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32-511: Kati Cercle is home to primarily Bambara and Malinke farmers, as well as Bozo and Fula populations. The Kati area formed part of the pre-colonial Beledougou region of the Mali Empire , Bambara Empire , and was amongst the first places colonised by the French in the last decade of the 19th century. The Cercle falls largely south of the dryer Sahel land, in the wetter Sudan . Through it runs

64-578: A Mandé ethnic group native to much of West Africa , primarily southern Mali , Ghana , Guinea , Burkina Faso and Senegal . They have been associated with the historic Bambara Empire . Today, they make up the largest Mandé ethnic group in Mali, with 80% of the population speaking the Bambara language , regardless of ethnicity. According to the Encyclopedia of Africa , "Bambara" means "believer" or "infidel";

96-399: A tòn . Mamari soon reorganized the tòn as a personal army supplemented with runaway slaves, assumed the title of bitòn , and set about overthrowing the traditional political order. He became the first Faama of Ségou, making it the capital of a new Bamana Empire. Fortifying the capital with Songhai techniques, Bitòn Kulubali built a large army of conscripts known as the ton djon and

128-667: A navy of war canoes to patrol the Niger . He introduced a novel system of taxation using the cowrie shell as currency . His successful defeat of an invasion from the Kong Empire in 1725 cemented his position. He then proceeded to launch successful assaults against his neighbors, the Fulani , the Soninke , and the Mossi , conquering Macina , Beledougou , Djenne , Bamako and Tomboctou , though he held

160-526: A state structure which became the Bambara Empire and later Mali Empire. In stark contrast to their Muslim neighbors, the Bamana state practised and formalised traditional polytheistic religion, though Muslim communities remained locally powerful, if excluded from the central state at Ségou . The Bamana became the dominant cultural community in western Mali . The Bambara language , mutually intelligible with

192-615: Is patrilineal and patriarchal . Mandé culture is known for its strong fraternal orders and sororities ( Ton ) and the history of the Bambara Empire strengthened and preserved these orders. The first state was born as a refashioning of hunting and youth Ton s into a warrior caste. As conquests of their neighbors were successful, the state created the Jonton ( Jon = slave/kjell-slave), or slave warrior caste, replenished by warriors captured in battle. While slaves were excluded from inheritance,

224-475: The Manding and Dyula languages, has become the principal inter-ethnic language in Mali and one of the official languages of the state alongside French . Traditionally, Mandé society is hierarchal or caste-based, with nobility and vassals . Bamana political order created a small free nobility, set in the midst of endogamous caste and ethnic variation. Both castes and ethnic groups performed vocational roles in

256-790: The Sahara in southern Mauritania ), where urban centers began to emerge by as early as 2500 BC. By 250 BC, a Mandé subgroup, the Bozo , founded the city of Djenne . Between 300 AD and 1100 AD, the Soninke Mandé dominated the Western Mali, leading the Ghana Empire . When the Nilo-Saharan Songhai Empire dissolved after 1600 AD, many Mandé-speaking groups along the upper Niger river basin turned inward. The Bamana appeared again in this milieu with

288-498: The Sahara or towards the coast. They exchanged guns, shell money , horses, salt, gold, cloth, and slaves. Mungo Park , passing through the Bambara capital of Ségou in 1797 recorded a testament to the Empire's prosperity: The view of this extensive city, the numerous canoes on the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding countryside, formed altogether

320-413: The faamaw succeeded each other in rapid fashion as the tonjon leaders grew increasingly powerful, independent, and prone to intervene in succession disputes. When El Hadj Umar Tall , a Toucouleur religious leader, declared a jihad against the empire in 1859, this balkanization prevented 'faama' Ali from mounting an effective defense. Tall took Nyamina without a fight on May 25th 1860, then defeated

352-512: The jonfin , could be sold; another, the jonba were put to work by the state either as laborers or as soldiers in the ton djon . The demand for slaves then led to further fighting, leaving the Bambara in a perpetual state of war with their neighbors, and slaves from the area formed the majority of those sold to European traders at the Senegal and Gambia river trading posts. Trade was conducted largely by Muslim maraka merchants who traded across

