Kaabu

Kaabu, also spelled Gabu or N'Gabu, was a federation of Mandinka kingdoms in the Senegambia region of West Africa, centered on territory in what is now northeastern Guinea-Bissau and extending into large parts of the Gambia and into the Casamance region of southern Senegal, existing from 1537 to 1867. The federation traced its origins to Mandinka warriors and settlers who established themselves in the region during the expansion of the Mali Empire, and Kaabu maintained close cultural and dynastic ties to that older Mande imperial tradition even after Mali's own decline. Kaabu grew wealthy through control of regional trade routes, including the trade in enslaved people supplying Atlantic ports, and its warrior aristocracy, the Nyancho, dominated a mixed population of Mandinka, Fula and other West African peoples. The federation's power declined through the nineteenth century under pressure from expanding Fula Muslim states, and Kaabu's capital, Kansala, fell in 1867 following a siege by Fula forces, ending the federation's independent existence.