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29/09/2026
ASKIYA AL-HAJJ MUHAMMAD: THE PILGRIM-KING WHO FOUNDED AN EMPIRE
By Hidden World Vault Research Team
In 1493, Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, a military commander, overthrew the last Sonni ruler and took the throne of Songhay. He became known as Askiya al-Hajj Muhammad, and his accession opened a new chapter in the history of the Songhay Empire.
The dynasty he founded, the Askiya dynasty, would rule Songhay for nearly a century.
One of the most striking accounts of his reign concerns his pilgrimage to Mecca.
According to the Tarikh 's-Sudan, Askiya Muhammad gave away an extraordinary 100,000 pieces of gold during his pilgrimage. The chronicle compares this with the 20,000 pieces of gold it attributes to Mansa Musa during his own pilgrimage.
● The author of the Tarikh 's-Sudan writes:
«“The people of the East recorded Kankan Musa's journey to their lands and were amazed at the strength of his kingdom. However they failed to describe him with the attributes of generosity and magnanimity due to the fact that he only donated twenty-thousand pieces of gold while in the two Holy places... in comparison to what Askiya al-Hajj Muhammad donated when he went, which amounted to about one-hundred thousand pieces of gold.”»
For Askiya Muhammad, the pilgrimage was not simply a display of wealth. The Tarikh 's-Sudan also describes a ruler deeply concerned with religious institutions and scholarship.
He established Friday mosques, supported scholars, and introduced administrative and judicial reforms. In Djenné, he appointed Fodio Muhammad Sanu as the first judge responsible for administering judgment according to shari'a. Before this appointment, disputes were taken to the imam of the mosque for arbitration.
The chronicle also records a religious bequest involving the Jingerber Mosque. Askiya Muhammad provided 60 handwritten Qur'ans for the mosque, with provisions for their recitation after the Friday prayer, together with a section from the al-`Ishriniyat. According to the account, this practice continued until 1020 AH.
There is also a personal story behind his rise to power.
While her son was being persecuted by Sonni Ali, Askiya Muhammad's mother, Kaasa, sought the prayers of Nana Tinti, the daughter of Qadi al-Hajj. When Muhammad eventually rose to power, he remembered the promise associated with those prayers and honored Nana Tinti's family.
By the time of his rule, Songhay had entered a period of considerable expansion and administrative development. Askiya Muhammad combined military power with religious patronage, judicial reform, and support for scholarship.
His story survives in the chronicles not only because he ruled a powerful empire, but because the records preserve details of how he used his position, his wealth, and his influence.
What stands out to you most about the reign of Askiya Muhammad: his pilgrimage, his reforms, his patronage of scholarship, or the traditions surrounding his rise to power?
References:
● Tarikh 's-Sudan, Chapters III, VI, IX, XI, XII.
29/09/2026
THE KAONDE CLAN ANIMAL KINGDOM
WHY SOME CLANS ARE LIONS, GOATS, ELEPHANTS, BEES AND MONKEYS
By Hidden World Vault Research Team
The Kaonde tradition preserves a fascinating system of clan names, animal symbolism and joking relationships. Below is the traditional classification, numbered accordingly.
1. BALEMBU — “THE BEES”
Chiefdom/localities: Mushima Mubambe / Kinsengwe (Kelongwa)
Joking relationship: Bena Ñonyi
Traditional explanation: Birds pick and eat bees.
2. BALONGA — “THE RIVER”
Chiefdom/localities: Mujimanzovu / Kaindu / Nyoka / Shilenda
Joking relationship: Bena Mbuzhi
Traditional explanation: They feature together in folklore.
3. BAPUMPI — “THE HUNTING DOG”
Chiefdom/localities: Ntambo / Mukumbi / Ingwe
Joking relationship: Bena Mbuzhi
Traditional explanation: Hunting dogs eat goats.
4. BASAMBA — “THE SNAKES”
Chiefdom: No specific chief listed
Joking relationship: Bena Kyulu
Traditional explanation: Snakes are associated with hills and feature alongside them in folklore.
5. BATEMBUZHI — “THE LION”
Chiefdom/localities: Mumena / Kibanza (Kyota Mute)
Joking relationship: Bena Mbuzhi
Traditional explanation: Lions eat goats.
Traditional saying associated with Batembuzhi:
“Jitembwe jisumana nobe bokwe.”
6. BATUMBA — “THE RAIN WATER”
Chiefdom: Kasempa
Note: The clan is now called Bena Kyowa.
Joking relationship: Bena Kyowa
Traditional explanation: Rain makes mushrooms grow.
7. BAYANGA — “THE BLACK ANTS”
Chiefdom/locality: Kashinka (Mumbwa)
Joking relationship: Bena Ñonyi
Traditional explanation: Birds eat ants.