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384-581: The Bamana army at Witala in September. Ségou itself fell on March 10, 1861 , marking the end of the Bamana Empire. The Bamana Empire was structured around traditional Bambara institutions. The most important of these was the ton , or age-group. They were in theory completely egalitarian and elected their own leaders. Through charisma and ruthless power politics, however, Biton converted this into essentially an army made up of forobadjon (nominally, slaves of

416-415: The Bamana state, and this differentiation increased with time. The Maraka merchants developed towns focused first on desert side trade, and latter on large-scale agricultural production using captured slaves. The Jula specialised in long-distance trade, as did Fula communities within the state, who added this to cattle herding. The Bozo ethnicity were created largely out of war captives, and turned by

448-731: The Jonton leaders forged a strong corporate identity. Their raids fed the Segu economy with goods and slaves for trade, and bonded agricultural laborers who were resettled by the state. The Bamana have continued in many places their tradition of caste and age group inauguration societies, known as the Tons. While this is common to most Mandé societies, the Ton tradition is especially strong in Bamana history. Tons can be by sex (initiation rites for young men and women), age (the earlier young men's Soli ton living separately from

480-462: The collapse of the Bamana state, these caste differences have eroded, though vocations have strong family and ethnic correlations. Most Bamana today adhere to Islam , but many still practise the traditional rituals, especially in honoring ancestors. This form of syncretic Islam remains rare, even allowing for conversions that in many cases happened in the mid to late 19th century. Bamana share many aspects of broader Mandé social structure. Society

512-520: The community and providing farm labor prior to taking wives), or vocation (the farming Chi Wara Ton or the hunters Donzo Ton ). While these societies continue as ways of socialising and passing on traditions, their power and importance faded in the 20th century. The Bamana people adapted many artistic traditions. Artworks were created both for religious use and to define cultural and religious difference. Bamana artistic traditions include pottery , sculpture , weaving , iron figures, and masks . While

544-458: The community) led by tondjons , or slaves of the ton but who were in practice a military aristocracy. Any faama strong enough to control the tondjons was in effect an absolute monarch, doling out state property as rewards for bravery. A 40-man council of state swore allegiance and obedience to him and served as a rubber stamp. Relatives were given key posts, and the faama was the head priest of powerful and important religious cults. The army

576-448: The core of the state was in the too-daga , the area closest to Segou. The ruler's designated successor held lots of power there. Most other provinces were governed by local elites who pledged loyalty to the faama or appointed governors. The royal symbols were a bow and arrows, and a golden axe. The economy of the Bamana Empire flourished through trade, especially that of the slaves captured in their many wars. One category of slave,

608-478: The empire and was soon deposed himself. In 1766, a former slave and leader of the ton djon named Ngolo Diarra seized the throne and re-established stability, reigning for nearly forty years of prosperity. He began a series of successful conquests, including that of Timbuktu and the Macina region. The Ngolosi, his descendants, would continue to rule the Empire until its fall. Ngolo's son Mansong Diarra took

640-515: The empire's power progressively declined. At the Battle of Noukouma in 1818, Bambara forces met and were defeated by Fula Muslim fighters rallied by the jihad of Cheikou Amadu (or Seku Amadu) of Massina. The Bamana Empire survived but was irreversibly weakened. Seku Amadu's forces decisively defeated the Bambara, taking Djenné and much of the territory around Mopti and forming into a Massina Empire . Timbuktu would fall as well in 1845. After 1839

672-480: The farmers association. Other Bamana statues include fertility statues, meant to be kept with the wife at all times to ensure fertility, and statues created for vocational groups such as hunters and farmers, often used as offering places by other groups after prosperous farming seasons or successful hunting parties. Bambara Empire The Bamana Empire (also Bambara Empire or Ségou Empire , Bambara : ߓߊ߲ߓߊߙߊ߲߫ ߝߊ߯ߡߟߊ , romanized:  Banbaran Fāmala )

