Kingdom of Gajaaga Gajaaga | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Location in pink of Kingdom of Galam | |||||||||
| Location | on the upper Senegal River | ||||||||
| Capital | Makhana Tuyaabu | ||||||||
| Common languages | Soninke language | ||||||||
| Religion | Traditional African Religion, syncretic Islam | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| Tunka | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Bacili dynasty founded | before 1000CE | ||||||||
• Annexed by the French Colonial Empire | 1858 | ||||||||
| Currency | cloth, silver, gold | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Gajaaga, also known as Galam, was a Soninke kingdom in on the upper Senegal river that existed from before 1000CE to 1858. The kingdom was mainly located in present day Senegal and some parts of Mali. It was sometimes referred to as the Land of Gold, which it exported in large quantities, and 'Galam' in fact means 'gold' in Wolof.[1] In the middle of the 17th century, Gajaaga was perhaps the most powerful state in the upper Senegal river region.[2] It controlled both banks of the river from the area of Kayes downstream to Bakel.[3]
Galam was a vassal of the empire of Jolof and Takrur kingdoms.
- ^ Klein, Martin A. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, vol. 24, no. 2, 1990, pp. 266–67. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/485261. Accessed 1 July 2023.
- ^ Green 2020, pp. 422–3.
- ^ Curtin 1975, pp. 191–2.