8. BENA KYOWA — “THE MUSHROOM”
Chiefdom: Kasempa
Joking relationship: Bena Luo
Traditional explanation: Monkeys eat mushrooms.
9. BENA KYULU — “THE ANTHILL”
Chiefdom: Kapiji Mpanga
Joking relationships:
● Bena Nzovu
● Bena Ñonyi
Traditional explanations: Elephants find it difficult to navigate anthills, while birds eat ants.
10. BENA LUO — “THE MONKEY”
Chiefdom/localities: Ntambo / Mukumbi / Kizela / Munyambala / Mumba (Mumbwa)
Joking relationships:
● Batembuzhi
● Bena Mbwa
● Bapumpi
● Bena Ngee
Traditional explanation: These animals are associated with eating monkeys.
11. BENA MBUZHI — “THE GOATS”
Chiefdom/localities: Matebo / Sandangombe (Kapijimpanga)
Joking relationships:
● Batembuzhi
● Bena Mbwa
● Bapumpi
● Bena Ngee
Traditional explanation: These animals are associated with eating goats.
12. BENA MBWA — “THE DOGS”
Chiefdom/localities: Kalasa / Kinemba
Joking relationships: Not specified in the supplied account.
13. BENA NGEE — “THE LEOPARDS”
Chiefdom: Makungu (Kasempa)
Joking relationship: Bena Mbuzhi
Traditional explanation: The relationship is connected to a traditional folklore story in which the leopard saved…
The supplied account leaves this story incomplete.
14. BENA ÑONYI — “THE BIRDS”
Chiefdom/locality: Mukumbi Ibaloli (Lubinga)
Joking relationship: Bena Kasaka
Traditional explanation: Birds eat sorghum.
■ ADDITIONAL TRADITIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
15. BENA NZOVU — “THE ELEPHANTS”
Chiefdom/localities:
● Mukumbi Katootola (Kalumbila)
● Pande pe Sanga (DRC)
Their bänüngwe include Bena Kyulu, because elephants are traditionally said to rest by leaning against anthills.
Bayanga are also described as bänüngwe to Bena Nzovu and Batembuzhi, with the traditional explanation that both elephants and lions are afraid of black ants.
16. BALONGA — THE WATER CONNECTION
The account further states that all other clans are bänüngwe to Balonga, because all animals and living creatures need water to survive.
This creates a broader traditional relationship linking the clans through water, animals, landscape and folklore.
■ IMPORTANT: These are the traditional clan meanings, joking relationships and chiefdom associations presented in the supplied account. They should be documented as traditional knowledge rather than automatically treated as independently verified historical or linguistic facts.
゚
28/09/2026
HIDDEN WORLD VAULT'S WORKING HYPOTHESIS: THE SOUSSOU AS A COASTAL BRANCH OF THE DIALONKÉ
A historical question about identity, migration and the emergence of the Soussou of Coastal Guinea
There is an important historical question surrounding the origin of the Soussou/Susu of Maritime Guinea.
Where did the population now known as the Soussou come from?
This question is not as simple as it may first appear.
Different scholars have proposed different explanations, and the historical record contains several layers of names, migrations, political formations and population movements.
At Hidden World Vault, we therefore want to present our own interpretation carefully.
What follows is a working hypothesis, not an established historical fact.
Our hypothesis is that a significant part of the population that eventually became known as the modern Soussou of Maritime Guinea may have originated from populations historically associated with the Dialonké/Jalonké of the Fouta Djallon region, followed by migrations toward the coast and centuries of interaction with existing coastal populations.
In simple terms:
Some of the people historically identified as Dialonké may have moved toward the coast and, over generations, developed into what became the Soussou/Susu coastal population.
This is the possibility we want to investigate.
1. THE DOCUMENTARY QUESTION
One of the reasons we became interested in this question is the historical record itself.
When we look into the older written traditions of West Africa, including Arabic chronicles and later Manding, Soninké and Songhay historical traditions, we encounter many references to ancient populations, kingdoms and political communities.
The Dialonké/Jalonké have a relatively visible historical presence in traditions associated with the Fouta Djallon and the wider Upper Guinea interior.
They are connected in historical traditions with the populations and political formations of the western Sudan and the Upper Niger region.
But when we search specifically for an early, continuous documentary history of the modern coastal Soussou population, the picture becomes much less straightforward.
This does not mean that the Soussou did not exist in earlier periods.
It also does not mean that every historical reference to Soso or Susu can be ignored.
Rather, the problem is that the older sources do not always make it possible to determine whether the terms they use refer to:
1. a particular ethnic population,
2. a political community,
3. a geographical region,
4. a population related to the later Soussou,
5. or a combination of these.
