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 the
Ñaanco (
Nyanthio or
Nyanco) maternal dynasty of
Kaabu, in modern-day
Guinea Bissau. 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. Whatever the reason, they left Kaabu
c 1335. According to oral tradition they were a mixture of
Mandinka, descendants of Mansa Tiramang Trawally (many variations:
Tiramakhan Traore,
Tira Makhang Trawally,
Tiramanghan Trawally or
Tiramang Traore) of
Mali and the
Bainuk nobility, from the patrilineages of
Sanneh and
Manneh (
Sané or
Mané). The Guelowars migrated to the
Kingdom of Sine and were granted asylum by
The Great Council of Lamanes (the Serer nobility). The marriages between the Serer paternal clans such as
Faye and
Joof to the Guelwar women created the Serer paternal dynasties and a Guelowar maternal dynasty which replaced the old
Wagadou maternal dynasty.
Maad a Sinig Maysa Wali Jaxateh Manneh (many variations in spelling:
Maissa Wali,
Maissa Wally also known as
Maysa Wali Jon or
Maysa Wali Dione) - (reigned 1350) was the first Guelowar king of Sine post Troubang (1335). Having served for several years as legal advisor to The Great Council of Lamans and
assimilated into Serer culture, he was elected and crowned the first Guelowar king of Sine in (1350). His sisters and nieces were married off to the Serer nobility and the
offspring of these unions where the kings of Sine and later
Saloum (
Maad a Sinig and
Maad Saloum respectively). The mainstream view has been that Mandinka Guelowars of Kaabu conquered and subjugated the
Serer 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 Serer
Lamanic class. Almost all the kings of Sine and Saloum bore Serer
surnames 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. Although Wolof culture is also very strong in Saloum, just as Serer culture,
Wolof people were migrants to the Serer
Kingdom of Saloum. The
Kingdom of Sine was ethnically Serer. The Kingdom of Saloum was mixed, but the non-Serer population were migrants. ==Senegambian kings from the Guelowar maternal clan==