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704-579: The fertile valley of the Niger River , home to groundnut , cotton , and tobacco farms, as well as being a major transportation and fishing resource. The Kati Cercle is divided into 37 communes : This Koulikoro Region location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 12°30′N 8°20′W  /  12.500°N 8.333°W  / 12.500; -8.333 Bambara people The Bambara ( Bambara : ߓߡߊߣߊ߲ , romanized:  Bamana or ߓߊ߲ߡߊߣߊ߲ Banmana ) are

736-521: The group acquired the name because it resisted Islam after the religion was introduced in 1854 by Tukulor conqueror El Hadj Umar Tall . The Bamana originated as a royal section of the Mandinka people . Both Manding and Bambara are part of the Mandé ethno-linguistic group, whose divergence is dated to at least about 7,000 years ago, and branches of which are associated with sites near Tichitt (now subsumed by

768-603: The interior of Africa perhaps from the upper Senegal-Niger region and transported to the Americas via ports on the Senegambian coast. As early as 1730 at the slave-trading post of Gorée, the term Bambara referred simply to slaves who were already in the service of the local elites or French. Growing from farming communities in Ouassoulou , between Sikasso and Ivory Coast , Bamana-age co-fraternities (called Ton s) began to develop

800-452: The latter city only briefly. In 1751 he also conquered Niani , making the Mansa of the rump-state Mali Empire a vassal. During this time he founded the city of Bla as an outpost and armory. Mamari's death in 1755 inaugurated an era of instability and civil war. Dinkoro Coulibaly reigned for a few years before being overthrown by his brother Ali . A devout muslim, he attempted to convert

832-411: The leader of a small Bambara kingdom in the city of Ségou in Mali. Though he made many successful conquests of neighboring tribes and kingdoms, he failed to set up a significant administrative framework, and the new empire disintegrated following his death (c. 1660). In 1712 Mamari Kulubali , also known as Biton Coulibaly, Kaladian's great-grandson, was elected the leader of a youth organization known as

864-507: The rise of a Bamana Empire in the 1740s, when the Mali Empire started to crumble around 1559. While there is little consensus among modern historians and ethnologists as to the origins or meaning of the ethno-linguistic term, references to the name Bambara can be found from the early 18th century. In addition to its general use as a reference to an ethno-linguistic group, Bambara was also used to identify captive Africans who originated in

896-429: The state to fishing and ferrying communities. In addition to this, the Bamana maintained internal castes, like other Mandé peoples, with griots , priests, metalworkers, and other specialist vocations remaining endogamous and living in designated areas. Formerly, like most other African societies, they also held slaves (called "Jonw"/"Jong(o)"), often war prisoners from lands surrounding their territory. With time, and

928-510: The throne c.1790 following his father's death in battle and a short succession dispute. During this period the Faama ruled from a massive palace in Segou and commanded a well-organized cavalry army, often used for raising tribute and taxes in the form of cowries. The capital, Segou, was a prosperous city of around 30,000 inhabitants straddling both banks of the Niger river . After Mansong's death in 1808,

960-481: The tourist and art market is the main destination of modern Bamana artworks, most artistic traditions had been part of sacred vocations, created as a display of religious beliefs and used in ritual. Bamana forms of art include the n’tomo mask and the Tyi Warra . The n’tomo mask was used by dancers at male initiation ceremonies. The Tyi Warra (or ciwara ) headdress was used at harvest time by young men chosen from

992-403: Was a place where ethnic and class distinctions mattered little, and capable people could rise and make their fortunes. Another traditional institution was the kòmò , a body to resolve theological concerns. The kòmò often consulted religious sculptures in their decisions, particularly the four state boliw , large altars designed to aid the acquisition of political power. Administratively,

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1024-591: Was one of the largest states of West Africa in the 18th century. Along with Kaarta it was one of the most important successors of the Songhai Empire . Based on an earlier kingdom established in 1640, it grew into a powerful empire in the early 18th century under Bitòn Coulibaly . The empire existed as a centralized state from 1712 until the 1861 invasion by the Toucouleur conqueror El Hadj Umar Tall . Around 1640, Kaladian Coulibaly , also known as Fa Sine, became

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