Sarraounia Mangou was a chief/priestess of the animist Azna subgroup of the
Hausa, who fought French colonial troops of the
Voulet–Chanoine Mission
The Voulet–Chanoine Mission or Central African-Chad Mission (french: mission Afrique Centrale-Tchad) was a French military expedition sent out from Senegal in 1898 to conquer the Chad Basin and unify all French territories in West Africa. This ...
at the
Battle of Lougou
The French Voulet-Chanoine Mission, led by the captains Paul Voulet and Julien Chanoine, had been dispatched in 1898 to Africa by the French government with the mission to conquer the territories between the Niger River and Lake Chad and join in ...
(in present-day
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languages[Sarraounia
Sarraounia Mangou was a chief/priestess of the animist Azna subgroup of the Hausa people , Hausa, who fought French colonial troops of the Voulet–Chanoine Mission at the Battle of Lougou (in present-day Niger) in 1899. She is the subject of th ...](_blank)
'' based on the novel of the same name by Nigerien writer
Abdoulaye Mamani
Abdoulaye Mamani (1932–1993) was a Nigerien poet, novelist and trade unionist.
Biography
Mamani was born in 1932 in Zinder, Niger. He was a trade unionist. In 1980 he published his novel '' Sarraounia'', based on the real-life Battle of Lougou ...
.
Biography
''Sarraounia'' means ''queen'' or ''female chief'' in the
Hausa
Hausa may refer to:
* Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa
* Hausa language, spoken in West Africa
* Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states
* Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse
See also
* ...
language. Among the predominantly animist Azna people of
Lougou
Lougou is a town and arrondissement in the Alibori Department of northeastern Benin. It is an administrative division under the jurisdiction of the commune of Ségbana. According to the population census conducted by the Institut National de la St ...
and surrounding Hausa towns and villages, the term refers to a lineage of female rulers who exercised both political and religious power.
Sarraounia Mangou was the most famous of the Sarraounias due to her resistance against French colonial troops at the
Battle of Lougou
The French Voulet-Chanoine Mission, led by the captains Paul Voulet and Julien Chanoine, had been dispatched in 1898 to Africa by the French government with the mission to conquer the territories between the Niger River and Lake Chad and join in ...
in 1899. While most chiefs in Niger pragmatically submitted to French power,
Sarraounia Mangou mobilized her people and resources to confront the French forces of the
Voulet–Chanoine Mission
The Voulet–Chanoine Mission or Central African-Chad Mission (french: mission Afrique Centrale-Tchad) was a French military expedition sent out from Senegal in 1898 to conquer the Chad Basin and unify all French territories in West Africa. This ...
, which
launched a fierce attack on her fortress capital of Lougou.
Overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the French, she and her fighters retreated from the fortress, and engaged the attackers in a protracted guerrilla battle which eventually forced the French to abandon their project of subduing her.
According to native oral history she was a witch with pure yellow eyes who could hurl fire at the invaders and even summon fog to help them get away from the French army. It's said her magical charms erased her troops footsteps from the battlefield and any crops that were blazed to ash regrew overnight with more than enough food to keep the warriors going.
References
[{{cite journal , author=Antoinette Tidjani Alou , author-link=Antoinette Tidjani Alou , date=Spring 2009 , title=Niger and Sarraounia: One Hundred Years of Forgetting Female Leadership , journal=Research in African Literatures , volume=40 , issue=1 , pages=42–56 , doi=10.2979/RAL.2009.40.1.42 , jstor=30131185]
Year of death missing
Women rulers in Africa
19th-century women rulers
African resistance to colonialism
African women in war
Rebellions in Africa
Women in 19th-century warfare
19th-century rulers in Africa
History of Niger
Nigerien military personnel
African animists
Year of birth unknown