They lay between the Pongo and Dubréka rivers, south of Senegal and Gambia in modern Guinea; in the terms commonly used in the 19th century they were considered part of Senegambia.
[6] In 1883 and 1884, with the support of his brother Ludwig,[6] a director of the Württembergische Vereinsbank in Stuttgart,[7] Colin established trading posts of his own in the unclaimed areas of Baga und Sousou and along the Dubreka river, including one at Bramaia,[8] and signed agreements with the local rulers.
[4] At a meeting of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck with businessmen trading in Africa on April 28, 1884, Colin first called on the government to protect his possessions by annexing territory in Rivières du Sud.
Colin, Deutsch-Afrikanisches Geschäft in Frankfurt am Main, to explore and develop trade with West Africa[11] and in particular to reach the source of the Niger in the Fouta Djallon mountains.
[11][14] The land Colin was claiming consisted of five petty kingdoms Kapitaï, Koba, Bramaia, Dubréka and Sumbuja, of which only the first two were eventually to come under Imperial protection.
[4] The hilly and wooded Kapitaï (also Capitay, Kapitay, Kabitai or Khabitaye) lay between the Dembiah and Dubréka rivers around 400–500 metres above sea level.
The smaller kingdom of Koba (Kobah) lay to the North on a plain between the Dembiah and Pongo Rivers, covering some 660 km² in modern Boffa Prefecture, with its main town at Taboria (Taboriya).
[15] To the south, the kingdom of Sumbuja (also Sumbayland, Simbaya, Symbaya or Sumbujo) in the modern Coyah Prefecture, with its centre at Wonkifong, had been thrown into disorder in 1884 following the death of its ruler.
France imposed customs duties on goods brought into the region from Europe and required health certificates and anchorage fees from visiting ships.
[4] Alarmed by Colin's treaties and the presence of German warships, on 3 September 1884 France formally established a protectorate over the whole of Bramayaland (Bramiah, in today's Fria Prefecture) and extended its claims to the Fouta Djallon (source of the Niger, Senegal and Gambia Rivers).
[12] The government made a commitment to do so in November 1884 and at the end of December 1884 the corvette SMS Ariadne arrived at the mouth of the Dubréka and placed the region under German protection.
The Bramiah king William Fernandez received Chüden hospitably and was willing to cooperate, but said he had already signed agreements with France, most recently on September 4, 1884.
Negotiations paused in the summer of 1885, but when they resumed in November of the same year, Herbert von Bismarck's threat to Paris that "if necessary, Germany would definitely settle Sangareah Bay" was only a bluff to force a decision.