Omar,

I endorse your view that most of the errors were committed by the colonial writers. Although I also think that some oral traditions are prone to hyperbole and exaggerations as we have seen in some of the epics handed down to us by griots.

I urge anyone to pick up the sometimes over-priced copy of Henry Fenwick Reeve's The Gambia: It's History, Medieval, and Modern or Lady Southorn's The Gambia: The Story of the Groundnut Colony, and you would see the type of fallacious or racist data that most of these writers documented.

In the absence of reliable interpreters and depending largely on their euphonic understanding of native sounds, early colonial writers contributed in the distortion of pre-colonial history.  Reeve refers to the King of Barsally, which, he says is later called Barra or Ba Saloum. In 1765, Lt. Gov. Joseph Debat referred to Barra as "Baragh".

Here is what Reeve said about Gambians in particular and Africans in general:

"... the African, as the author knows him, is the personification of untruth; that is he never tells the truth for truth's sake, even in the simple matter of the position of a town or the distance thereto, but, like those who are to be beaten with few stripes, he knows not the depth of his iniquity from our point of view.  He lies because facts are stubborn..."

Sometimes, it borders on the comical. Cadamosta had this description of a chaaya or daabaa kuurto, the traditional pants worn by Gambian men:

"... breaches of this cotton which are tied across, and reach to the ankles and are otherwise so large as to be from thirty to thirty-five, or even forty palmi round the top; when they are girded round the waist they are much crumpled and form a sack in front and the hinder part reaches to the ground and waggles like a tail - the most comical things to be seen in the world. They would come in these wide petticoats with these tails and ask us if we had ever seen a more beautiful dress fashion...", (The Gambia: The Story of the Groundnut Colony).

In passing though, we have to give credit to European ethnographers and linguists, such as Delafosse, Gaden, and Wilson-Haffenden for documenting important aspects of pre-colonial societies in Africa.

It was only with the advent of Cheikh Anta Diop that we started seeing present day African intellectuals doing what European colonialists had done on their behalf: the writing down of Africa's history, only this time it came from the Africans themselves.  Of course, we cannot forget that as early as the fifteenth century Timbuktu had already produced scholars such as the eminent Malian historian, Abdourahman es Sa'adi.

According to the Senegalese historian Prof. Moussa Lam, an ardent Egyptologist and a student of Cheikh Anta, Kaur was derived from the Fulani phrase "...ngarey kauren daande maayo"... "let's meet at the river bank", a call made by the nomads taking their cattle to drink.

While some of the data available to us today cannot be scientifically verified, it at least serves as a reminder that Africa's past is not only filled with stories of naked savages and impenetrable forests.

Momodou.

omar joof <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Malanding,
I am positive the erros were committed when the colonialists were getting
down the names of the villages and towns. Most of the names of the
settlements are also the names of either their founders or historical
personalities who had connections with them. However, some of them are short
statements. The founder of Sukuta/Sabije/Dembadou was a man called Amoro
Cham. He was indeed Fula but the people who eventually left Bakoteh to join
the new settlement( as a result of some epedemic), were Mandinka .All the
three names are short Mandinka statements. They go as follows:
1. Sukuta= New Home;
2.Sabije( sageyo bejay)= A sheep is there;
3.Dembadou(chamdembadou)= Place of the chams.

Atleast with Sukuta the names are not badly distorted. We have our bad
example when Lameng is written as Lamin. We have another bad example where
Bakoteh is written as Bakoti. We do not know what Bakoti means, but we are
certain that Bakoteh( Baa ko tay), is the Mandinka for --" clear the other
side of the river/ cross to the other side of the river". Geographically the
creek is there to give meaning to the name. Furthermore, the history which
surrounds the founding of the settlement also adds meaning to the name. I am
baffled by the name Lameng. The "LA" at the beginning is very interesting!
Does it give the name a french or Arab root? Well for the moment I dont
know. But I am very positive that the mainstream culture of the settlement
has a vibrant Soninke root, which reveals itself during ceremonies and
rites. Perhaps someone out there should help us with what "Lameng" stands
for.
Omar Joof.

>From: Malanding Jaiteh
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Gunjur or Kunjur?
>Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 11:58:36 -0400
>
>Omar and Mbye,
>This is where history of the Gambia becomes really interesting. That is,
>things are said one way and written another way, a definite recipe for
>distortion. As for how places get their name, that is another can of worms.
>My two bututs: Kunjur, Lameng, Sabije (which could pass as Sare Biji -
>in Fula) are the correct ways. It is up to our scribes to write it as it
>is.
>Oops. Did I say Sare Biji? A quick disclaimer here Mbye Sey. No offense
>to your source although it is important to note that founding fathers of
>Sabiji were believed to be Fula. How they became the Mandinkas they are
>is another can of warms.
>
>Lets hope that bringing this up will inspire scholarly organizations
>like the Historical Society of the Gambia (if there is one in existence)
>to take up this and many others some day.
>
>Malanding
>
>[log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> > Malanding,
> > In records, Kunjur is given as Gunjur, and Lameng is given as Lamin.
> > As far
> > as I know the founders of the two towns call them Kunjur and Lameng
> > respectively. With regard Sukuta, it is also called
> > by its founders Sabiji and even Dembadou.
> > Omar Joof.
> >
> >> From: Malanding Jaiteh
> >> Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
> >>
> >> To: [log in to unmask]
> >> Subject: Gunjur or Kunjur?
> >> Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 12:48:31 -0400
> >>
> >> Folks,
> >> A quick question for all. Is Gunjur or Kunjur? Sukuta or Sabiji? Lamin
> >> or Lameng? I know they are writen one way and pronounced the other. So
> >> what are the real names of these towns?
> >>
> >> Malanding Jaiteh
> >>
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