LECTURE EIGHT

8.0 RESPONSE TO COLONIAL RULE IN WEST AFRICA

Objectives

By the end of the lecture learner should be able to:-

 Describe the mandinka resistance

8.1 The Mandinka Resistance.

One of the great kings and fighters of African freedom was the great SamoriToure. Born
about 1830 in Sanankaro, SE of Kankan in present-day Guinea, SamoriToure chose the path
of confrontation, using warfare and diplomacy, to deal with the French colonial incursion.

His father was a Dyula trader, leading Toure to follow his family’s occupation. In the 1850s,
he enrolled in the military forces at Madina (present-day Mali) to liberate his mother,
captured during a slave raid by king SoriBirama of Bisandugu. Displaying extraordinary
military skill and prowess, he and his mother were subsequently released in 1858. Coupled
with his experience as a Dyula trader, he built his army. Samori employed the triple thrust of
persuasion, threat and war, in the same way as Sundiata did in Mali, to organized Malinké
chiefdoms and expand the Mandinka state. Between 1852 and 1882, SamoriToure had
created the Mandinka Empire with the capital at Bisandugu, in present day Gambia.

Samori’s army was powerful, disciplined, professional, and trained in modern day warfare.
They were equipped with European guns. The army was divided into two flanks, the infantry
or sofa, with 30,000 to 35,000 men, and the cavalry or sere of 3,000 men. There was a third
wing of 500 men forming specially trained bodyguards. In 1881, Samori extended the empire
to the east as far as Sikasso (in Mali) to the west, up to the Futa Djallon Empire. Meanwhile,
the French were extending eastwards from FutaDjalon while the Mandinka were extending
westwards towards Kenyeran trading centre, Next to the rich Bure Gold fields.
In 1882, at the height of the Mandinka empire, the French accused SamoriTouré of refusing
to withdraw from an important market center, Kenyeran (his army had blockaded the
market). They thus started war on him. His bid to obtain assistance from the British to deal
with the French failed as the later were not willing to enter into conflict with the French.
From 1882 to 1885, Samori fought the French and had to sign infamous Bisandugu treaty on
28th march 1886 and then 1887.

Significance of the Bisandugu treaties (1886-1887)

a) To Toure, these were acts of delay the real confrontation that with the French that would
come at an opportune time.

b) He hoped that by this treaty, he would reach out at the British for a friendship treaty to
enable him secure trade routes from the north under Tieba of Sikasso.

c) The French on their part hoped to use the treaty to enable them to arrange the conquest of
the Tukolor Empire.

d) The treaties put the Mandinkaunder brief French protection.

In 1888, he took up arms again when the French reneged on the treaty by attempting to foster
rebellion within his empire.

In 1890, he reorganized the army and concluded a treaty with the British in Sierra Leone,
where he obtained modern weapons. He now stressed defense and employed guerilla tactics

The Franco- Mandinka war (1891-1898)

8.2 Causes of the Franco-Mandinka war (1891-1898)

a) Samori wanted to safeguard the independence and religion of his empire. Being a staunch
Muslim, he could not tolerate non-Muslims on his land.

b) He was not ready willing to lose the rich Bure Mines to the French whether through
diplomacy or warfare.

c) His empire was at that time enjoying military and economic superiority. The French
incursion was merely a threat to his territorial expansion that was to be fought at all costs.
d) His participation in trade had enabled him to acquire modern arms thus enabling him to
build an equipped and well trained army which did not fear the encounter French. He even
had facilities for arms repair.

e) His scheme to play off the British against the French, between 1882 and 1889, had failed.
This upset him and therefore left him only with the fighting option.

f) The activities of the French of selling arms to his enemies such as Tieba of Sikasso were
viewed by Samori as an act to weaken the Mandinka dominance.

8.3 Course of the franco-mandinka war.

Samori waged a seven –year war against France whose army was led by Major Archinard. In
1891, with his improved weaponry and reorganized army, he defeated the French. In 1892,
French forces overran the major centers of the Mandinka Empire, leaving death and
destruction in their wake. In 1894, the French assembled all their troops in western Sudan
(Senegal, Mali, Niger, etc…) to fight Samori.

Between 1893 and 1898, Samori’s army retreated eastward, toward the Bandama and Como,
resorted to the scorched earth tactic, destroying every piece of land he evacuated. He moved
his capital east from Bisandugu to Dabakala, thus creating a second empire in 1893. This
enabled him to delay the French. He formed a second empire, and moved his capital to Kong,
in upper Cote d’Ivoire.

8.4 Disadvantages of Samori’s second empire.

a) He was cut off from Freetown where he used to buy firearms.

b) He was at war with the communities, which he had attacked in his expansionist wars.

c) His southern frontier was open to French attacks from the Ivory Coast.

d) At his new empire, Samore was cut off from his gold mines at Bure thus; he had no wealth
to keep his army running.

e) The occupation of the Asante Empire by the British in 1896 meant that enemies from all
corners surrounded SamoriToure.

In 1898, Samori, forced to fight a total war against innumerable odds like famine and
desertion that weakened his forces, was captured on September 29, 1898, in his camp in
Gué(lé)mou at the town of Sikasso in present-day Côte d’Ivoire and exiled to Ndjolé, Gabon,
where he died of pneumonia on June 2, 1900.

8.5 Factors that aided SamoriToure in offering a protracted resistance to the

a) He had established military workshops with a trained cadre of artisans whom he used to
repair and manufacture his own weapons. This guaranteed regular supply of weapons during
the resistance.

b) He himself was a courageous fighter, a greater organizer and a military tactician and he
personally commanded his army on the battlefield.

c) His adoption of the Scorched Earth Policy as he mobilized the entire population to retreat
left the French to starve and delay their advance.

d) The success witnessed in trade enabled him to acquire guns and horses from the north,
which were important in the resistance.

e) Through trade and subsequent tribute collection, he obtained adequate wealth, which he
used to maintain a large army.

f) He had a large strong and well-organized army of 35,000 men, which was a formidable
force for the French.

g) He used diplomacy in dealing with the French to buy time to reorganize and strengthen his
army, and to negotiate with the British in Sierra Leone to guarantee regular supply of guns.

h) French soldiers were ignorant of the strange land they were fighting in and were faced with
further problem of tropical disease.

i) Some of his soldiers had served in the French colonial army and were thus familiar with the
French tactics.

j) He used Mandinka nationalism and Islam to unify the army. Many of Samori’s soldiers
believed that they were fighting a Jihad (holy war) and therefore fought with determination.

Why samori was finally defeated.

b) The abandoning of the rich Bure Gold reserves as Samori retreated meant he had lost an
important source of revenue that was initially used to sustain the army.

c) When he moved to his second empire, He was cut off from Freetown where he used to buy
firearms.

d) Samori failed to get any support from other African societies due to lack of unity. Ahmed
Seku of Tukolor and Tieba of Sikasso chose to rather assist the French than support Samori.

e) His second empire was open to attack from all sides by either the British or the French,
making it difficult to defend.

f) The French had superior weapons and better means to re-equip their stores. They were also
determined to defeat samori to set up an overseas colonial empire.

g) The use of the scorched earth policy was resented by the civilians since it left them with
nothing after destruction. It thus starred up local resistance.

h) Even within his own empire, there was no total unity. The non-Mandinka communities and
non-Muslims in the empire who had felt mistreated during his reign supported the French.

i) The refusal by the British to assist Samori dented his hopes of getting a European ally
against the French.

j) Samori’s retreat to Liberia was blocked and his capital besieged. He had to surrender to the
French.