Kingdom of Niumi

The earliest inhabitants of Niumi were likely shellfish gatherers and fishermen on the coast, possibly related to the modern-day Serer. Gradually, Mandinka settlers moved into the area, establishing villages on the seafront and river banks. The Jamme clan from Badibu founded first the town of Bakendik, and then later the town of Sitanunku. The first rulers of Niumi were said to be Queens, but the first King was Samake Jamme. It is said that Samake took over after travelling with a group of other Mandinka rulers from the Gambia to the Emperor of Mali to seek legitimacy for their rule.[4]

In early history, a substantial salt trade began with the interior. The rulers of the towns of Siin and Saalum gained great wealth from this trade. The kingdom also possessed large numbers of canoes for trade with the interior and the transport of warriors. Early Mandinka states, such as Niumi, were expected to pay tribute to the nearby Serer and Wolof states. The next clan that settled in Niumi was a warrior family from Kaabu in the south, with the surname ‘Maane’. The Maane had conquered indigenous people on the south bank of the Gambia River, and settled at the town of Brufut. However, some travelled across the river, likely to help the Jamme fight off Serer and Wolof aggressors. The Maane shared the kingship with the Jamme and founded towns of Kanuma and Bunyadu.[4]

Finally, the third major clan arrived, called the ‘Sonko’. The origin of the Sonko is unclear. One account says they were Mandinka warriors led by Amari Sonko, another that they were related to the Sonko Yabu clan who lived on the south bank in the middle of the Gambia River, and another that they were originally Fula and descended from Koli Tenguella. The latter tradition is likely a later invention to bolster the legitimacy of Sonko kings of Niumi.[5] At first, the Sonko settled on the borders of Siin and Saalum and collected taxes for the Serer and Wolof rulers, but they later decided to help the Jamme and Maane in their struggle. They founded the towns of Berending and Jifet. The family at Jifet later split to Essau and Sika.[4] This consolidation of power by the three royal clans was likely complete by the beginning of the 16th century.[6]

The seven towns of the three major clans then shared the rulership of Niumi in rotation. David P. Gamble establishes this as follows:[4]

Though there were early interactions with European traders and explorers, the first attempt to settle in Niumi came in the mid 1600s. In 1651, the Courlanders visited an island off the coast of Niumi, called Dog Island. They called the island Honde-Eylat and made a petition to the King of Niumi to work on the island. However, they later decided to build a fort further up the river at an island not in the possession of Niumi, called St Andrew's Island. In the 1660s, the English made a temporary fortification on Dog Island, renaming it Charles Island. After St Andrew's Island fell into the hands of the English in 1662, and renamed James Island, their main garrison remained on Charles Island until 1666.

In 1678, a Frenchman named Ducasse established a small post on Charles Island, but he and his men were shortly after killed by the natives. Gamble relates that this was because the island was sacred to the residents of Sitanunku, one of the seven royal villages of Niumi.[7] In 1681, the French established a more permanent trading factory at Albreda on the mainland.[1]

Francis Moore, in 1738, described Dog Island as being within a musket shot of the Niumi shore, and also related that the fort there was now in ruins. Europeans became involved with the island again in the 19th century, and it was mined for stone in the late 1810s when the British founded the town of Bathurst on the opposite side of the river.[7]

Map of the states of the River Gambia in 1732 by Captain John Leach, depicting Niumi as 'Barrah'.

During most of the 18th century Niumi prospered from its advantageous position astride trade routes. The kings extended their control over Niumi Bato to the north towards the Saloum Delta, as well as east into Jokadu.[8]

At the beginning of the 19th century, the King of Niumi was considered "more formidable to Europeans than any other chieftain on the river." Each vessel that passed was required to pay £20.  These duties were often collected in person by the Alkaid, or Governor, of Jillifree.[9] Revenues were declining in tandem with the Atlantic slave trade, however, with 'legitimate' trade failing to fill the gap. To make matters worse for the Niuminka rulers, in 1816 the British founded Bathurst on the opposite bank of the Gambia and began actively suppressing the slave trade.[8]

The King of Niumi who was crowned in 1823 was Burungai Sonko. He was known to be opposed to the British. He levied considerable fees on Bathurst merchants who operated in Niumi, and in 1823 turned down a British request to install a battery of guns on the shore opposite Bathurst. Despite this, the British persisted, and under the threat of the British frigate HMS Maidstone, Burungai signed a treaty in 1826 handing over the Ceded Mile to the British.[10] A fort was immediately founded at Barra Point, called Fort Bullen, named after Commodore Charles Bullen of the Maidstone. The Ceded Mile was 1 mi (1.6 km) wide, and 58 km (36 mi) long, extending from Boonyadoo Creek at the mouth of the Gambia River to Junkarda Creek. A small portion of this was reserved at Albreda, where the French had established a factory. The agreement that Burungai signed relinquished all Niumi claims to sovereignty over the river as well as on the territory of the Ceded Mile. In return, the British agreed to pay 400 dollars a year.[11]

During this period a number of factors were squeezing the Niumian economy. The establishment of Fort Bullen served to suppress the sources of income that Niumi had previously relied on, ie the slave trade and duties levied on slave trading ships who passed into the Gambia River. The British reduced their payments to Niumi as they deemed their merchants were being treated poorly. They were also establishing new factories upriver, which reduced the power of the middle-men in Barra.[12]

