Guidimakha

This article is about the historical region. For the modern-day region of Mauritania, see Guidimaka region.

Guidimakha, sometimes spelled Gidimaxa, was a Soninke dyamare (chiefdom or confederacy) in what is now southern Mauritania and western Mali. The Soninke presence in the region, particularly in the valleys of the Assaba Massif, dates back to the Tichitt period in the 1st millennium BC.^[1] Guidimakha itself was older than the neighboring, and much better known, Wagadu Empire. It was founded by the legendary ancestor Maxam Malle Duho, ancestor of the Soumare clan.^[2] Guidimakha did eventually become part of Wagadu.^[3]