Dô, also spelled Daw, sometimes called Dodougou or Do Dugubani, was a ''kafu'' (a coalition of villages headed by a
paramount chief
A paramount chief is the English-language designation for a king or queen or the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a Chiefdom, chief-based system. This term is used occasionally ...
) in the
Niger river
The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Nige ...
valley around the modern village of
Tamani
Tamani is a small town and commune in the Cercle of Barouéli in the Ségou Region of southern-central Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth- ...
, west of
Segou. It existed as early as the 11th century, and played a prominent role in the establishment of the
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire (Manding languages, 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 ...
: the founder
Sundiata Keita
Sundiata Keita ( Mandinka, Malinke: ; 1217 – c. 1255, N'Ko spelling: ; 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 was als ...
's mother,
Sogolon Condé, was from Dô.
writer
Al-Bakri
Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī (), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1094) was an Arab Andalusian historian and a geographer of the Muslim West.
Life
Al-Bakri was born in Huelva, the ...
records two countries, "Daw" and "Malal", located near the Niger and close to gold-fields. In
al-Idrisi
Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi (; ; 1100–1165), was an Arab Muslim geographer and cartographer who served in the court of King Roger II at Palermo, Sicily. Muhammad al-Idrisi was born in C ...
's account of 1154, he noted that the two towns of Daw and Malal were four days' travel apart, located in a river valley that joins the Nile (meaning the
Niger River
The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Nige ...
).
Oral sources also mention two kingdoms, Do and Kiri (also called Mande or Malel).
Do was inhabited by the Conde clan, and had twelve towns under its control. After Malel brings unity, mention of Do ceases.
Some sources place the Do of the Sundiata story in the Sankaran region, west of
Niani, rather than near Segou.
References
{{Sahelian kingdoms
Political history of Mali
Successor states to the Ghana Empire