09/07/2026
The history of Mandeng is incomplete without mentioning the cradle of our Mari Diatta. You cannot speak about Mandeng and Sundaita without speaking about Niani. Years later, her people will emigrate to a nation westwards and will give birth to some of Gambia’s great leaders like Mansa Kemintang Camara, our first head of state Sir Dawda, and other great sons and daughters of Senegambia.
Forty years after the Battle of Kiri, the uncles of the Emperor of Mandeng, Sundiata, sent emissaries and generals to expand the territory of Mali and carry the influence of Mandeng further west. Through that westward expansion, the people of Dó, who came from the region of Sanakaran and were originally Jarra and Conte,and later became Jatta and Bojang, settled westwards and close to the Atlantic. There, according to oral narratives by Jalis, they found “Kong-Boh,” loosely translated as a nation that dispels hate. And so, the story of Kombo began, but the story did not end there.
On the north side of the Kambi Bolongo, another nation emerged. Its inhabitants came from the capital of Mandeng, and they named their new home after the place from which they originated: Niani, meaning beautiful in sight. For generations, these kingdoms existed on opposite sides of the river, carrying with them the history, traditions, names and memories of the wider Mandeng world.
Who would have thought that centuries later, a nation would be born in 1889 and named The Gambia, and that this new nation would eventually house both kingdoms, bringing them together as one country?
Yesterday, history comes full circle. We, the descendants of the Royal Household of Kombo, welcomed a son of Niani and grandson of Sir Dawda. And out of goodwill, we coronated him Honorary Kombo Mansa. Gambians witnessed the Masa Toloro of Na Mansa Kuto, Talib Allah Yeh Meng Na Mantal Beng-Souda!