This is precisely why the question remains open.
2. THE DIALONKÉ HAVE A CLEARER EARLY HISTORICAL FOOTPRINT
The Dialonké/Jalonké are strongly associated with the mountainous region later known as Fouta Djallon.
Historical traditions place Jalonké populations in this interior region long before the formation of the modern Soussou identity of Maritime Guinea.
The name Jalonkadugu, for example, preserves the memory of a territory associated with the Jalonké.
The Jalonké are also connected in historical traditions with wider Mandé population movements and with the political history of the Upper Niger and western Sudan.
This gives us an important starting point.
If a population historically associated with the interior later appears along the coast under a different or increasingly distinct identity, we have to ask whether migration and population transformation could explain the change.
That is exactly the question behind our hypothesis.
3. SOUSSOU AND DIALONKÉ ARE NOT LINGUISTICALLY UNRELATED
One of the strongest reasons for taking this hypothesis seriously is language.
Soussou and Dialonké/Jalonké are extremely closely related Mande languages.
Linguistic scholarship places them among one another's closest relatives.
This does not prove that the modern Soussou are simply Dialonké who changed their name.
Languages can remain closely related because populations share much older common ancestry, even when their ethnic identities later become different.
However, the close relationship is significant.
If we combine this linguistic evidence with the geographical relationship between Fouta Djallon and Maritime Guinea, a possible migration scenario becomes reasonable:
Fouta Djallon
↓
Dialonké/Jalonké populations
↓
migration toward the lowlands
↓
coastal Guinea
↓
long-term contact with coastal populations
↓
development of a distinct Soussou identity
Again, this is a model to investigate, not a proven historical sequence.
4. FROM THE MOUNTAINS TO THE COAST
Our hypothesis proposes that some Dialonké-related populations moved southward and westward from the mountainous interior toward the coastal regions of present-day Guinea.
These movements should not necessarily be imagined as one single migration.
Population movements rarely happen that way.
They can occur in waves.
Families move.
Villages move.
Warriors move.
Traders move.
Farmers move.
People flee political conflicts.
Others follow relatives who have already settled elsewhere.
Over generations, these movements can transform the identity of an entire population.
We therefore envisage a long process rather than one single event.
Some Jalonké populations may have remained in the interior.
Others may have moved toward the lowlands.
Some may have continued toward the Atlantic coast.
And once they reached the coast, they entered a completely different cultural and linguistic environment.
5. THE COAST WAS NOT EMPTY
This part of the hypothesis is extremely important.
The people who moved toward Maritime Guinea did not arrive in an uninhabited territory.
They encountered established populations including the Baga, Landuma, Nalu and other coastal peoples.
These populations had their own languages, traditions, political structures and identities.
Long-term interaction would therefore have been unavoidable.
There would have been trade.
Marriage.
Conflict.
Alliance.
Cultural exchange.
Language exchange.
Political incorporation.
And, in some cases, assimilation.
This is exactly the kind of environment in which a new regional identity can develop.
6. LANGUAGE CHANGES WHEN PEOPLE MOVE
This may help explain why Soussou is not identical to Dialonké.
If our hypothesis is correct, we should not expect coastal Soussou to sound exactly like the Dialonké of the Fouta Djallon.
The populations would have lived apart for generations.
They would have encountered different peoples.
They would have adopted new vocabulary.
Their pronunciation could change.
Their grammar could develop differently.
And their language could absorb influences from neighbouring populations.
There is already evidence of extensive Mande–Atlantic linguistic contact in the region.
Researchers have identified Susu/Jalonke influence in languages spoken by coastal populations.
This is significant because it demonstrates that these populations were not isolated from one another.
The coastal linguistic environment was a zone of prolonged contact.
Therefore, the differences between modern Soussou and Dialonké do not automatically contradict a historical relationship.
In fact, if a population had moved from Fouta Djallon to the coast several centuries ago, linguistic divergence would be exactly what we might expect.
7. THE COASTAL SOUSSOU MAY HAVE BECOME A NEW IDENTITY
This brings us to the central part of our hypothesis.
We are not proposing that a group of Dialonké people simply arrived on the coast one day and immediately began calling themselves Soussou.
We are proposing a much longer process.
Imagine generations of population movement and interaction.
The first generation still remembers its homeland.
The second generation grows up in a new environment.
The third generation speaks differently.
The fourth generation has relatives among local coastal populations.
The fifth generation has new political alliances.
After many generations, the population may no longer define itself primarily by the identity its ancestors carried from the interior.
A new regional identity can emerge.
Under this interpretation, Soussou could represent a coastal ethnogenesis involving populations with strong historical connections to the Dialonké/Jalonké world.
This does not mean that every modern Soussou person is genealogically descended from one single Dialonké migration.
