Thread by @ManjaKoi

The Vai people of Liberia have a legendary story of where they came from.

The tribes original founders where princes from the Mali empire sent on a mission too go south too the coast of what’s now Liberia.

#Liberia #SierraLeone #History a thread🧵🇱🇷🇸🇱…

The story begins when a lord named Jomani Kamara, a great grandson of Sunjata Keitas generals, sends some of his hunters south in search of salt.

A year later one of the hunters returns to the king and says he found a paradise by the shore with salt, amazing animals and lush…

forest.
When hearing of this amazing place the king sent his son and nephews along with a royal guard to march south and find this special land from this hunters story and too find the source of the precious salt.
Which was worth it’s weight in gold back then.

They set out from the capital province too the south.

The group traveled over jungle and mountains. A whole year went past and as they went south a part of the group became tired.
They wanted too wait where they where. This land wasn’t by the coast but the group of princes…

decided too stay put and settle.

7 years later a messenger from the king arrives asking everyone why they stopped and ordered them to keep pushing south no matter what until they hit ocean.

This last stretch of land was said to have man eating animals and hostile tribes…

The Prince gathered his best warriors got on his horse and said “E Kono mbe Vai!” or “You wait here I’ll go forward bravely!”
The group of people that waited became the Kono tribe. The group that went foward bravely to the coast became the first Vai.

The story ends when Prince Jomani reaches the coast. He rides his horse into the sea 🌊.
All of his warriors chanted “Massaquoi”, meaning great king. The prince took this chant as his new dynasty name.
The land was just like the hunter described. A rich land abundant with salt.

The Vai began harvesting sea salt and trading it north. This land became their home.

The beaches and tropical forest where nice too live by just like the legend said. The shore salt would even kill bugs.
Ironically Cape Mount Liberia has one of the best shorelines in Liberia…

I was originally told this story orally from my father who learned it fro his mom; but it’s clear that the modern version of this origin story comes from Momolu Massaqoui.

He was a Vai king and a prominent scholar who passed on the history of the royal family too Academia.

Proof of this story being true is that in Sierra Leone today their is a tribe named the Kono, and they have a similar language too the Vai in Liberia.
In both languages the word Vai means to go foward bravely and word “Kono”literally means to wait or wait for me.

The events in this legend happened around 700 years ago according to Vai elders which fits with the expansion period of the Mali empire in the 12th century.
The quest for precious salt and the similar accounts of Kono and Mandinka griots all add too the stories validity.

End of thread 🧵.
I’m trying too focus on indigenous history, pre settler contact. Our countries history begins before the settlers arrived you know.

People will make bold claims about Liberias history without even knowing what happened before 1820 🙄
Thanks for reading 👋🏿

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