NAME: MAKOYE AMAN THT : 553
REG. No’s TEKU/BEDPSY/12700 :HISTORY OF WEST AFRICA
Samori
Touré was born in 1830 in Manyambaladugu
(Sanankoro), a village
southeast of Kankan in
present-day Guinea. Samori was a great warrior who fought imperialism in the 19th
century such as many leaders today. One of the great kings and fighters of
African freedom was the great Samori Touré. Over 100 years ago
. He fought and
won against the French army several times before his capture. Samori Touré was
captured by the French and deported to Gabon where he died of pneumonia after 2
years[1].
Fear
of losing the power or crushed from the leadership. One of the reason for
Samori Toure to resist the French is the fear of being crushed from the
leadership hence he resisted them to maintain his status.
French
forces overran the major cities of the Mandinka Empire, leaving death and
desolation in their wake (sounds familiar) like Côte d’Ivoire.
These incursions into Touré’s empire led to exodus of the entire nation
eastward. He started to fight to resist the French in order to retain the lost
cities.
To
remove the assembled troops of French in the western Sudan that is Senegal,
Mali and Niger[2].
These established troops of the French was there to fight Samori Toure,
therefore Samori decided to fight so that he can weaken the fighting of the
French and defeat them.
He refused to submit to French colonization
and thus chose the path of confrontation using warfare and diplomacy. After the
abolishment of Slave trade, French was given Guinea to colonize it, whereby
Samori Toure refused to be under the colonization of the French hence resisted.
To
regain a seized town of Sikasso from
the French and his army took up positions in the Liberian forests to
resist a second invasion[3].
In May 1, 1898, the French seized the town of sikaso; this time Samori’s army
fought valiantly but was no match to the power of the French arsenal. Samori
forced to fight a total war against a foreign invader, and fighting against all
odds.
French
attempted to seize the Bure gold fields[4].
When an 1885 French expedition under Col. A. V. A. Combes attempted to seize
the Bure gold fields, Ture counterattacked. Dividing his army into three mobile
columns, he worked his way around the French lines of communication and forced
them to withdraw quickly[5].
The
French ambition to build an empire to West Africa. Samory Toure opposed French
ambitions to build an empire in West Africa. He went to war with the French in
1883. French troops occupied Bamako on the Niger River and settled the war
after a successful offensive in 1886. Samory was forced to accept the Niger as
his frontier.
The
aggressive expansion of French in West Africa in late 1870’s. French pushed eastward from Senegal
in an attempt to reach the upper reaches of the Nile in what is now Sudan. They
also sought to drive southeast to link up with their bases in Côte d'Ivoire.
These moves put them directly into conflict with Samori Toure.
French
expedition attacked one of Samori's armies besieging Keniera in 1882. Samori
was able to drive the French off, but he was alarmed at the discipline and
firepower of the European military.
Therefore, the fall of other
resistance armies, particularly Babemba Traoré at Sikasso permitted the French
colonial army to launch a concentrated assault against Touré. He was captured
29 September 1898 by the French captain Henri Gouraud and was exiled to
GabonTure died in captivity on June 2, 1900, following a bout of pneumonia. His
tomb is at the Camayanne Mausoleum, within the gardens of Conakry Grand Mosque.
[1] Schaffer, Matt (2003. Djinns,
Stars, and Warriors: Mandinka Legends from Pakao, Senegal. Leiden:
Springer-Brill). p. 6.
[2] Ibid
pp.6-7
[3] Charry, Eric S. (2000. Mande
Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western
Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press). P10
[4] Ibid
p.11
[5] Vandervort, Bruce.( 1830. Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa),p. 128
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