Nor does it mean that all Dialonké became Soussou.
The proposed relationship is more complex.
8. WHAT ABOUT THE NAME “SOSSO” IN MEDIEVAL HISTORY?
This is where we must be particularly careful.
The word Soso/Sosso appears in historical traditions concerning the medieval western Sudan.
The famous Sosso kingdom associated with Soumaoro Kanté is one example.
But we should not automatically equate every historical use of “Sosso” with the modern Soussou people of Maritime Guinea.
A kingdom, political territory, language community and modern ethnic identity are not necessarily the same thing.
This is one reason Hidden World Vault does not argue that the modern Soussou are simply the same people as the medieval Sosso kingdom of Soumaoro Kanté.
Those are separate historical questions.
Our hypothesis concerns a possible Dialonké–Soussou population relationship, not an automatic identification of modern Soussou with Soumaoro Kanté's Sosso political kingdom.
9. TALANSAN AND LATER MIGRATIONS
Another important part of the story concerns the conflicts associated with Talansan and the transformation of Fouta Djallon.
Historical traditions describe population movements following the establishment of Muslim political power in the Fouta Djallon region.
Some populations moved away from the mountainous interior.
Among those movements were groups associated with the Dialonké.
Some traditions connect these migrations with movements toward Maritime Guinea.
If this is correct, then Talansan may represent one phase of a much longer interior-to-coast migration process.
However, we should not claim that Talansan created the Soussou population.
That would be too simplistic.
There is evidence for Susu populations along the coastal region before the eighteenth century.
Therefore, the better interpretation may be that later migrations reinforced and expanded an already existing coastal population and identity.
10. ORAL TRADITIONS DESERVE ATTENTION
Written documents are not the only source of historical evidence.
Oral traditions among Jalonké/Yalunka communities also preserve memories of migration from Fouta.
Some Yalunka traditions recorded by researchers describe Fouta as the earlier homeland of their ancestors.
Such traditions cannot independently prove a specific migration date.
Oral traditions change over time.
They can preserve historical memories while also incorporating later interpretations.
But when oral traditions are consistent with linguistic and geographical evidence, they deserve serious investigation.
This is especially important in West African history, where written documentation is uneven and many communities preserved historical knowledge orally for generations.
11. THE COASTAL EVIDENCE IS PARTICULARLY INTERESTING
Historical studies of the Upper Guinea Coast document extensive interaction between Susu-speaking populations and coastal peoples.
Susu influence spread among populations such as the Baga and Landuma.
Susu became an important language of communication and trade in parts of the coast.
This demonstrates that the coastal Soussou identity developed within a highly interconnected environment.
It also gives us a possible explanation for why the modern Soussou cannot simply be expected to look culturally identical to the Dialonké of the interior.
They developed under different historical conditions.
The interior and the coast were not the same world.
12. OUR WORKING MODEL
Putting the evidence together, Hidden World Vault proposes the following model for further investigation:
PHASE 1
Ancient and medieval Mandé population movements
Various Mandé-speaking populations expand and establish themselves across the Upper Niger and Fouta regions.
PHASE 2
Formation of the Jalonké homeland
Jalonké populations become strongly associated with the mountainous Fouta Djallon region.
PHASE 3
Jalonké/Susu population differentiation
Closely related populations develop different geographical identities while retaining strong linguistic relationships.
PHASE 4
Migration toward the lowlands and coast
Some populations move southward and westward from the Fouta Djallon region.
PHASE 5
Coastal interaction
These migrants encounter Baga, Landuma, Nalu and other established coastal populations.
PHASE 6
Linguistic and cultural transformation
Centuries of contact produce linguistic borrowing, intermarriage, political alliances and cultural change.
PHASE 7
Emergence of a distinct coastal Soussou identity
The populations living along the coastal zone increasingly become identified as Soussou/Susu.
PHASE 8
Later migrations reinforce the population
Political conflicts in Fouta Djallon, including the period surrounding Talansan, generate additional population movements toward the coast.
PHASE 9
Formation of the modern Soussou population
The result is a distinct coastal population whose history may preserve substantial ancestry and cultural connections to the older Jalonké world while also reflecting centuries of interaction with coastal peoples.
13. WHAT WE ARE NOT CLAIMING
We want to make our position very clear.
We are not saying that:
The modern Soussou are simply the medieval Sosso kingdom.
We are not saying that every Soussou person descends from one single Dialonké migration.
We are not saying that all Dialonké became Soussou.
We are not saying that Baga, Landuma or Nalu populations disappeared into the Soussou.
We are not saying that linguistic similarity automatically proves ethnic identity.
And we are not presenting this as an established historical fact.
Our proposition is narrower.
