The Kingdom of Wuli

13th century – 1889 · Basse Santa Su (Wuli)

Wuli is a Mandinka kingdom on the north bank of the Gambia River, in eastern present-day Gambia and the Tambacounda region of Senegal. Before the Mandinka arrived, the land was inhabited by Konyagui, Bainouk and some Wolof. According to oral tradition, the first large Mandinka migration came from Mali in the 13th century, led by Tiramakhan Traoré, one of Sundiata Keita’s generals. Mbari Kajo Wali, who came with him, was the first Wulimansa: Wuli was then a tributary of the mansa of Mali, then of the Jolof Empire. Around 1520, Jalali Wali freed the country from Jolof rule and founded the kingdom’s independence, which the Wali family governed until colonisation. The capital moved from Jalalikunda to Madina Ouli, then, in the 19th century, towards Siné. From the 1860s to the 1880s, Wuli suffered attacks from Bokar Saada of Boundou and from Mamadou Lamine Dramé. In 1888–1889, when France and Great Britain fixed their border, the kingdom was split in two.

Sources

• Persée — Djibril Tamsir Niane, Histoire des Mandingues de l’Ouest. Le royaume du Gabou (compte rendu, Cahiers d’études africaines, 1988)
• Cairn — Djibril Tamsir Niane, Histoire des Mandingues de l’Ouest (Karthala)
• Oxford Academic — Ch. A. Quinn, Mandingo Kingdoms of the Senegambia (compte rendu, American Historical Review, 1973)
• W. Galloway, A History of Wuli from the Thirteenth to the Nineteenth Century (thèse, Indiana University, 1975), citée dans l’article Wikipédia « Kingdom of Wuli »
• Wikipédia — Royaume du Wuli

Kingdom fact sheet : Le royaume du Wuli.

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