Case study: Samori Touré and the Mandinka empire

1Why this matters

Samori Touré resisted French conquest in West Africa for about sixteen years, from 1882 to 1898, longer than almost any other African leader. He did it by building a professional army, producing and buying modern weapons, and even moving his whole state when he had to. His story shows that African resistance was often well organised and technically inventive, and it also shows the heavy costs that long wars placed on ordinary people.

2Who was Samori Touré?

Samori was born around 1830 in the upper Niger region of present-day Guinea, into a family of Mandinka (Maninka) traders. As a young man he became a soldier, rose through his military skill, and by the 1870s had built his own state. He took the title faama (military leader or king) and later almami (a Muslim religious leader). His state, often called the Mandinka empire or the Wassoulou empire, had its capital at Bissandougou and stretched across parts of today's Guinea, Mali and Côte d'Ivoire.

3How his state was organised

• Centralised government: the empire was divided into provinces ruled by trusted relatives and commanders loyal to Samori.
• Islam was used as a unifying ideology, with Quranic schools and Muslim law.
• Economy: gold from the Buré fields, trade in cattle, kola and ivory, and horses. Captives from his wars were also sold, which caused great suffering.
• A professional army of perhaps 30,000 or more at its height: infantry called sofa, organised into units, and cavalry, trained in European-style drill.

4His resistance to the French

5Why he resisted for so long

1. A disciplined professional army with good commanders.
2. Modern weapons: he bought repeating rifles through traders in Freetown, Sierra Leone, paying with gold and ivory, and his blacksmiths repaired firearms and made copies of French rifles.
3. Tactics: guerrilla warfare, avoiding pitched battles he could not win, and scorched earth to deny the French food.
4. The mobile empire: moving his state east kept it alive when the old territory was lost.
5. Diplomacy: he signed treaties to gain time and tried to play the British against the French.
6. Strong leadership and Islam as a unifying force.

6Why he was finally defeated

1. French superiority in weapons, artillery and resources, with steady reinforcements.
2. Loss of arms supplies when the British, reaching agreements with France, restricted the gun trade through Sierra Leone.
3. African enemies: rivals such as Tieba of Kenedougou and peoples Samori had conquered helped the French.
4. Harsh rule: forced recruitment, heavy demands and scorched earth turned many subjects against him.
5. The move east cut him off from the Buré gold fields and brought him into conflict with new neighbours and with the British.
6. Famine and exhaustion after years of war; he was finally captured in 1898.

Worked example: a balanced assessment

Question: Assess Samori Touré as a resistance leader.

Samori was one of the most capable military leaders of the colonial era. He built a professional army, secured modern rifles through trade and his own workshops, and kept the French at bay for sixteen years, even relocating his state. However, his wars were costly for the peoples of the region: conquered peoples were forced into his army, captives were sold, and his scorched-earth retreats destroyed farms and towns. This harshness cost him allies, whom the French then used against him. He is rightly honoured in Guinea and across West Africa as a symbol of resistance, but a full assessment includes the suffering his wars caused.

Practice

Solution. France, from 1882 until his capture in 1898, about sixteen years.

Solution. He bought repeating rifles through traders in Freetown, Sierra Leone, paying with gold and ivory, and his blacksmiths repaired firearms and made copies of French rifles.

Solution. From 1892 to 1894 he moved his whole state eastwards, away from the French advance, into what is now northern Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, destroying the land behind him so the French could not use it.

Solution. Any two of: French military superiority and reinforcements; loss of his arms supply through Sierra Leone; African rivals and conquered peoples helping the French; harsh rule that cost him support; loss of the Buré gold fields; famine and exhaustion.