We are proposing that a substantial historical connection may exist between the Dialonké populations of the Fouta Djallon and the emergence of the Soussou population of Maritime Guinea.
14. WHAT WOULD PROVE OR DISPROVE THE HYPOTHESIS?
This is perhaps the most important part.
A serious historical hypothesis must be testable.
We need to examine:
1. Arabic manuscripts
Search for references to Jalonke, Susu, Soso and related names in medieval and early modern Arabic geographical and historical works.
2. Manding and Soninké traditions
Examine whether older oral traditions preserve memories of population movements from the Jalonké homeland toward the coast.
3. Portuguese sources
The Portuguese began documenting the Upper Guinea Coast from the fifteenth century onward.
Their descriptions could potentially help establish when and where Susu populations were encountered.
4. Comparative linguistics
Compare modern Soussou and Dialonké systematically rather than simply identifying vocabulary similarities.
5. Coastal languages
Study Susu interaction with Baga, Landuma, Nalu, Temne and other Atlantic languages.
6. Oral genealogies
Collect traditions from Soussou families and villages concerning their places of origin, migrations and founding ancestors.
7. Archaeology
Look for evidence of population movement between the Fouta Djallon highlands and the coastal lowlands.
8. Population genetics
Compare carefully sampled Soussou, Dialonké and neighbouring populations.
Genetics could potentially test whether the two populations share a significant recent ancestry component.
15. THE QUESTION WE ARE ASKING
Therefore, Hidden World Vault is not claiming that we have solved the origin of the Soussou.
We are asking a historical question:
Could the modern Soussou of Maritime Guinea represent, at least in significant part, a coastal population that emerged from earlier Dialonké/Jalonké populations migrating from the Fouta Djallon region?
The linguistic relationship makes the possibility interesting.
The geography makes the migration possible.
The historical evidence demonstrates movements between the interior and coast.
The coastal evidence demonstrates prolonged interaction between Mande-speaking migrants and older coastal populations.
The oral traditions provide additional clues.
But none of these pieces, by themselves, proves the entire hypothesis.
That is why we call it a working hypothesis.
CONCLUSION
History is not always a straight line from one ancient ethnic group to one modern ethnic group.
Populations move.
Languages change.
Identities merge.
Old names disappear.
New names emerge.
Political boundaries shift.
And people who once identified primarily with one region can, after centuries of migration and interaction, develop a completely different regional identity.
The history of the Soussou may be one such case.
Our working hypothesis is that some of the populations historically associated with the Dialonké/Jalonké of Fouta Djallon moved toward the Guinean coast, interacted with established coastal peoples, underwent linguistic and cultural transformation, and eventually contributed substantially to the formation of the modern Soussou identity.
If future documentary, linguistic, archaeological, genealogical and genetic research supports this model, it could help explain why the relationship between Soussou and Dialonké is so close while their modern identities are distinct.
If the evidence disproves it, then the hypothesis must be revised.
That is the purpose of a historical hypothesis.
Not to replace evidence, but to give us a question that evidence can test.
HIDDEN WORLD VAULT
Working hypothesis, open to evidence, criticism and further research.
REFERENCES
● Stephan Bühnen, “In Quest of Susu,” History in Africa, Vol. 21 (1994).
Particularly useful because Bühnen examines the historical relationship and identification of Susu/Soso and Jalonke and discusses their movements and political history.
● Friederike Lüpke, studies on Susu and Jalonke within the Mande linguistic area.
Useful for the linguistic argument. Susu and Jalonke are closely related Mande languages, and linguistic evidence supports investigating a historical relationship between their populations.
● Maurice Houis, studies of the coastal peoples of Guinea.
Useful for the coastal ethnogenesis part of the hypothesis, especially the interaction between Susu and coastal peoples such as the Baga, Landuma and Nalu. This supports the idea that the modern coastal identity developed through prolonged contact rather than in isolation.
● Walter Rodney, A History of the Upper Guinea Coast, 1545–1800.
Important for understanding the movements and interactions of populations along the Upper Guinea Coast during the period when Susu-speaking communities were becoming increasingly established in coastal areas.
● Alpha Amadou Bano Barry, works on the population history of Guinea and Fouta Djallon.
Useful for the wider historical question of population formation, migration and settlement in Fouta Djallon and Guinea. It should be used as contextual evidence rather than as direct proof that all Soussou originated from the Dialonké.
● Research on Mande–Atlantic linguistic contact in Guinea.
This is important because Susu/Jalonke influence and interaction with coastal languages provides evidence for long-term contact, migration, bilingualism and cultural exchange along the Guinea coast.
