The kingdom of Kasa, also known as Kasanga, was the dominant kingdom in lower Casamance (now Senegal) 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 Mandinka elite. The capital was at Brikama, in what is now The Gambia.[1]

In the 15th century, Portuguese slave traders and navigators established a trading station in the area.[2] They also formed trade relations with the Mansa of Kasa, giving the river the name 'Casamance'.[3]

Kasanga, along with the Bainuk, were major importers of cotton from Cape Verde for their domestic cloth industry. In 1570 the lancados of Buguendo sought support against their Bainuk hosts from Mansa Tamba of Kasa, starting a war that lasted until the mansa's death in 1590.[4] : 266  Kasa's power was gradually declining in this period. Their powerful cavalry force was decimated by increasing rates of sleeping sickness due to increasing rainfall, and Bainuk blocades of the rivers prevented resupply from Portuguese merchants. Much of Kasa's territory was seized by the Bainuk and the Mandinka kingdoms of Birassu and Kiang, including its main port of Tendaba.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Rodney, Walter (May 1966). A History of the Upper Guinea Coast, 1545-1800 (PDF) (Thesis). ProQuest.
  2. ↑ Minahan, James (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 397. ISBN 978-0-313-32109-2.
  3. ↑ Lobban, Richard Andrew Jr.; Mendy, Peter Karibe (2013). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau (4th ed.). Lanham: Scarecrow Press. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-8108-5310-2.
  4. ↑ Barry, Boubacar (1992). "Senegambia from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century: evolution of the Wolof, Sereer and 'Tukuloor'". In Ogot, B. A. (ed.). General History of Africa vol. V: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. UNESCO. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  5. ↑ Brooke, George E. "Western Africa to c1860 A.D. A provisuanal historical schema based on climate periods" (PDF). University of Indiana. p. 165. Retrieved 30 May 2023.

Sources

  • Barry, Boubakar. Senegambia and the Atlantic Slave Trade, (Cambridge: University Press, 1998) p. 42
  • Clark and Phillips. Historical Dictionary of Senegal. p. 179-180
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