Kingdom of Wuli

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.

Pre-Mandinka
Before the Mandinka arrived, the area that became Wuli was inhabited by the Konyagui people, the Bainuks and a few Wolofs. The earliest Mandinka immigrants, presumably jula traders, came before the founding of the Mali Empire.

Founding of the state
According to oral tradition, the first large scale Mandinka migration came from Mali in the 14th century, led by Tiramakhan Traore, one of Sundiata's top generals. The first Wulimansa was Mbari Kajo Wali, who came with Traore, learned magic from the Jolas of the lower Gambia, and used his power to establish lordship over the land as a vassal of the mansa of Mali. He and other early mansas are quasi-legendary figures, and were based east of what became Wuli itself, around Dialacoto.

Modern-day historians have proposed that the Mandinka elite of Wuli did not, in fact, immigrate en masse from the Manding region but may have come much earlier, from Bambouk and the upper Senegal river valley. The story of Traore's migration may be simply a story to dramatize what was actually a gradual process of change under the cultural and political hegemony of the Mali Empire.

As Mali declined, Wuli fell under the hegemony of the Jolof Empire and paid tribute to the Buurba, as did their neighboring states on the north bank of the Gambia - Niumi, Badibou, and Nyani.

An independent power
Jalali Wali (early 16th century) was the first Mansa for whom history has recorded details. He founded his capital of Jalalikunda in the north of Wuli, after defeating the local Konyagui king. During the 1520s, under his leadership Wuli became independent of the Jolof empire and fought off an invasion from Futa Toro, perhaps led by Koli Tenguella. He recruited new inhabitants, including the Jatta family from Gajaaga who settled in Tambacounda, the Baro family who founded Barrow Kunda, and the Jabais (among others) in Sutukoba. Mansa Jalali was eventually killed in battle fighting against the Kingdom of Niani, but left behind a kingdom that was the most powerful state on the north bank of the Gambia.

Jalali's death was followed by a period of confusion. His youngest son Kope had tricked his dying father into giving him the secrets of rulership and the royal amulets, but his elder brothers drove him into exile and struggled to establish control over Wuli. Kope eventually returned with a marabout from Kaabu who helped him take control of the country from his base at Madina Ouli. His branch of the Wali family ruled until the fall of the state in the late 19th century and claimed the kingship well into the 20th century.

The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw a significant influx of Torodbe Muslim refugees from Futa Toro, who helped popularize Islam in Wuli, although the ruling class maintained many traditional beliefs. Mansa Jatta Wali ruled Wuli in the second half of the 18th century, and fought several wars against Niani as well as an armed dispute with a wealthy Jula trader. He was succeeded by Mansa Faring, who jealously guarded Wuli's trading interests against the British in the early years of the 19th century.

European Contact
Around the turn of the 19th century, the Scottish explorer Mungo Park passed through Wuli on both of his voyages to the Niger River.

In March 1823 a British expedition led by Major Alexander Grant came upriver to Wuli from Bathurst seeking closer commercial relations and possibly to establish a trading post. Mansa Faring refused to grant the British any trading concessions. Mansa Nkoi (also known as Koyo) came to power in 1827, however, and was much friendlier to European trade. In 1829 he ceded Fattatenda to the British administrator William Hutton for $2000 up front and an annual payment of $200. The agreement was later repudiated by the British government and Hutton was dismissed. Still, Mansa Nkoi protected Wuli's position as the easternmost center of trade on the Gambia by restricting their access to Tenda and Bundu to the east.

Soninke-Marabout Wars
By the 1830s Wuli, like much of the region, was divided between the Muslim (marabout) population and a larger animist (Soninke) group. The kingdom was regularly being raided by nearby marabout states.

