 Saloum, just like its sister kingdom (the Kingdom of Sine), is known for its many ancient burial mounds or "tumuli" containing the graves of kings and others.The kingdom has numerous mysterious stone circles whose functions and history were unknown until recently.Historian Donald R. Wright states that "In the last decade of the fifteenth century, a group of nyancho lineages from Kaabu moved north of the Gambia River and took over an area on the southern edge of the weakening Jolof Empire.