28/09/2026
THE KOROGBA ARE THE ANCESTORS OF THE TEMNE, BAGA, LANDOUMA, AND NALOU — HERE IS THE EVIDENCE
By Hidden World Vault Research Team
INTRODUCTION: THE CLAIM
There is a historical connection between the Temne of Sierra Leone, the Baga and Landouma of Guinea, and the Nalou of Guinea-Bissau that deserves much more attention.
Although these peoples are usually studied as separate communities, oral traditions, linguistic evidence, shared cultural practices, and migration traditions point toward an older common ancestry.
The tradition presented here identifies that ancient population as the Korogba.
The argument is not based on a single piece of evidence. It comes from several traditions and similarities that, when placed alongside one another, tell a much larger story.
The purpose of this post is to lay out that evidence clearly and allow readers to examine the argument for themselves.
1. WHO WERE THE KOROGBA?
The First Inhabitants of the Niger Valley
According to the oral traditions cited in this research, the Korogba were among the earliest inhabitants of the Niger Valley.
One tradition places them in the area extending from Mopti down to Koulikoro, in present-day Mali, before the arrival of the Kakolo from Nubia.
The tradition states:
«“The Korogba were the first inhabitants of the Valley of Mopti downwards to Koulikoro before the arrival of the Kakoro from Nubia.”»
If this tradition is followed, the original Korogba homeland was therefore in the interior Niger Valley rather than on the Atlantic coast.
The traditions describe the Korogba as a small-statured ancient population, but they also associate them with a range of skills and occupations.
They were described as:
● Hunters skilled in archery and tracking.
● Fishers familiar with rivers, ponds, and waterways.
● Gatherers with knowledge of medicinal plants.
● Metallurgists who worked iron and copper.
● Agriculturalists associated with the cultivation of taro and yam.
● War captains and military leaders.
That last description is especially important because the name associated with the Korogba survives in several languages with a meaning connected to military leadership.
The Name “Korogba”
The linguistic evidence presented in the tradition is particularly interesting.
In Temne, the term O-kurugba is given as meaning war captain, general, or battle commander.
In Baga and Landouma, the corresponding form is given as O-courougba, with the same general meaning: a war captain, army general, or supreme battle commander.
So we have:
● Temne: O-kurugba — war captain.
● Baga: O-courougba — war captain.
● Landouma: O-courougba — war captain.
The important question is why these related languages preserve such a similar word and meaning.
The interpretation presented here is that the word preserves a memory of the Korogba and their role as military leaders.
That interpretation is one of the central pieces of the argument.
2. THE LINGUISTIC CONNECTION
Language provides another important part of the case.
The Temne, Baga, Landouma, and Nalou are presented in the sources as belonging to the broader Atlantic linguistic world, within the Niger-Congo family.
The relationships described are:
● Temne — closely connected with Baga, Landouma, and Bullom.
● Baga — closely connected with Temne, Landouma, and Bullom.
● Landouma — particularly close to Baga Sitemu, as well as connected with Temne.
● Nalou — part of the Atlantic group and connected with Baga, Landouma, and Temne.
These languages therefore form part of an older linguistic landscape of Upper Guinea.
This matters because the argument is not simply that these communities live in the same general region. Their languages preserve relationships that point to a deeper historical connection.
The Korogba name provides another layer to that linguistic evidence.
3. THE SURVIVAL OF THE KOROGBA NAME
The strongest linguistic point in the argument is the survival of the Korogba-related term in three languages.
In Temne:
O-kurugba — War Captain.
In Baga:
O-courougba — War Captain.
In Landouma:
O-courougba — War Captain.
The forms are remarkably similar, and the meaning is also closely aligned.
The argument is therefore that “Korogba” was not merely the name of an ancient population that disappeared from history. Something associated with that name appears to have survived in the vocabulary of populations connected with the Upper Guinea Coast.
Whether one interprets this as direct ancestral memory or as evidence of an older linguistic relationship, it is an important point that deserves investigation.
4. SHARED CULTURAL FEATURES
The traditions also point to similarities in culture and social organization among the Temne, Baga, Landouma, and Nalou.
Among the practices and institutions mentioned are:
● Wet-rice agriculture, including the cultivation of indigenous African rice, Oryza glaberrima.
● Riverine and coastal settlement.
● Fishing traditions.
● Initiation societies, including Poro and Bondo.
● Masquerade traditions.
● Clan-based social organization.
● Related musical traditions.
● Sacred forests.
● Respect for ancestors.
None of these practices, taken individually, proves common descent.
The argument is that their combined presence, alongside the linguistic and oral traditions, provides another part of the larger picture.
5. THE SHARED NAME FOR GOD
Another detail deserves attention.
The tradition cited here gives Kaanou as the name for God among the Landouma, Nalou, and Baga.
Among the Limba of Sierra Leone, the corresponding name is given as Kanu.
The similarity is notable.
