The Bambara Empire (also Bamana Empire or Ségou Empire) was a large kingdom based at Ségou, now in Mali. The empire was founded by Bitòn Coulibaly in the early eighteenth century and lasted until an 1861 invasion by Toucouleur conqueror El Hadj Umar Tall. A monarchy, (from the Greek monos, one, and archein, to rule) is a form of government that has a monarch as Head of State. ... Ségou or Segu is a city in Mali, lying northeast of Bamako on the River Niger, in the region of Ségou. ... Bitòn Coulibaly (also Mamary Coulibaly, 1689?–1755) founded the Bambara Empire in what is now Malis Ségou Region and Mopti Region. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The Toucouleurs (or Haalpulaaren) are an ethnicity of West Africa. ... El Hadj Umar Tall (1797 - 1864) was a conqueror and Toucouleur king who founded a brief empire encompassing much of what is now Guinea, Senegal, and Mali. ...

Founders

In the mid-seventeenth century, Kaladian Coulibaly founded a kingdom of the Bambara people based in Ségou. Though he made many successful conquests of neighboring tribes and kingdoms, he failed to set up siginificant administrative framework, and the new kingdom disintegrated following his death (c. 1680). Kaladian Coulibaly was a West African ruler who founded one of the first large Bambara kingdoms, centered on Ségou in what is now Mali. ... The Bambara (sometimes Banmana) are a group of people living in west Africa, primarily in Mali but also in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal. ...

Forty years later, however, Kaladian's great-grandson, Mamary Coulibaly settled in Ségou and joined an egalitarian youth organization known as a tòn. Mamary soon reorganized the tòn as a personal army, assumed the title of bitòn, and set about subduing rival chiefs. He established control over Ségou, making it the capital of his new Bambara Empire. Bitòn Coulibaly (also Mamary Coulibaly, 1689?–1755) founded the Bambara Empire in what is now Malis Ségou Region and Mopti Region. ...

Fortifying the capital with Songhai techniques, Bitòn Coulibaly built an army of several thousand men and a navy of war canoes to patrol the Niger. Coulibaly then proceeded to launch successful assaults against his neighbors, the Fulani, the Soninke, and the Mossi; he also attacked Tomboctou, though he held the city only briefly. During this time he founded the city of Bla as an outpost and armory. The Songhai Empire, c. ... Categories: Africa-related stubs | Burkina Faso | Cameroon | Ethnic groups of Africa | Fulani Empire | Mali | Nigeria ... Also called Sarakole, Seraculeh, or Serahuli, the Soninke are a Mandé people who descend from the Bafour, and are closely related to the Imraguen of Mauritania. ... Mossi is the name of a people living in central Burkina Faso. ... See also Timbuktu (novel) for the book by Paul Auster. ... Bla, population 15,000 (2004 est. ...

The Ngolosi

Following Bitòn Coulibaly's death in 1755, the Empire slid quickly toward anarchy. Bitòn's descendants (Dinkoro Coulibaly and Ali Coulibaly, sometimes called the "Bitsoni") proved unable to hold control of the empire, and a series of military coups ensued. 1755 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Dinkoro Coulibaly was the ruler of the Bambara Empire from 1755 to 1757. ... Ali Coulibaly (r. ... A coup détat, or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ...

In 1766, a freed slave named Ngolo Diarra seized the throne and re-established stability, reigning for nearly thirty years of relative prosperity. The Ngolosi, his descendants, would continue to rule the Empire until its fall. Ngolo's son Mansong Diarra took the throne following his father's 1795 death and began a series of successful conquests, including that of Tomboctou (c. 1800) and the Massina region. This is a huge joke because you can't find any information that you need. 1766 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Slavery is a condition in which one person, known as a slave, is under the control of another. ... Ngolo Diarra was the king of the Bambara Empire from 1766 to 1795. ... Mansong Diarra (also Monzon) was ruler of the Bambara Empire from 1795 to 1808. ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... See also Timbuktu (novel) for the book by Paul Auster. ... Macina may refer to: The Macina Empire, in present-day Mali Macina (swamp), in Mali Masina (Kinshasa), one of the 24 municipalities of Kinshasa See also: List of people by name: Mac, for people named Macina This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

