Kasa kingdom
former kingdom dominant in Lower Casamance, present-day Senegal
The kingdom of Kasa, also known as Kasanga, was the dominant kingdom in lower Casamance (now Senegal) during the 15th and 16th centuries. Many of the inhabitants of the realm were Bainuk or other native ethnicities, but it was ruled by a Mandinkized elite. The capital was Brikama, located on the south bank of the Casamance River.
History
The Bainuk people were likely formed by a combination of the first inhabitants of the Casamance region with newcomers from the Tenda areas to the east. They established numerous kingdoms between the Cacheu River and the Gambia, which eventually federated into Kasa.
In the 15th century, Portuguese slave traders and navigators established a trading station in the area. They also formed trade relations with the Mansa of Kasa, giving the river the name 'Casamance'. During this period, the Kasa capital of Brikama held a monopoly of all European trade on the river, and the kingdom became wealthy through gold and slave trading.
Kasanga, along with the Bainuk, were major importers of cotton from Cape Verde for their domestic cloth industry. In 1570 the lancados of Buguendo sought support against their Bainuk hosts from Mansa Tamba of Kasa, starting a war that lasted until the mansa's death in 1590.
The public source identifies “Kasa kingdom” as former kingdom dominant in Lower Casamance, present-day Senegal. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Kasa, kingdom and former.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kasa kingdom” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.