Guelowar (orGelwaar inSerer), also spelledGelwar, Guelwar, Guelware, Gueleware or Gueloware, was a maternal dynasty in the pre-colonial Serer and Wolof kingdoms ofSine,Wolof Kingdoms of Cayor, Baol, Joloff andSaloum (in theSenegambia, but mainly in the western area of present-daySenegal). They were matrilineally from theMandinka ethnic gr Gidan Wayaoup, and patrilineally of Serer origin. The offspring of Mandinka women and Serer men became the kings of Sine and Saloum. The same also for the kings in Joloff kingdoms in modern-day Senegal. The dynasty lasted from the mid-14th century to 1969, the year both kings died.[1][2][3][4][5]
The terme "Guelwar",Anglicised orFranconised to "Guelwars", is the plural form. The singular is "Kelwar" (in Serer).[6]
The Guelowar family originated fromKaabu (centered in what is now modern-dayGuinea Bissau) in the 14th century. Their oral tradition says that they are descended fromMansa Tiramakan Traore, a 13th-century cousin and general of Mansa (king)Sundiata Keita ofMali. Mansa Tiramakan Traore (also spelled in many variations: Tiramakan Trawally, Tiramakhan Traore, etc.) had conquered theBainuk people and killed the last great Bainuk king, King Kikikor, then renamed the country Kaabu before his death in 1265. He was the founder andMansa of Kaabu. Their oral tradition also says that they are the descendants of Mansa Bala Diakha and Maisata Yembe Kame Guélaware (king and queen of a province of Kaabu). Others say they are descended from the royal branch of Princess Tenemba. The Mandinkas who founded Kaabu married into the noble Bainuk families. The Mandinkas also changed their own names and adopted Bainuk surnames.[7]
Kaabu was governed by the noble paternal"Sanneh" and"Manneh" clans (variations :Sane andMane), with the noble maternal clans ofÑaanco and Guelowar. However, almost all the kings of Kaabu came from the Ñaanco maternal clan. The Guelowars were extended maternal relatives of the Ñaanco and one of their greatest threat to the throne.[7]
Henry Gravrand reported an oral tradition describing what he called the "Battle of Troubang", a dynastic war between the two maternal royal houses of Ñaanco and Guelowar, an offshoot and relatives of theÑaanco (Nyanthio orNyanco) maternal dynasty ofKaabu, in modern-dayGuinea Bissau.[8][9]
Here Gravrand has not noticed that this is actually a description of the 1867 (or 1865)Battle of Kansala, although the departure of the Guelowar can probably be explained by a war or a conflict of succession.[10]
Whatever the reason, they left Kaabuc 1335.[11] According to oral tradition they were a mixture ofMandinka, descendants of Mansa Tiramang Trawally (many variations:Tiramakhan Traore,Tira Makhang Trawally,Tiramanghan Trawally orTiramang Traore) ofMali and theBainuk nobility, from the patrilineages ofSanneh andManneh (Sané orMané).[9][12] The Guelowars migrated to theKingdom of Sine and were granted asylum byThe Great Council of Lamanes (the Serer nobility).[13] The marriages between the Serer paternal clans such asFaye andJoof to the Guelwar women created the Serer paternal dynasties and a Guelowar maternal dynasty which replaced the oldWagadou maternal dynasty.[14]Maad a Sinig Maysa Wali Jaxateh Manneh (many variations in spelling:Maissa Wali,Maissa Wally also known asMaysa Wali Jon orMaysa Wali Dione) - (reigned 1350)[15] was the first Guelowar king of Sine post Troubang (1335). Having served for several years as legal advisor to The Great Council of Lamans andassimilated into Serer culture, he was elected and crowned the first Guelowar king of Sine in (1350).[13][16] His sisters and nieces were married off to the Serer nobility and theoffspring of these unions where the kings of Sine and laterSaloum (Maad a Sinig andMaad Saloum respectively).[13][16][17][18]
The mainstream view has been that Mandinka Guelowars of Kaabu conquered and subjugated theSerer people. Serer oral tradition speaks of no military conquest, but a union based on marriage; a marriage between the noble Guelowar maternal clan and the noble Serer paternal clans, the descendants of the old SererLamanic class. Almost all the kings of Sine and Saloum bore Serersurnames not Mandinka. Maysa Wali's paternal descendants did not rule in Sine neither did they rule in Saloum. It was the paternal descendants of the ancient Serer Lamanic class who ruled. Serer language, culture, religion and tradition also prevailed in Sine and Saloum not Mandinka. The Guelowars were incorporated into Serer society and they saw themselves as Serers.[19][20]
Although Wolof culture is also very strong in Saloum, just as Serer culture,Wolof people were migrants to the SererKingdom of Saloum. TheKingdom of Sine was ethnically Serer. The Kingdom of Saloum was mixed, but the non-Serer population were migrants.[21][22]
Some of theSenegambian kings belonging to the Guelowar maternal clan can be found below.Maad means king inSerer-Sine language.Maad a Sinig andMaad Saloum means "king of Sine" and "king of Saloum" respectively. There are many variations in the spelling ofMaad. Sometimes it is spelledMad,Maat, etc.Maad is also sometimes used interchangeably to refer to the ancient Serer kings – theLamanes – who were the kings andlanded gentry.[23]
Around the 17th century, there were three main branches of the Guelowar maternal clan in the Serer kingdoms. They were founded by three sisters. They wereLingeers (queens or princesses) whose names are used to refer to their maternal descendants. They include:
The princes who belonged to these three maternal clans were engaged in several wars in Senegambia, in order to ensure the succession of their maternal clan. The Serer princes belonging to the clans Keway Begay and Jogop Begay were engaged in constant battles.[29]
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