron, gold | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Guinala or Quinara was an important Biafada kingdom in pre-colonial Guinea-Bissau situated between the Geba and Rio Grande de Buba rivers. The main port town, also called Guinala, was located on a tributary of the Buba, with the capital Bruco (or Buduco) a short distance inland. [1]
The kingdom was a regional power and important center of trade well before the arrival of Europeans. In the middle of the 15th century the kingdom defeated a large Fula armed migration from Futa Toro led by Dulo Demmba that had cut its way through several Wolof and Mandinka states. [2]
The port of Guinala was the primary center of Euro-African trade in the region throughout the 16th century, exporting on average 3000 slaves a year to the Americas. [3] : 189 The kingdom also boasted the region's largest weekly market at Bijorei. [1] In the 1580s the lançados built a fort nearby, called Porto da Cruz, in order to defend against French pirates as well as potential conflict with their Biafada hosts. [3] : 175 With this rejection of the pre-existing host-guest relationship, the Afro-Portuguese faced higher prices and rude, sometimes violent, treatment. [3] : 179
Guinala's economic importance waned in the early decades of the 17th century. In 1610 raiders from the Bijagos islands attacked Porto da Cruz and disrupted trade there. As the market of Bijorei waned, the lançados abandoned the fort and moved upstream to Bolola, near modern-day Buba. The slow decline of the Atlantic slave trade in the 18th and 19th centuries reinforced the trend. [1]
The king was a subject of the mansa of Kaabu, and at times the overlord of the Papel state of Bissau. [1] He had seven chiefs under him, and so exerted absolute authority only in the town of Guinala itself. [3] : 64 The king ruled with the help of a Privy Council which, according to John Ogilby's late 17th century atlas, was composed of the vassal chiefs as well as a "main governor." [4] : 365 [3] : 67 Ogilby also claimed that, upon the king's death, his wives, servants, horses, and court favorites would be killed and buried alongside him to serve him in the afterlife. [4] : 366
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 has been inhabited for thousands of years. In the 13th century, it became a province of the Mali Empire that later became independent as the Empire of Kaabu. The region was claimed by Portugal beginning in the 1450s. During most of this period, Portuguese control of the region was limited to a number of forts along the coast. Portugal gained full control of the mainland after the pacification campaigns of 1912–15. The offshore Bijago islands were not colonised until 1936. After independence in 1974, the country was controlled by a single-party system until 1991. The introduction of multi-party politics in 1991, brought the first multi-party elections in 1994. A civil war broke out from 1998 to 1999.
The economy of Guinea-Bissau comprises a mixture of state-owned and private companies. Guinea-Bissau is among the world's least developed nations and one of the 10 poorest countries in the world, and depends mainly on agriculture and fishing. Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years, and the country ranked ninth in cashew production for the year 2019.
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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.
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