The Wulimansa in the second half of the 19th century, Nyanamadi, was a gentle but ineffective ruler, overshadowed by his brother Fenda Mamadi. In 1863, 64, and 65 almamy Bokar Saada of Bundu led an alliance of Futa Toro, Khasso and other powers to repeatedly attack the important Wuli trading center of Tambacounda. In 1865 a 12,000-man Bundu army burned the British trading post of Fattatenda as the almamy looked to destroy any entrepots that he could not control. By 1867 Nyanamadi had surrendered and paid tribute to Saada, although Bundu slave raids continued. During the 1860s and 70s Alpha Molloh, king of Fuladu, in turn tried to conquer Wuli but was repulsed. This period of upheaval saw the Walis abandon Madina Ouli and move south to the town of Sine, close to the Senegal-Gambia border today.

As a satellite of Bundu, which was allied with the French, Wuli became a target for the Sarakholle marabout Mahmadu Lamine Drame in 1887 when he sacked Netteboulou and executed the wulimansa. Drame set up a base at Toubakouta in Niani, where he was killed by French forces.

Colonialism
In 1888 Wuli became a protectorate of France. When France and Britain set the colonial boundary between The Gambia and Senegal in the 1890s, Wuli was divided in two. This division, coupled with the rise of rail transport at the expense of river trade, economically marginalized much of the area.

In 1895, the French created a cercle of Ouli with its capital at Sine, but two years later moved the administration to Makacolibantang. In 1919 the seat of administration moved again to Tambacounda. The last Mansa of Wuli, Yaka Sara Wali, died in 1936.

Economy
Wuli, particularly the important commercial and religious center of Sutukoba, was a hub for the trade in slaves, salt, gold, leather, shellfish, beeswax, European manufactures and other goods, linking the Atlantic coast, the Senegal River, and the Manding heartland in the Niger River basin. The economic and political power of the Jula traders was instrumental in the founding and growth of the state.

During the 19th century Wuli developed a local industry manufacturing a kind of gunpowder called timbertio.

Society and Government
Society and governance were divided into levels: the state (banko), extended family or interest group (kabilo), the village (sateo), and compound (suo). Each division took care of all its own judicial, legislative, and executive functions. The Mansa was responsible for general law and order, including policing roads, war and relations with other states, and preventing or prosecuting major crimes. Kabilos regulated family affaires, marriages, inheritance, divorce, land, etc. Villages dealt with their relevant public works and agricultural questions. There were no official subdivisions of Wuli - each village was independent of the others and owed its allegiance directly the Mansa. Great and influential men could and did, however, come to control large networks of people and resources. These included the Nimang of Pathiab, the successor to the throne and guardian of the northwestern march near Koussanar, as well as the powerful and relatively independent Signate clan of Netteboulou.

Slavery was an essential part of society and foundation of elite power. Royal Mansajong slaves, based at court, were a hereditary class that served as the soldiers, tax collectores, and the executive branch of government. The Mansa ruled through the council of state, the Mansa Bengo, staffed with the heads of the most important families, villages, and interest groups. The Mansa's government was funded with taxes generally paid in kind once a year. He could also levy duties on julas or European traders and other travellers. Fula pastoralists paid taxes at a time and quantity decided by the ruler, arbitrarily, but taking care not to push them to emigrate.

Religion
The jalang (fetish) of the Wali family is known as Tamba Jalli, and its worship served essentially as Wuli's state religion. Its form is an ancient, three-bladed tamba (spear) wrapped in white hand-woven cloth called fataro. Jalali Wali was believed to have brought it with him when he settled in Wuli. The Mansa regularly sacrificed to the jalang and consulted it for divination; in extreme circumstances human sacrifices were required, generally in the form of a warrior who went to battle exposed and not expecting to return. In 1887 two Wuli princes volunteered to die to guarantee a victory against Mamadu Lamine, and succeeded on both counts. The jalang is still housed and venerated at Sinthiou-Maleme.

Muslims were a part of the earliest Mandinka migrations into Wuli, and marabouts served the Mansas as scribes and charm-makers for centuries. Other Jakhanke students of Al-Hajj Salim Suwari arrived later. Even during the widespread religious wars of the mid-19th century, the marabouts of Wuli generally stayed away from overtly political activity and the Walis continued to protect them and seek prayers and charms from them.