History of SAMORI TURAY - The Cleric and Colonial Resistant-The last Fama of Manndé-Mandinka Version

The Almamy Samory Touré (or Samori Touré), born around 1830 in Miniambaladougou, in present-day Guinea, fell in Guélémou, present-day Côte d'Ivoire, and died on June 2, 1900 in Ndjolé, present-day Gabon, is the founder of the he Wassoulou empire, an ephemeral empire that stretched from Siguiri and the southern regions of present-day Mali to the forest regions of Middle Guinea, around two of its major capitals: Kankan and Bissandougou (present-day Guinea) 1. It collapsed in 18982.
Fighting militarily against French and British penetration into West Africa for nearly twenty years, Samory Touré, although largely unknown, is considered the last great independent black leader of West Africa3 and one of the greatest African resistance fighters. to colonial penetration at the end of the 19th century4. His arrest marks the completion of the conquest of West Africa3.
Born around 1830 in Miniambaladougou (currently in south-eastern Guinea), this son of a Dioula merchant (konianké-malinké) grew up in West Africa undergoing rapid change due to the growing number of contacts with Europeans. Trade with Europe had made some African states wealthy, while the increasing use of firearms altered traditional warfare. His parents had renounced Islam to convert to paganism.
In 1848, Samory's mother, Sokhona Camara, was captured during a raid led by Sory Bourama5, of the Cissé clan, and reduced to slavery. Not having the money to buy it back, he had to put himself at the service of the Cissé, from whom he learned the use of weapons, to obtain his mother's long-term release. According to tradition, he remains in their service "seven years, seven months, seven days".
Also freed from his oath to King Ibrahima, however, he did not return home and became the leader of the armies of another lord, the King of Toron, Bitiké-Souané5. He enlisted for two years in the army of Saransware-Mori, faama (military leader) of the Bérété, enemies of the Cissé, before joining his own people, the Camara. Appointed kélétigui (war chief) in Dyala in 1861, Samory took the oath to protect his people against the Bérété and the Cissé. He creates a professional army and appoints his relatives, especially his brothers and childhood friends, to positions of command.
In 1864, El Hadj Umar Tall, the founder of a rapidly expanding empire which then dominated the Upper Niger region, the Toucouleur Empire, died. His empire is falling apart.
In 1867, Samory was a full-fledged warlord, with his own army grouped together in Sanankoro in the Guinean highlands, on the banks of Haut-Milo, a tributary of the Niger River. It was at this time that he converted to Islam and between 1873 and 1874 took the title of almami, religious guide5. He describes his state as a "warrior and merchant state" whose goods are often slaves of the conquered tribes.
Samory Touré formed commercial partnerships which enabled him to obtain sufficient rifles and horses, giving him a decisive advantage over the small neighboring kingdoms5. In 1876, Samory imported breech-loading rifles through the British colony of Sierra Leone. At the head of his army, composed mainly of infantrymen armed with a saber, a dagger and a rifle, he seized the district of Buré in the region of Siguiri, rich in gold (currently astride the border between Guinea and Mali), in order to strengthen its finances. In 1878 he was powerful enough to proclaim himself faama ("military ruler") of his own Wassoulou empire. He made Bissandougou his capital and began trade and diplomatic exchanges with the neighboring and declining Toucouleur empire.
In 1881, Samory was able to secure his hold over Kankan (present-day Guinea), a key town in the Dioula trade, located on the edge of Haut-Milo. Kankan was then a center of the cola nut trade, strategically positioned to control the surrounding trade routes. In 1881, Wassoulou extended into Guinea and Mali, from what is now Sierra Leone to northern Côte d'Ivoire and Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso.
As Samory conquers the many small tribal states that surround him, he also maneuvers diplomatically. He established regular relations with the British in Sierra Leone and forged promising links with the Imamate of Fouta-Djalon.
Samory Touré's army is remarkable because, during the second half of the 19th century, it went from a feudal model to a modern model inspired by European standards under the leadership of its leader5.
At the end of the 1870s, the French began their expansion into West Africa, from eastern Senegal, with the aim of reaching the upper Nile in present-day Sudan. They also sought to advance south. -is to reach their bases in CI