The Vai were among the Mandingo groups that settled in the forest zone of present-day Sierra Leone and Liberia before the Portuguese discovery, probably during the 1460s. The extract leaves open the possibility of an earlier settlement, but the closeness of Vai and Kono languages to Mandingo is presented as evidence that the migration was relatively recent.

Tradition located the migrants’ origin in the upper Niger, probably Sankaran. Some groups remained inland and became the Kono, while others continued toward the sea. The group later identified as Vai was said to have been led by Kamala the younger, Fangoloma and Kiatamba, reaching the coast at Lake Pisu near present-day Robertsport.

In their new forest environment, the Vai adapted a civilization formerly associated with the Sudan. They appear to have retained a fairly centralized political structure while adjusting to local ecological conditions. Their migration may have been connected to the search for salt and fish, resources that also shaped the attraction of the coast for other Malinke groups.

The Vai responded quickly to the commercial world created by Portuguese arrival. Portuguese observers, impressed by the abundance of poultry, called them “Gallinas.” The Vai later submitted to the Mane incursion, but the text states that the Mane did not overturn their social balance.