Almamy Suluku (1820 - 1906) was a Limba ruler from

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

who maintained his independence as long as possible through political strategy.

Early life

Almamy Suluku was born in 1820 in

Kamabai Kamabai is a small town in Bombali District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone, with a population of about 4000 within a 7-kilometre (4.3 mi) radius (including the villages of Kagbumbo, Bonaia, Manlokoko, Kawere, Masasa, Makombon, Mat ...

, Biriwa country, in the Northern Province of

. He was the son of Sankailay, a great Limba chief of the Biriwa country, with its capital of Bumban. As a young man, Suluku became the war captain, and under his military leadership, Biriwa became one of the largest kingdoms in Sierra Leone. When his father died, Suluku replaced him as the chief of Biriwa.

Political strategy

But Suluku was not satisfied with territory alone, and he set out to make his kingdom wealthy as well. He fostered the trade in gold, ivory, hides, and foodstuffs that passed through Bumban on the way to

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

, and he gave effective police protection to the traders in his realm. His progressive rule impressed the

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administration in Freetown, which sent him annual gifts throughout the 1880s. When Samori Toure's

Mandinka Mandinka, Mandika, Mandinkha, Mandinko, or Mandingo may refer to: Media * ''Mandingo'' (novel), a bestselling novel published in 1957 * ''Mandingo'' (film), a 1975 film based on the eponymous 1957 novel * ''Mandingo (play)'', a play by Jack Kir ...

forces occupied Biriwa in 1884, Suluku pretended to co-operate with the Mandinka, while sending urgent messages to the British in Freetown warning of a disruption in trade. The British accepted Suluku's arguments, persuading the Mandinka to leave Biriwa country. Thus, while other Sierra Leonean kings suffered costly defeats in futile military resistance, Suluku managed to have his way through political strategy alone. In the 1890s, as British power increased, Suluku pursued his own independent policy while making the British believe he was their loyal ally. He sent frequent messages of friendship to the British Governor and entertained royally every British delegation that arrived in Bumban, but did exactly as he pleased. Some lower ranking officers warned of Suluku's deception, but Freetown was convinced of his loyalty. When the 1898 Rebellion led by

Bai Bureh Bai Bureh (February 15, 1840 – August 24, 1908) was a Sierra Leonean ruler, Military strategy, military strategist, and Muslim cleric, who led the Temne and Loko uprising against British rule in 1898 in Northern Sierra Leone. Early life and ...

broke out, Suluku sent warriors and weapons to Bai Bureh, but when the British complained, he sent them a letter expressing his support for their position and offering his services as

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. After the Protectorate was established, the British wanted to break up Suluku's kingdom into small chiefdoms, but Suluku's subjects refused to cooperate as long as the old Gbaku was still alive. When he was very aged, a British official asked Suluku to name his successor under the new and tightly controlled

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

structure. The old Gbaku's reply: "Suluku will never die". King Almammy and Captain Tomba, like many Africans loathed the whole business of the European slave trade and forbade their subjects to take part in it.

References

https://web.archive.org/web/20090526015329/http://sierra-leone.org/heroes5.html Before the Mayflower a history of the negro in America, 1619 - 1962 , LeRone Bennett Jr {{DEFAULTSORT:Suluku, Almamy Hut Tax War of 1898 1820 births 1906 deaths People from Bombali District