Religious vocabulary can survive for long periods within communities, so the resemblance is presented as another possible trace of an older cultural connection.
It should be treated as supporting evidence rather than as proof by itself.
6. THE MIGRATION FROM THE NIGER VALLEY TOWARD THE COAST
The geographical part of the tradition is also significant.
If the Korogba originally occupied the Niger Valley between Mopti and Koulikoro, how did populations associated with them eventually appear across Upper Guinea?
The oral traditions provide an answer through a series of migrations and conflicts.
They describe a movement from the Niger Valley toward Fouta Djallon, followed by further movement toward the Atlantic coast.
One tradition states:
«“The majority migrated to the land that would be called Fouta Djallon, but some went and inhabited the land that would later become Mandé.”»
This creates a migration sequence connecting the interior with the later populations of Upper Guinea.
The proposed route is therefore:
From Niger Valley to Wagadou to Mandé/Wanda to Fouta Djallon to Atlantic Coast
The coastal populations associated with this tradition eventually include the Temne, Baga, Landouma, and Nalou.
7. THE LANDOUMA ORAL TRADITION
One of the most important traditions cited in this argument comes from the Landouma.
According to the account preserved by Mohamed Jamil Adagil Diassy, the ancestors of the Landouma divided into three major branches.
The tradition describes:
1. One branch moving toward the territory that became present-day Sierra Leone and becoming associated with the Temne.
2. Another branch travelling toward the area of present-day Gambia.
3. A third branch settling in Kököly, corresponding to present-day Koumbia and Gaoual in Guinea, where the name Landouma was preserved.
If accurately preserved, this tradition is significant because it directly connects the ancestral traditions of the Landouma with the people who became associated with the Temne.
It therefore provides an important oral-history component to the broader argument.
8. THE WARS WITH THE KAKOLO
The traditions describe two major conflicts between the Korogba and the Kakolo, who are the ancestors of the Mandé people.
● The First War: Wagadou
The first conflict is placed in Wagadou, the region associated with the Ghana Empire.
According to the tradition, the Kakolo defeated the Korogba and established dominance over the area.
Some Korogba were assimilated into the Kakolo population, while many others were dispersed.
The tradition explains that the majority moved toward Fouta Djallon, while others moved into the region that later became associated with Mandé.
This defeat therefore becomes an important turning point in the Korogba migration story.
● The Second War: The Forest of Wanda
The second conflict is placed in the forest of Wanda, in the region that later became associated with Mandé.
According to the tradition, the Kakolo encountered two populations there:
1. The Kounins, described in the tradition as Pygmies.
2. The Korogba, described as the War Captains.
The Kakolo forces are said to have included twelve Donso hunters from ancient Wagadou, led by Mansa Kîrân Camara.
The tradition states that forty-three villages of Korogba and Kounins resisted before eventually being defeated.
Following this conflict, the remaining Korogba are said to have joined those who had already moved toward Fouta Djallon.
9. THE THREE STAGES OF MIGRATION
The migration tradition can therefore be summarized in three broad stages.
Stage 1: The Niger Valley
The Korogba are described as the original inhabitants of the region from Mopti toward Koulikoro.
Stage 2: Dispersal Through Conflict
Following their conflicts with the Kakolo, Korogba communities were dispersed toward Fouta Djallon and Mandé.
Stage 3: Movement Toward the Atlantic
From these regions, the traditions connect later migrations with the Atlantic territories where the Temne, Baga, Landouma, and Nalou are found.
This is the migration framework on which the larger ancestral argument rests.
10. THE TEMNE
The Temne are one of the major peoples of Sierra Leone.
In the argument presented here, their connection to the Korogba rests particularly on two points.
First, Temne belongs to the Atlantic linguistic grouping and has close relationships with Baga and Landouma.
Second, the word O-kurugba is preserved in Temne with the meaning of war captain or military commander.
The Landouma oral tradition also identifies a branch of the ancestral population as moving toward Sierra Leone and becoming associated with the Temne.
Taken together, these traditions form an important part of the proposed connection.
11. THE BAGA
The Baga are associated with the Lower Guinea coast, including areas around Cape V***a, the Rio Nunez, Rio Pongo, Conakry, and the Îles de Los.
Their languages belong to the Atlantic linguistic group and are connected with Temne and Landouma.
The Korogba connection presented here is particularly associated with the survival of the term O-courougba, meaning war captain or military commander.
The Baga therefore form another part of the broader linguistic and cultural network being examined.
12. THE LANDOUMA
The Landouma are associated with northwestern Guinea, particularly areas around Boké, Gaoual, Koumbia, Kolaboui, and Kamsar.
Their linguistic relationship with Baga and Temne is an important part of the argument.
The term O-courougba, meaning war captain, is also preserved in Landouma according to the evidence presented here.
