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Title edit
Kingdom of Biffeche (Royaume de Biffeche)
Description edit
The Kingdom of Biffeche is located in West Africa near its westernmost extension, between Mauritania and Senegal. It became known after the collapse of the Empire of Gana in the valley of the Senegal River and was recognised by the French prior to 1750. In the following centuries, it became a slaving-ground for raiding parties from the Arab kingdom of Trarza to the north of the Senegal River. The slavers raided all the villages of Biffeche, reducing the population drastically. The ethnic group of Biffeche combined elements of Toucoleur, Sereer, Peulh and Wolof cultures, but the non-Muslims, especially the Sereer, were driven out, to the south, to settle in other parts of modern Senegal. During the ascendancy of the neighboring Kingdom of Waalo in the Senegal River Valley, the kings of Biffeche were called "Petit Braque" or "Little King" in alliance with the "Grand Braque" or "Big King" of the Kingdom of Waalo. The royal families intermarried and the kings of Biffeche for a time secured succession rights in Waalo. The kings of Biffeche were unable to protect the population from the slave raids, and they frequently turned to neighboring monarchs for help.
During the French campaigns against Waalo, Biffeche maintained its juridical independence, although it was unable to defy France openly on policy during the 19th century. In the 20th Century many of the administrative activities of the Biffeche monarchy were gradually ceded to local French and later Senegalese officials in the nearby city of Saint-Louis.
In about 1960, the Sereer people began to return to Biffeche from central Senegal with the encouragement of President Leopold Senghor of Senegal, himself a Sereer. Like President Senghor, the Sereer were Christians, whilst the non-Sereer population of rural Biffeche followed Islam and animism, so the Sereer now formed a small minority within their own kingdom. They struggled to survive in resettlement quarters in the royal capital, Mboubene. In 1963, in desperation, they were advised by their priest to elect as king the person who had done the most to help them; this turned out to be a foreigner, a white American named Edward Schafer who, through Catholic charities, had sent them aid. They enthroned him as King Edward I of Biffeche, but he did not visit Biffeche for the rest of his life. He ruled as king only by correspondence with the local chiefs. In 1987 he appointed another American, Ronald, Baron of Inneryne (a Scottish barony) to rule as his successor, King Ronald I of Biffeche, who succeeded him as king and commenced an active reign, frequently visiting and initiating public works and charitable projects. The Biffeche kings created a small aristocracy consisting of local chiefs and wealthy foreign patrons.
Contact edit
- LEXIDIGITAL INC
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- SEMINOLE FL
- United States 33772
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- 727-392-5636
Logos edit
Additional Information edit
See: http://www.kingdomofbiffeche.net