Economy and structure

The Bambara Empire was structured around traditional Bambara institutions, including the kòmò, a body to resolve theological concerns. The kòmò often consulted religious sculptures in their decisions, particularly the four state boliw, large altars designed to aid the acquisition of political power. Theology is reasoned discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). It can also refer to the study of other religious topics. ...

The economy of the Bambara Empire flourished through trade, especially that of the slaves captured in their many wars. The demand for slaves then led to further fighting, leaving the Bambara in a perpetual state of war with their neighbors. Slave transport in Africa, from a 19th century engraving The African slave trade dates back thousands of years and reportedly continues today in some isolated parts of Africa. ...

Mungo Park, passing through the Bambara capital of Ségou two years after Diarra's 1795 death, recorded a testament to the Empire's prosperity: Mungo Park Title illustration of (1859) Mungo Park (September 10, 1771 – 1806) was a Scottish explorer of the African continent. ... Ségou or Segu is a city in Mali, lying northeast of Bamako on the River Niger, in the region of Ségou. ...

The view of this extensive city, the numerous canoes on the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding countryside, formed altogether a prospect of civilization and magnificence that I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa.[1]

Image File history File links Quotation marks File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Quotation marks File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

Jihad and fall

Between 1818 and 1820, the Empire was severely weakened by a jihad led by the Peul imam and social reformer Seku Amadu. Seku Amadu's forces decisively defeated the Bambara, taking Djenné and much of the territory around Mopti and forming into a Massina Empire. Tomboctou would fall as well, in 1845. 1818 (MDCCCXVIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar. ... 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Amadus Jihad was a religious war fought from 1810 to 1818 in what is now the Mopti Region of Mali. ... Categories: Africa-related stubs | Burkina Faso | Cameroon | Ethnic groups of Africa | Fulani Empire | Mali | Nigeria ... Imam (Arabic: إمام , Persian: امام ) is an Arabic word meaning Leader. The ruler of a country might be called the Imam, for example. ... Seku Amadu (1773–1845) was the founder of the Peul Massina Empire in what is now the Mopti Region of Mali. ... Mopti is a city at the confluence of the River Niger and the River Bani in Mali, between Timbuktu and Ségou. ... The Massina Empire was a nineteenth-century Peul empire centered in the Mopti Region of present-day Mali. ... 1845 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

The real end of the empire, however, came at the hands of El Hadj Umar Tall, a Toucouleur conqueror who swept across West Africa from Futa Jallon. Umar Tall's mujahideen readily defeated the Bambara, seizing Ségou itself on March 10, 1861, forcing the population to convert to Islam, and declaring an end to the Bambara Empire. El Hadj Umar Tall (1797 - 1864) was a conqueror and Toucouleur king who founded a brief empire encompassing much of what is now Guinea, Senegal, and Mali. ... The Toucouleurs (or Haalpulaaren) are an ethnicity of West Africa. ... Fouta Djallon is a highland region in Guinea, West Africa. ... Mujahedeen (Arabic: , also transliterated as mujāhidÄ«n, mujahedeen, mujahedin, mujahidin, mujaheddin, etc. ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in Leap years). ... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Islam (Arabic: ; ( (help· info)), submission (to the will of God) is a monotheistic faith and the worlds second-largest religion with approximately 1. ...

Reference

• Davidson, Basil. Africa in History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Basil Davidson (born 9 November 1914 in Bristol England) is an acclaimed writer and historian of Africa. ...

External links

• Timeline of Western Sudan
• Pre-colonial Malian History (French language)

Notes

1. ↑ Quoted in Davidson, p245.