Kingdom of Niani | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14th century–1888 | |||||||||||
| Status | Kingdom | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Mandinka | ||||||||||
| Religion | African traditional religions, Islam | ||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||
| Mansa | |||||||||||
• 14th century | Cansia Kamara | ||||||||||
• 1820s | Kimintan Kamara | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Founding by Cansia Kamara | 14th century | ||||||||||
• French protectorate established | 1888 | ||||||||||
| Currency | cloth, salt, gold | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Niani was a Mandinka kingdom located on the north bank of the Gambia River from approximately the 14th to the late 19th century in what is now The Gambia and Senegal.
Oral histories relate that, during the 14th century, many members of the Kamara clan left the town of Niani in the Mali Empire after a failed rebellion against the Mansa . They initially settled in Kaabu, then crossed the Gambia river. [1] At the time the area was a part of the Kingdom of Wuli, [2] but some sources claim that the Kamara were given the land by the Buurba of the Jolof Empire. [3] Two brothers, Cansia and Mansaly Kamara, established separate branches of the family in Niani, with Cansia founding Koumpentoum as the capital of his new kingdom, named after the homeland they had left behind. [1] The Kamara would rule the state until its incorporation into the French colony of Senegal in the late 19th century. [4] The capital was later moved to Diambour, and eventually to Ndougousine in the 19th century. [5]
Modern-day historians have proposed that the Mandinka elite of Niani and Wuli did not, in fact, immigrate from the Manding region but may have come much earlier, from Bambouk and the upper Senegal river valley. [6] The migration story may be a dramatization of what was actually a gradual process of ethnic transformation under the cultural and political hegemony of the Mali Empire. [7]
Always an important center, the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century greatly Niani's trade, particularly channeling gold from Bambuk and Bure down the Gambia. [8] Nianimaru, a village marking the furthest navigable point on the river for large seafaring ships, was particularly prosperous. [9] Torodbe refugees from Futa Toro in the late 18th and early 19th centuries progressively islamized the kingdom, although the aristocracy retained their traditional beliefs. [10]
During the 19th century upper and lower Niani were ruled by separate Kamara branches. [11] [3] Sometime in the early decades, Kimintan Kamara killed his older brothers to seize the throne of Upper Niani and established a new capital at Ndougousine. [12]
In 1823, Kolli Kamara, king of Kataba (lower Niani) ceded MacCarthy Island to the British, who built Georgetown there. [13] A dispute ensued when the colonists demanded labor from Niani, but the Kamara sent an army instead, forcing the British to take refuge in their new fort. A counterattack on Ndougousine failed, with the Mandinka capturing two cannons. [14] [3]
The region-wide Marabout Wars of the 19th century, particularly the campaigns of Mahmadu Lamine, devastated regional trade and Niani's economy. [15] In 1888 the kingdom signed a protectorate treaty with France, ending its independence. [16]
The Kingdom of Saloum was a Serer/Wolof kingdom in present-day Senegal. Its kings may have been of Mandinka/Kaabu origin. The capital of Saloum was the city of Kahone. It was a sister to the kingdom of Sine. Their history, geography and culture were intricately linked and it was common to refer to them as the Sine-Saloum.
The Jolof Empire, also known as Great Jolof, or the WolofEmpire, was a Wolof and Sereer confederacy state that ruled parts of West Africa, most precisely modern-day Senegal, Mali, Gambia and Mauritania from around the 12th century to 1549. Following the 1549 battle of Danki, its vassal states were fully or de facto independent; in this period it is known as the Jolof Kingdom.
Sunni Ali, also known as Si Ali, Sunni Ali Ber, born Ali Kolon, reigned from about 1464 to 1492 as the first king of the Songhai Empire and the 15th ruler of the Sunni dynasty.
Gabu is the largest town in eastern Guinea-Bissau and capital of the Gabu Region. Under the name Kansala, it was the capital of Kaabu.
Tambacounda is the largest city in eastern Senegal, 400 kilometres (250 mi) southeast of Dakar, and is the regional capital of the province of the same name. Its estimated population in 2007 was 78,800.
Janjanbureh or Jangjangbureh is a town, founded in 1823, on Janjanbureh Island, also known as MacCarthy Island, in the Gambia River in eastern Gambia. Until 1995, it was known as Georgetown and was the second largest town in the country. It is the capital of Janjanbureh Local Government Area, and the Janjanbureh district. The population of the Janjanbureh LGA was 127,333 at the 2013 population census.
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.
Tiramakhan Traore was a 13th-century general in the Mali Empire who served under Sundiata Keita. Traore expanded the power of Mali westward and set up the Kabu Empire. In his conquest of the region, he is reported to have defeated the Bainuk king Kikikor and annexed his state. The Guelowar royal family, including the royal family of Kaabu prior to their defeat at the Battle of Kansala, claimed descent from Tiramakhan Traore.
The Bainuk people are an ethnic group that today lives primarily in Senegal as well as in parts of Gambia and Guinea-Bissau.
The kingdom of Kasa, also known as Kasanga, was the dominant kingdom in lower Casamance during the 15th and 16th centuries. Many of the inhabitants of the realm were Bainuk or other native ethnicities, but it was ruled by a Mandinkized elite. The capital was at Brikama, on the south bank of the Casamance River.
The Saltigue, are Serer high priests and priestesses who preside over the religious ceremonies and affairs of the Serer people, such as the Xooy ceremony, the biggest event in the Serer religious calendar. They usually come from ancient Serer paternal families, and the title is inherited by birthright. In Serer country, Saltigue are always diviners.
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.
Askia Ismail was the sixth ruler of the Songhai Empire from 1537 – 1539, and fourth from the Askia dynasty. He was the son of Askia Mohammad I, the founder of the Askia dynasty, and Maryam Daabu, a member of the Malian royal family captured in 1501.
Koli Tenguella was a Fulani warrior and leader who was pivotal in establishing the Empire of Great Fulo.
Tenguella was a Fula silatigi or chief who founded a short-lived state in the upper Senegal river valley, a precursor of the Empire of Great Fulo. He was referred to as the Great Fulo or Great king of the Fulos in Portuguese documents of the time.
Wuli was a Mandinka kingdom located on the north bank of the Gambia River in what is now the eastern portion of The Gambia and the Tambacounda region of Senegal. Ruled as an independent polity by the Wali family from the early 16th century until European colonialism in the late 19th, it controlled an important crossroads for trading routes linking the upper Niger river valley with the coast.
The Tenda or Tanda are an ethnolinguistic group living in the southern Senegal, northeastern Guinea-Bissau, and northern Guinea, comprising the Bassari, the Konyagui, the Bedik, and the Badiaranke.
The Nyancho were a royal maternal dynasty that ruled the West African empire of Kaabu.
Namandirou, also known as Njarmeew or Geremeo, was a kingdom in what is now eastern Senegal.
