The end of Malik Kumba's reign provides an appropriate juncture at which the theme of government in Bundu can be addressed. The almaamate, having experienced significant instability between 1698 and 1720, had managed to survive and develop within a region characterized by expansionist, competitive states. That Bundu thrived during the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries can to a large extent be attributed to the increasing efficacy of its statecraft.

From the dawn of the polity until the reign of Amadi Gai (1764–86), the principles of pragmatism guided the Bundunke leadership in matters of state. Expanding the boundaries to appropriate fertile lands; encompassing important trade routes; and accessing sources of primary materials (e.g., gold from Bambuk, gum from the Upper Senegal, kola nut from the Gambia) were the chief determinants in fashioning a regional policy vis-a-vis neighboring states. Islam continued to expand within Bundu throughout the eighteenth century in that the population of Muslims relative to non-Muslims steadily increased. However, the option of militant or reform Islam was viewed by the Bundunke rulers as an unnecessary extreme. Not until the external influence of Abdul Qadir after 1776 did the Bundunke government begin to experiment with reform Islam at the administrative level.

The sovereign

By the end of the eighteenth century, the core area of Bundu had been largely defined.