Tieba Traoré was the fourth king of the

Kénédougou Kingdom The Kénédougou Kingdom, ( Cebaara Senufo: ''Fǎngi Kenedugu''), (c. 1650–1898) was a pre-colonial West African state established in the southeastern portion of present-day Mali, as well as parts of northern Côte d'Ivoire and western Burkina F ...

, reigning from 1877 until his death in 1893.

Mansa Douala ''MANSA'' is a scale used to assess quality of life. Its name is short for ''Manchester, Short Assessment of Quality of Life''. It was developed by Priebe et al. in 1999. The creators of the scale found the results of the scale to be comparable to ...

had five sons, of whom Tieba was the youngest. As a prince he was captured after the battle of Bleni against the

Bobo Bobo may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Comic strips * ''Bobo'' (Belgian comics) * ''Bobo'' (Italian comics) * ''Bobo'' (Swedish comics) Fictional characters * Bobo the Bear, in ''The Muppets'' series * Professor Bobo, from ''My ...

and Dyula, who held him for ransom. When Douala died, Tieba managed to have himself proclaimed king over his elder brothers after a pair of military victories near Djitamana and Tiere.Binger, Louis-Gustave. ''Du Niger au golfe de Guinée'', Hachette, 1892 Traoré founded a new royal capital of

Sikasso Sikasso ( Bambara: ߛߌߞߊߛߏ tr. Sikaso) is a city in the south of Mali and the capital of the Sikasso Cercle and the Sikasso Region. It is Mali's second largest city with 225,753 residents in the 2009 census. History Sikasso was a small ...

, building a palace on the city's Mamelon hill. He also constructed the celebrated

Tata of Sikasso The tata of Sikasso, known locally as ''tarakoko'', was Tata (fortification), a series of ramparts initially constructed in Sikasso under the reign of Tieba Traoré, Tiéba Traoré (king of Kénédougou Kingdom, Kénédougou), from 1877 to 1897, ...

. Kenedougou's conflict with the expanding

Wassoulou Empire The Samorian state, also referred to as the Wassoulou empire, Ouassalou empire, Mandinka empire or Samory's empire, was a short-lived West African state that existed from roughly 1878 until 1898, although dates vary from source to source. It span ...

Samori Ture Samori Ture ( – June 2, 1900), also known as Samori Toure, Samory Touré, or Almamy Samore Lafiya Toure, was a Mandinka people, Malinke and a Soninke people, Soninke Muslim cleric, military strategist, and founder of the Wassoulou Empire, an Is ...

began in 1884 when Tieba sent his brother Siaka to reinforce the frontier between the two kingdoms at the Bagoe River. The region soon became a depopulated battleground. He generally maintained an alliance with the French against Samori, who besieged Sikasso for 15 months in 1887-8 before a French column rescued the city. In the aftermath, Tieba signed a treaty of alliance with the French, and even accompanied French Colonel

Louis Archinard Louis Archinard (11 February 1850 – 8 May 1932) was a French Army general at the time of the Third Republic, who contributed to the colonial conquest of French West Africa. He was traditionally presented in French histories as the conqueror an ...

to witness the destruction of

Ségou Ségou (; , ) is a town and an Communes of Mali, 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 inhabitant ...

in 1890.

Louis-Gustave Binger Louis-Gustave Binger (; 14 October 1856 – 10 November 1936) was a French officer and explorer who claimed the Côte d'Ivoire for France. Binger was born at Strasbourg in the Bas-Rhin . In 1887 he traveled from Senegal up to the Niger River, a ...

, a French officer who met Tieba in 1888, described him as a very intelligent man, generally wearing white and accompanied by his wife at audiences and council meetings. His generosity was legendary. Tieba fought successful wars against

Bobo-Dioulasso Bobo-Dioulasso ( , ) is a city in Burkina Faso with a population of 1,129,000 (); it is the second-largest city in the country, after Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital. The name means "home of the Bobo- Dioula". The local Bobo-speaking pop ...

and the

Kong Empire The Kong Empire (1710–1898), also known as the Wattara Empire or Ouattara Empire for its founder Seku Watara, was a pre-colonial state centered in what is now northeastern Ivory Coast that also encompassed much of present-day Burkina Faso a ...

, but died by poison on January 27, 1893, near

Bama Bama or BAMA may refer to: Places * Bama, shortened form of Alabama, a state of the United States of America ** The University of Alabama, a public university serving the state, often known as simply ''Bama'' * Bama, one of the colloquial Burmes ...

during one of these campaigns. His brother

Babemba Traoré Babemba was the fifth and final '' Faama'' of the Kénédougou Kingdom, ruling from the 1893 death of his brother Tieba Traoré until the capture of Sikasso by the French in 1898. He is today remembered as a hero of anti-colonial resistance in ...

succeeded him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Traore, Tieba 1893 deaths People of French West Africa Malian royalty 19th-century monarchs in Africa 1840s births People from Sikasso Kénédougou Kingdom Faamas