Siaka Massaquoi

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King Siaka Massaquoi, sometimes mistakenly referenced as the image of Sengbe Pieh

Siaka (sometimes also written Shaka ; approx. 1785 - 1843 ) was a king of the Vai people (also: Gallinas ), whose settlement area today is partly in Sierra Leone and partly in Liberia . He is considered to be the founder of the modern rulers of the Massaquoi and the Kingdom of the Gallinas (1814), which was the only one in Africa to have a crown designed according to the European model.

In fact, the Massaquoi (German: "great kings") were an influential ruling family even before Siaka was founded. Fafua-Lue, the wife of Zachary Rogers, the chief agent of the Gambia Adventurers in Sherbro (from 1672: Royal African Company ), came from the Massaquoi family.

Oral tradition says that the Massaquoi family descended from a hunter named Gideon, who immigrated from Mali to what is now Sierra Leone, probably in the course of the Mani-Sumba migration, which led to profound changes in West Africa from around 1450 political and ethnic structure of the coastal regions.

Siaka's power was based primarily on military strength. He waged numerous wars against neighboring peoples. Prisoners were enslaved and either had to work in salt pans on the coast or were sold to European-American slave traders and smugglers. Particularly close business relationships are said to have existed with Pedro Blanco , who operated the Fort Lomboko trading post in the mangrove forest of the coast . On average, Siaka Massaquoi is said to have sold around 2000 slaves per year to transatlantic traders. But this was only the surplus of his own needs.

The public in the USA and Europe became aware of these formally illegal business activities in the wake of the slave revolt on the schooner " Amistad ", the story of which was filmed in 1997 by Steven Spielberg .

Siaka's son Mana Siaka (approx. 1800–1872) also waged numerous wars with neighboring states and was active in the slave trade / smuggling in the first years of his government. After Fort Lomboko was destroyed by the Royal Navy in 1849, however, he was forced to sign an anti-slavery treaty with the British (1850).

The Massaquoi family still rule formally in the Chiefdom Gallines-Peri (Sierra Leone) with two sidelines ( Massaquoi Sembehun and Massaquoi Gendema ). The descendants of Zachary Rogers and Fafua-Lue make up the ruling family in the Chiefdom Kpaka . Other sidelines are considered "royal" in the Chiefdoms Niawa and Soro-Gbema .

The Kingdom of Gallinas continues as a non-governmental organization (NGO).

Momolu Massaquoi (1869–1938), great-grandson of King Siaka, was the first diplomat from an independent African country ( Liberia ) in Europe. From 1922 to 1930 he was Consul General in Hamburg . At the same time, his son Al Haj and his daughter Fatima lived with him in the city. The son Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi emerged from a relationship between Al Haj and the German nurse Bertha Baetz, and the German songwriter Fasia Jansen emerged from a relationship between Momolu Massaquoi and the German chambermaid Elli Jansen . Both are direct descendants of King Siaka.

In the Hamburg district of Barmbek , the Massaquoi-Passage is named in memory of the members of the family who are connected to the city's history.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A true history of the African chief Jingua and his comrades: with a description of the Kingdom of Mandingo, and of the manners and customs of the inhabitants, an account of King Sharka, of Gallinas: a sketch of the slave trade and horrors of the middle passage, with the proceedings on board the "long, low, black schooner," Amistad . Published at Hartford, New York, and Boston, for the booksellers, 1839 ( yale.edu [accessed June 15, 2020]).
  2. ^ House of Massaquoi. In: Manya Seisay. March 27, 2019, accessed June 15, 2020 (UK English).
  3. ↑ Magbaily C. Fyle: Historical Dictionary of Sierra Leone . Scarecrow Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8108-6504-4 ( google.de [accessed June 15, 2020]).
  4. ↑ B. Marie Perinbam: Family Identity And The State In The Bamako Kafu . Routledge, 2018, ISBN 978-0-429-98018-3 ( google.de [accessed June 16, 2020]).
  5. ↑ Video Archives | Ghosts of Amistad. Retrieved June 16, 2020 (English).
  6. ^ House of Massaquoi. In: Manya Seisay. March 27, 2019, accessed June 16, 2020 (UK English).
  7. ↑ Magbaily C. Fyle: Historical Dictionary of Sierra Leone . Scarecrow Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8108-6504-4 ( google.de [accessed June 16, 2020]).
  8. ^ Tristan Reed, James A. Robinson: The Chiefdoms of Sierra Leone . Ed .: Havard University, University of Chicago. May 20, 2016, p. 72, 123-124, 128 .
  9. ↑ GALLINAIS KINGDOM UNION LIBERIA SIERRA LEONE: GALLINAIS KINGDOM UNION LIBERIA SIERRA LEONE. Retrieved June 15, 2020 (American English).
  10. ↑ Raymond J. Smyke: The first African diplomat: Momolu Massaquoi (1,870 to 1,938) . Xlibris, January 20, 2005 ( google.de [accessed June 16, 2020]).
personal data
SURNAME Siaka Massaquoi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Siaka; Shaka
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of the people of the Vai
DATE OF BIRTH around 1785
DATE OF DEATH 1843