In 1831 an English agricultural society sought to create a settlement for liberated slaves and pensioners on Dog Island, but these settlers were chased out on August 20 due to the sacred nature of the land.[7][13]

The next day, after years of progressive British encroachment, the Barra War broke out. The spark was supposedly lit when two Niumi men entered Fort Bullen, drunk and with cutlasses, and demanded to be served. When the canteen keeper refused to serve them, one of them fired a musket at him but missed.[14] The British sent a party after these two men the next day, but with the tense political environment a large crowd gathered in front of the fort. After a day-long battle in which the small colonial settlement near the fort was destroyed, the British troops evacuated Fort Bullen, leaving the Niuminka once again in charge of this strategic point commanding the river's mouth.[13]

Believing an attack on Bathurst to be imminent, the British called for help. French forces from Goree as well as marines from Sierra Leone reinforced the British. The forces of Niumi further fortified Barra point. Finally in November the British retook Fort Bullen, and in January 1832 signed a peace with the Niumimansa confirming the land cession.[15] In the years after this setback, trade in beeswax and hides increased, but the Niumi ruling elite could not tax it and so looked for alternative sources of income.[16]

In the 1840s Jokadu rebelled against the increasingly predatorial leaders of Niumi. Niumimansa Demba Sonko recruited the famous Jola warrior Kelefa Saane, the subject of a popular griot song in modern times, to help suppress the revolt.[16] He also hired a force of 700 Serahuli mercenaries. Their leader, Ansumana Jaju, married one of Demba's daughters and sought further power for himself. However, the people turned against Ansumana and in 1856 civil war broke out. To prevent a massacre of the Serahulis, the British Governor arranged a truce and sent the force up the river to Fattatenda in order to remove them from danger.

After the death of Demba Sonko in 1862, there was an interregnum before his successor, Buntung Jamme, succeeded to the throne. In much of the region at this time there were wars raging between the Soninke pagans and the Marabout Muslims. One of Marabout chief Maba Diakhou Ba's captains, a Wolof called Amer Faal, took the opportunity to invade Niumi. He overran Jokadu, forcing the local ruler to convert to Islam. Faal made his way across Niumi, and Maba, learning of this, gathered a force to follow him. The new King of Niumi took refuge in Bathurst, but the headmen of Berending and Essau prepared to make a stand against the Marabouts. They sent word to the British Governor, George Abbas Kooli D'Arcy, to ask for his aid. The Governor was determined to remain neutral, but agreed to evacuate Albreda and protect women and children at Fort Bullen.

The Niumi forces abandoned Berending and agreed to focus their forces at Essau, which had strong stockades. Berending was destroyed. In response to a request from D'Arcy, Maba agreed not to attack the Niumi in Essau. He did not wish to agitate the Governor as he relied on Bathurst for shipments of guns and ammunition. D'Arcy met with both factions to arrange peace, but the truce was soon broken. Maba captured the cattle belonging to the Niumi royal family, and on his retreat left them with Amer Faal. The people of Essau set out to recapture the cattle, but in February 1863 D'Arcy organised another truce.

The Ceded Mile was subsequently flooded with Wolof and Serer refugees from lands that Maba had devastated. They were given the site of Kanuma, that had previously been destroyed, and the town of Bantang Kiling, which was renamed Fitzgerald Town. Later the town was raided by Amer Faal, who stole their cattle. D'Arcy could not settle the dispute by negotiation, and so launched a punitive expedition against Faal's town of Tubab Kolong in July 1866. In this, he was assisted by Niumi forces from Essau. After victory in the Battle of Tubab Kolong, the Niumi forces went on to burn the primarily Muslim villages of Lamin, Albreda, Jufure, and Sika.

The King of Niumi was known as the Mansa in Mandinka. In 1840, the British Governor of the Gambia Henry Vere Huntley estimated that the average reign of a ruler was five years. This was because the next town in line for the throne would attempt to shorten his life, and that poison would be subtly introduced into the diet of the reigning king. Excessive alcohol was often used to this end. Also, when a ruler was incompetent a regent could be appointed.[18]

[19]

• Gamble, David P. (April 1999). "The North Bank of the Gambia: Place, People, and Population: (C) The Nyoomi, Jookadu, and Badibu Districts" (PDF). Gambian Studies. 38.
• Park, Mungo (2002) [1799]. Travels in the Interior of Africa. London: Wordsworth.
• Quinn, Charlotte A. (October 1968). "Niumi: A Nineteenth-Century Mandingo Kingdom". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 38 (4): 443–455. doi:10.2307/1157876. JSTOR 1157876. S2CID 146778747.
• Mbaeyi, P. M. (1967). "THE BARRA-BRITISH WAR OF 1831: A RECONSIDERATION OF ITS ORIGINS AND IMPORTANCE". Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria. 3 (4): 617–31. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
• Wright, Donald R (1987). "The Epic of Kalefa Saane as a guide to the Nature of Precolonial Senegambian Society-and Vice Versa" (PDF). History in Africa. 14: 287–309. doi:10.2307/3171842. JSTOR 3171842. S2CID 162851641 – via JSTOR.