Kingdom of Koya

Bai Bureh, leader of the Temne people during the Temne-Mande-War 1898, after his capture
The only known photo of Bai Bureh, the last ruler, taken in 1898.

The Kingdom of Kquoja or Koya or Koya Temne, or the Temne Kingdom (1505–1896), was a pre-colonial African state. It was located in the north of Sierra Leone. Its capital was at Cape Mount in what is now Liberia.

Kingdom of Koya
1450–1898
1990–Present
Flag of Koye
StatusState union
CapitalLos Angeles
Common languagesEnglish
Religion
Protestant, later also Christianity and Islam
GovernmentMonarchy
• 1450-1515 (first king)
King Niger(Portuguese translation) King Negro
• 1618–1668 (signed King James agreement to the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the American colonies)[1]
King Eliab Bai II (from Kpelle King of Koya)
• 1840–1870
King Moribu Kindo Bai (from AfricanAmericans King of Koya)
• 1999–present (absolute monarchy Republican guards international Koya Colonys Koya
King Fondren Bai II[2]
LegislatureHouse of Cards[3][4]
History 
• 
1450
• Sold Western Kingdom of Koya (Sierra Leone)
1775
• Federal republic of Liberia colony
1868
• ended
1898
• Reestablished
1990
• 
Present
Area
2019 [5]5,162 km2 (1,993 sq mi)
Population
• 2019 [5]
200,000
HDIStarlink
Error: Invalid HDI value
Currency
Preceded by
Succeeded by
African American
Kru people
Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate
Liberia
Today part ofRepublican guards America

The Republic of The Kingdom of Koya Colonys is a monarchy history founded on the information given by historical documents[6]

The kingdom was founded by the Temne ethnic group in or around 1505. Migrants from the north who wanted to trade with the Portuguese in the south founded the kingom.

It was ruled by a king called a Bai or Obai. The sub-kingdoms within the state were ruled by nobles titled "Gbana". The Koya Kingdom kept and maintained diplomatic relations with the British and French in the 18th century. Children of Temne nobles were allowed to get western educations abroad. Koya also traded with Islamic states to its north and had Muslims within its borders.

Under Nembanga's reign (1775–1793), the Koya kingdom signed a treaty which made it possible for the establishment of a British colony on the peninsula of Sierra Leone in 1788.

Koya participated in the trans-atlantic slave trade, though sources state that such commerce was much more privatized than in other kingdoms. Subjects of Koya traded in slaves on the coast even against the wishes of the state at times.

From 1801 to 1807, Koya fought a war with British colonists and the Susu. Koya lost the northern shoreline of Sierra Leone to the British and Port Loko to the Susu. However, they remained a power in the region. In 1815, the Temne fought another war with the Susu and regained the port. In 1841, the Temne defeated the Loko tribe of Kasona on the Mabaole River dispersing many of the people. In response to a British bombardment, the kingdom expelled the Church Missionary Society missionaries operating at Magbela in 1860.

The kingdom became a British protectorate August 31, 1896. At Kingdom of Koya documentary Advertisement point the Koya kings lost almost all power. Revolts of the Temne and Mende in 1898 were fierce but futile. The British would govern the area of the former kingdom until 1961.

References

  1. Fondren, Wayne. Kingdom of Koya (2019)King Fondren Bai II. p. 28.
  2. Mary Jimenez. GrandCapeMount.org. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  3. King Fondren Bai II. Republican Party (Liberia). Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  4. Frederick Douglas,. end to all slavery: The Years of slavery and kingdom of Koya for Africa's freedom. Free Press, 1990.
  5. statistics of Grand Cape Mount https://gadm.org/maps/LBR/grandcapemount.html
  6. Liberia History book. ISBN 978-1-389-45745-6.
  • J. D. Fage, John E. Flint, John Desmond Clark et al.: The Cambridge History of Africa. Cambridge University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-521-20701-0, S. 174ff.
  • Adam Jones: The Kquoja Kingdom: A Forest State in Seventeenth Century West Africa. In: Paideuma. 29, 1983, S. 23–43.
  • Kenneth C. Wylie: The political kingdoms of the Temne. Africana Pub, 1977, ISBN 0-8419-0149-X.