Most importantly, Landouma oral tradition provides a migration account connecting their ancestors with the population that moved toward Sierra Leone and became associated with the Temne.
That makes the Landouma tradition particularly important to this discussion.
13. THE NALOU
The Nalou are associated with Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and neighboring territories.
Their language belongs to the Atlantic linguistic environment and is described here as being connected with Baga, Landouma, and Temne.
The evidence presented for their connection to the Korogba is less direct than the linguistic evidence given for Temne, Baga, and Landouma.
Instead, the argument emphasizes their shared Atlantic heritage and the similarity between Kaanou, the name for God given in Baga, Landouma, and Nalou traditions, and Kanu, recorded among the Limba.
This places the Nalou within the wider cultural and linguistic pattern described in the argument.
14. WHAT THE EVIDENCE SUGGESTS
Taken individually, each piece of evidence has limitations.
A similar word does not automatically prove common ancestry.
A shared cultural practice does not automatically mean that two populations came from the same ancient people.
An oral tradition must also be examined carefully, especially when reconstructing events that are believed to have taken place many centuries ago.
But the argument becomes more interesting when these different forms of evidence are considered together:
● The Korogba are remembered in oral traditions as an ancient population of the Niger Valley.
● Their traditions describe migration toward Fouta Djallon and the Atlantic regions.
● The term associated with Korogba survives in Temne, Baga, and Landouma with the meaning of war captain.
● Temne, Baga, Landouma, and Nalou belong to the broader Atlantic linguistic landscape.
● The communities share a number of cultural practices and institutions.
● Landouma oral tradition connects one ancestral branch with the population that became associated with the Temne.
● The traditions describe conflicts with the Kakolo that resulted in the dispersal of Korogba communities.
These are the pieces of the argument.
15. THE BIGGER PICTURE
If the traditions presented here are correct, the history of these Upper Guinea populations may be considerably more interconnected than modern ethnic labels suggest.
The story would not simply be about four unrelated peoples who happened to occupy neighboring regions.
It would instead be a story of an ancient population that experienced warfare, migration, dispersal, assimilation, and transformation over a long period of time.
The Korogba would therefore represent an ancestral layer connecting populations that are today identified separately as Temne, Baga, Landouma, and Nalou.
The proposed chain is:
Korogba
↓
Conflicts with the Kakolo
↓
Dispersal through Wagadou and Mandé/Wanda
↓
Movement toward Fouta Djallon
↓
Migration toward the Atlantic
↓
Temne • Baga • Landouma • Nalou
This is the historical framework presented by the traditions and evidence discussed above.
16. CONCLUSION: THE CHILDREN OF THE KOROGBA
The Korogba story is ultimately a story about survival.
According to the traditions, they were displaced from their earlier homeland, fought the Kakolo, moved through different parts of West Africa, and eventually became absorbed into or associated with populations that developed into the communities of Upper Guinea.
Their name, or a form of it, is said to survive in Temne, Baga, and Landouma as a term connected with military leadership.
Their migration traditions connect the Niger Valley with Fouta Djallon and the Atlantic coast.
Their cultural and linguistic relationships provide additional points for comparison.
And the Landouma tradition offers a particularly important connection between their ancestral population and the Temne.
The central claim of this research is therefore:
The Korogba are the ancestors of the Temne, Baga, Landouma, and Nalou.
Whether future scholarship confirms direct descent in exactly this form, or reveals a more complicated ancestral relationship, the traditions preserved around the Korogba deserve serious examination.
This is the evidence presented here.
One ancient people. Four nations. One memory.
Now you decide.
REFERENCES
Oral Traditions
● Mandé oral traditions concerning the Korogba.
● Soninké oral traditions concerning the Korogba.
● Temne oral traditions.
● Baga oral traditions.
● Landouma oral traditions, including the account preserved by Mohamed Jamil Adagil Diassy.
● Nalou oral traditions.
Linguistic Sources
● Joseph H. Greenberg (1963), The Languages of Africa.
● David Sapir (1971), West Atlantic: An Inventory of the Languages, Their Noun Class Systems and Consonant Alternation.
● William A. A. Wilson (2007), Guinea Languages of the Atlantic Group.
● David Dalby (1965), Language Map of Africa.
● Roger Blench, research on Atlantic languages and the Upper Guinea Coast.
Historical Sources
● Walter Rodney (1970), A History of the Upper Guinea Coast, 1545–1800.
● George E. Brooks (1993), Landlords and Strangers: Ecology, Society and Trade in Western Africa, 1000–1630.
● UNESCO, General History of Africa, Volumes I–V.
● M. E. D'Andrea et al. (2011), research on indigenous African rice domestication in the Upper Guinea region.
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