Sassouma Bereté (or ''Berete'') was the first wife of the 13th century King of
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. Mali ...
:
Maghan Kon Fatta, the father of
Sundiata Keita
Sundiata Keita ( Mandinka, Malinke: ; 1217 – c. 1255) (also known as Manding Diara, Lion of Mali, Sogolon Djata, son of Sogolon, Nare Maghan and Sogo Sogo Simbon Salaba) was a prince and founder of the Mali Empire. He is also the great-uncle ...
.
Information Source
Everything that is known about Sassouma came from the
Epic of Sundiata Keita (the first Emperor of the
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire ( Manding: ''Mandé''Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: ''UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century'', p. 57. University of California Press, 1997. or Manden; ar, مالي, Māl ...
), passed down by
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 ...
griot
A griot (; ; Manding: jali or jeli (in N'Ko: , ''djeli'' or ''djéli'' in French spelling); Serer: kevel or kewel / okawul; Wolof: gewel) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician.
The griot is a repos ...
s since the 13th century.
Life
As the co-wife of Sogolon Conde, she is reported to have been very resentful of Sogolon, and used to humiliate her openly for giving birth to a deformed son (Sundiata Keita).
After the death of Naré Maghann, she feared that Sogolon's would usurp the throne of her own son,
Dankaran Touman
Dankaran Touman (Manding languages: ''Dànkàràn Túmá'') was the first son of Naré Maghann Konaté (father of Sundiata Keita, founder and first Emperor of the Mali Empire in the 13th century) in the Malian epic of Sundiata. He was also th ...
, and thus plotted with her son to kill Sundiata Keita.
Sogolon, fearing for the safety of her children, left
Niani, and lived in exile with her children.
''"Mali's Boy-King: A Thirteenth-Century African Epic Becomes Digital"'', By Ronica Roth (in NEH) : Humanities, July/August 1998, Volume 19/Number 4
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Reputation
In the epic, Sassouma Bereté is regarded as "politically ambitious", and a "despised wife" who contravenes the social norms of Mande society.[ Deme Mariam Konaté, "Heroism and the Supernatural in the African Epic", Taylor & Francis (2010), p 144,]
(Retrieved : 20 July 2012)
Notes
Keita family
Mali Empire
Malian royalty
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