Wassoulou is a

cultural area In anthropology and geography, a cultural region, cultural sphere, cultural area or culture area refers to a geography with one relatively homogeneous human activity or complex of activities (culture). Such activities are often associated ...

and historical region in the Wassoulou River Valley of West Africa. It is home to about 160,000 people, and is also the native land of the Wassoulou genre of music. Wassoulou surrounds the

point Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

where the borders of three present-day countries meet: Mali,

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, and

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

. It includes portions of southwestern Mali, northwestern Ivory Coast, and eastern Guinea. It is bordered by the Niger River to the northwest, and by the

Sankarani River The Sankarani River is a tributary of the Niger River. Flowing northward from the Guinea Highlands of the Fouta Djallon in Guinea, it crosses into southern Mali, where it joins the Niger approximately upstream of Bamako, the capital of Mali. It ...

to the east. The name ''Wassoulou'' is alternately spelled Wassulu, Wassalou, and Ouassalou. Regions of Africa

Culture

Wassoulou is the birthplace of

Wassoulou music Wassoulou ( bm, Wasolo) is a genre of West African popular music named for the Wassoulou cultural area. Wassoulou music is performed mostly by women. Some recurring themes in the lyrics are childbearing, fertility, and polygamy. Instrumentation ...

, a style which blends traditional and modern influences with strong female vocalists and a pentatonic hunter's harp. Wassoulou music is one of the two forms of West African music ethnomusicologists believe to be the origin of the American blues, which developed out of music forms dating back to the American slave trade from West Africa. Some of the most famous residents of Wassoulou include the singers Oumou Sangare,

Ramata Diakite Ramata may refer to: * ''Ramata'' (film), a 2007 feature-length fiction film directed by Léandre-Alain Baker * Ramata Airport, an airport on Ramata Island in the Solomon Islands * Ramata Diakité Ramata "Rah" Diakité (Madina Diansa, Wassoulou, ...

and Coumba Sidibe. Wassoulou's cultural importance is reflected in the development of internet resources, and the creation of ''Radio Wassoulou'' broadcasting from Yanfolila.

Language

Wassoulou is also a dialect of the Eastern Maninkakan language, and is closely related to Kankan Mandinka. Speakers of Wassoulou number some 73,500 in

, with 41,200 speakers estimated in Mali, where the closely related

Bamanankan Bambara (Arabic script: ), also known as Bamana (N'Ko script: ) or Bamanankan (), is a lingua franca and national language of Mali spoken by perhaps 15 million people, natively by 5 million Bambara people and about 10 million second-language us ...

is also spoken. In the far northwest of Côte d'Ivoire there are some 21,000 Wassoulou speakers, where it is related to

Wojenaka Maninka Maninka (also known as Malinke), or more precisely Eastern Maninka, is the name of several closely related languages and dialects of the southeastern Manding subgroup of the Mande language family. It is the mother tongue of the Malinké peop ...

. Inhabitants are known as Wassulu, Wassulunka or Wassulunke.

History

The Wassoulou area is a center for the mingling of several ethnic groups. The nomadic Fula people, who were believed to have emigrated from the Fouta Djallon highlands to the west, integrated into the indigenous Mandé peoples and adopting their language and customs sometime prior to the 18th century, at roughly the same time

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

spread into the area. There are also large populations of

Mandinka people The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnic-linguistic gro ...

s native to Wassoulou. Wassoulou is also the name of an Islamic state, the Wassoulou Empire (1870–1898), ruled by Samori Ture and centered on his capital, Bissandugu. In 1870, Samori overthrew an older Wassoulou state within the Kingdom of Kénédougou, whose ''faama'' (ruler) was Dyanabufarina Modi, and expanded his empire from there, taking the Wassoulou name. While the history of the Mandinka Wassoulou states remain unclear, the small kingdoms of Kenedugu and Wassulu existed from at least the 1650s, benefiting from gold mining and trade in the area.

References

{{reflist

Sources

Échange école Joliot Curie, école Wassoulou, Février 2007
Joint French - Malian Education Project (EDDUFAO), in the villages of Guéna, Djélibany and Kaka.
Portrait of the most famous Female Griot from Wassoulou: Oumou Sangaré
Abidjan.net.
calabashmusic.com's guide to Wassoulou Music

Radio Wassoulou

Geekcorps Mali » First digitally created broadcast from Radio Wassoulou - Yanfolila.
October, 2004.
Launch of the internet connection in Yanfolila
USAID, 29 January 2005.
Le Président de la République du Mali: Visit to Wassoulou, 2006

PLAN DE SECURITE ALIMENTAIRE COMMUNE RURALE DE WASSOULOU BALLE, 2006–2010.
Projet de Mobilisation des Initiatives en matière de Sécurité Alimentaire au Mali (PROMISAM), 2006.
Etude diagnostique pour le Marketing Social de l’Hygiène et de l’Assainissement dans les villes de Bougouni et de Yanfolila
Helvetas Mali - ASP-EAU, December 2004. (''Includes detailed descriptions and basic statistics for two towns in the region''). Geography of Mali Wassoulou region and culture Geography of Guinea Wassoulou region and culture Denguélé District Wassoulou region and culture French West Africa

Culture

Language

History

See also

References

Sources