The Bamana Empire (also Bambara Empire or Ségou Empire, bm, italics=no, ߓߊ߲ߓߊߙߊ߲߫ ߝߊ߯ߡߟߊ, Banbaran Fāmala) was a large
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
n state based at
Ségou
Ségou (; bm, ߛߋߓߎ, italic=no, ) is a town and an urban commune in south-central Mali that lies northeast of Bamako on the right bank of the River Niger. The town is the capital of the Ségou Cercle and the Ségou Region. With 130,690 ...
, now in
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
. This state was established after the fall of the
Mali Empire and the
Keita dynasty, as a smaller Bambara Empire founded by other Bambara families related to the Keita clan. It was ruled by the Kulubali or Coulibaly dynasty established c. 1640 by
Kaladian Coulibaly Kaladian Coulibaly was a West African ruler who founded one of the first large Bambara people, Bambara kingdoms, centered on Ségou in what is now Mali. Around 1650, Coulibaly's kingdom was one of the dominant forces in the region. Though it lacke ...
also known as Fa Sine or Biton-si-u. The empire existed as a centralized state from 1712 until the 1861 invasion of
Toucouleur conqueror, El Hadj
Umar Tall
Hadji Oumarûl Foutiyou Tall (Umar ibn Sa'id al-Futi Tal, ar, حاج عمر بن سعيد طعل), ( – 1864 CE), born in Futa Tooro, present day Senegal, was a West African political leader, Islamic scholar, Tijani Sufi and Toucouleur ...
.
History
Coulibaly dynasty
In around 1640, Fa Sine became the third
Faama Faama is a Mandinka word meaning "father," "leader," or "king". It was commonly used within the area of pre-imperial Mali. The title spread into areas conquered by Mali and was later used by the Bamana Empire and the Wassoulou Empire of Samori ...
(
Mande word for King) of a small kingdom of Bambara people in the city of Ségou in Mali. Though he made many successful conquests of neighboring tribes and kingdoms, he failed to set up a significant administrative framework, and the new empire disintegrated following his death (c. 1660).
In the early 18th century,
Mamari Kulubali (sometimes cited as Mamari Bitòn) settled in Ségou and joined an egalitarian youth organization known as a ''tòn''. Mamari 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 a new Bamana Empire.
Fortifying the capital with
Songhai techniques, Bitòn Kulubali built an army of several thousand men and a navy of war canoes to patrol the
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languages[Fulani
The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...](_blank)
, 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.
Mamari Coulubali was the last ruler to be called Bitòn. All future rulers were simply titled Faama. Bakari, the first Faama after Mamari reigned from (1710–1711). Faama De-Koro ascended in 1712 reigning until 1736. The kingdom had three more faamas with unstable 4-year reigns until falling into anarchy in 1748.
The Ngolosi
In 1750, a freed
slave named
Ngolo Diarra seized the throne and re-established stability, reigning for nearly forty 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
Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou;
Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...
(c. 1800) and the
Macina region.
Jihad and fall
At the
Battle of Noukouma
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
in 1818, Bambara forces met and were defeated by Fula Muslim fighters rallied by the jihad of
Cheikou Amadu (or Seku Amadu) of Massina. The Bamana Empire survived but was irreversibly weakened. Seku Amadu's forces decisively defeated the Bambara, taking
Djenné and much of the territory around
Mopti and forming into a
Massina Empire. Timbuktu would fall as well in 1845.
The end of the weakened empire came at the hands of El Hadj
Umar Tall
Hadji Oumarûl Foutiyou Tall (Umar ibn Sa'id al-Futi Tal, ar, حاج عمر بن سعيد طعل), ( – 1864 CE), born in Futa Tooro, present day Senegal, was a West African political leader, Islamic scholar, Tijani Sufi and Toucouleur ...
, a
Toucouleur conqueror who swept across West Africa from
Dinguiraye. Umar Tall's
mujahideen readily defeated the Bambara, seizing Ségou itself on March 10, 1861, and declaring an end to the Bamana Empire (which effectively became part of the
Toucouleur Empire
The Tidjaniya Caliphate ( ar, الخلافة التجانية; also known as the Tijaniyya Jihad state or the Segu Tukulor or the Toucouleur Empire) (1861–1890) was founded in the mid-nineteenth century by Elhadj Oumar Foutiyou Tall of the T ...
).
Economy and structure
The Bamana Empire was structured around traditional Bambara institutions, including the ''kòmò'', a body to resolve
theological
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
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.
The economy of the Bamana 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.
Mungo Park, passing through the Bambara capital of
Ségou
Ségou (; bm, ߛߋߓߎ, italic=no, ) is a town and an urban commune in south-central Mali that lies northeast of Bamako on the right bank of the River Niger. The town is the capital of the Ségou Cercle and the Ségou Region. With 130,690 ...
two years after Diarra's 1795 death, recorded a testament to the Empire's prosperity:
See also
*
Bambara language: a
Mande language, spoken by 6 million people in Mali.
*
Bambara people: an ethnic group who represent 40% of Mali's population.
*
Kaarta
Kaarta, or Ka'arta, was a short-lived Bambara kingdom in what is today the western half of Mali.
As Bitòn Coulibaly tightened his control over Ségou, capital of his newly founded Bambara Empire, a faction of Ségou Bambara dissatisfied with ...
, another Bambara kingdom of the same epoch
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
Segu Kingdom rulers, from Host Kingdoms
{{coord missing, Mali
States and territories established in the 1640s
1640s establishments in Africa
1712 establishments in Africa
1861 disestablishments in Africa
Sahelian kingdoms
Former empires