Kingdom of Koya
Sierra Leone, 1505–1896. Draft, not yet reviewed
The Kingdom of Kquoja or Koya or Koya Temne, or the Temne Kingdom, was a pre-colonial African state in the north of present-day Sierra Leone. The kingdom was founded by the Temne ethnic group in or around 1505 by migrants from the north, seeking trade with the coastal Portuguese in the south. The kingdom was ruled by a king called a Bai or Obai. The kingdom became a British protectorate on 31 August 1896 after which the Koya kings lost virtually all power.
Seat of power: Port Loko
No rulers documented for this era yet.
Culture
- Under Nembanga's reign, 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.
- The Koya Kingdom kept and maintained diplomatic relations with the British and French in the 18th century. Children of Temne nobles were allowed to seek western educations abroad.
- 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.
- Koya participated in the trans-atlantic slave trade, though sources state that such commerce was much more privatized than in other kingdoms.
Picture
The Temne are the second largest ethnic group in Sierra Leone, at 31.4% of the total population.
Image: gbaku, CC BY-SA 2.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.