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anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Mar 2006 : 21:38:47
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Hello Bantabamembers and readers!
Tonight i did something i have wanted to do for a long time: i registered as a member on your informative forum!
As my avatar i chose a picture of a man called Samory Touray, simply because Touray is the surname of my Gambian partner (there seem to be a lot of Tourays around). But honestly speaking, i haven't got a clue about who Samory is! His picture reminded me of my lover who is currently in the Gambia (he will be back with me in Holland by the end of April): rather rough looking, bearded.
What is Samory Touray well-known for, did i do the right thing by chosing his picture to introduce my postings? I thought the history forum would be the right place to ask about this man. I look forward to your reactions.
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When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
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njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
Posted - 18 Mar 2006 : 02:12:49
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hi anna
Samory Touray was a born in what is today Guinea Conakry.(after Senegal) and he led a sustained resistance against french colonial expansion for about 12 years. he was finally captured at the turn of the last century and exiled to Gabon (central africa) by the french government in Senegal.
to the africans he was a military hero and to the french a problem in their african empire. Samory controlled a large part of West Africa from Guinea,to what is present day nothern parts of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Ghana.
suprisingly Samori's grandson was to become the first President of the Republic of Guinea and a strong anti-colonialist and advocate for african unity. he is remembered for famously inviting De Gaulle to Guinea and publicly refuse to join the french commonwealth which he saw as an extension of colonialism.
he was called Sekou Touray, they share the same surname but the link is maternal.
i hope this helps
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anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 18 Mar 2006 : 09:16:05
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Thank you, njucks, for this information. I must confess that i had somehow hoped Samory would have played an important role in Gambian history but i see now that he was a freedomfighter in an other part of West Africa. Anyway, i see no reason not to use his picture as my avatar - nothing to be ashamed of (and since i am not French there is no grudge). As i said, Tourays (or Toures) seem to be found all over the place!
anna |
When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2006 : 19:10:50
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Anna
Njucks has spilled the beans and you cannot find a more concise biography of Samori. He was a pan Africanist who stood against tyranny and colonialism. Tourays are all over in the senegambia region. i am proud of him and he has been a model for me. He did play an important part of Gambian history as his empire extended in our region. Gambia was once part of the mali empire and so was Guniea.
We share a common history and it is nothing more than the transformation of the early mandingo empires into relatively largrer chiefdoms. Tourays are mandingos but in places like Ballangharr, Sabach Sanjal, (Gambia)they claim to be Wollofs. That is not important here for as long as we remain committed to the improvement of our societies. |
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
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anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 21 Mar 2006 : 00:25:22
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| Thank you Kondorong, for this addition. I shared the information with my Gambian man over the phone and he told me about Sekou as well. He is a very proud Mandingo Touray, telling me 'my ancestors were heroes, now you see for yourself!'. |
When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
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Janyanfara
Tanzania
1350 Posts |
Posted - 27 Mar 2006 : 00:16:56
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Anna you are lucky,If I was a girl and have a boy friend from the Toure Family,I will never let him slip from my hands.They were greatworriors.
Here is what I was able to gather about Samory, Babemba and Saikou Toure:
Samori Ture (also Samory Touré or Samori ibn Lafiya Ture, c. 1830 - 1900) was the founder of an Islamic military state that resisted French rule in West Africa from 1882 to his capture in 1898.
Early life and career
Born c. 1830 in Manyambaladugu (in what is now southeastern Guinea), the child of Dyula traders, Samori grew up in a West Africa being transformed by growing contacts with the Europeans. European trade made some African trading states rich, while growing access to firearms changed traditional West African patterns of warfare.
In 1848, Samori's mother was captured in the course of war by Séré-Burlay, of the Cissé clan. After arranging his mother's freedom, Samori engaged himself to the service of the Cissés where he learned the handling of arms. According to tradition, he remained "seven years, seven months, seven days" before fleeing with his mother.
He then joined the Bérété army, the enemies of the Cissé, for two years before rejoining his people, the Kamara. Named Kélétigui ("war chief") at Dyala in 1861, Samori took an oath to protect his people against both the Bérété and the Cissé. He created a professional army and placed close relations, notably his brothers and his childhood friends, in positions of command.
Expansion through the Sudan
In 1864, El Hadj Umar Tall, the founder of the aggressive Toucouleur Empire that dominated the Upper Niger River, died. As the Toucouleur state lost its grip on power, generals and local rulers vied to create states of their own.
By 1867, Samori was a full-fledged war chief, with an army of his own centered on Sanankoro in the Guinea Highlands, on the Upper Milo, a Niger tributary. Samori understood that he needed to accomplish two things: to create an efficient, loyal fighting force equipped with modern firearms, and to build a stable state of his own.
By 1876 Samori was able to import breech-loading rifles through the British colony of Sierra Leone. He conquered the Buré gold mining district (now on the border between Sierra Leone and Guinea) to bolster his financial situation. By 1878 he was strong enough to proclaim himself faama (military leader) of his own Wassoulou Empire. He made Bissandugu his capital and began political and commercial exchanges with the neighboring Toucouleur.
In 1879, after numerous struggles, Samori was able to secure control of the key Dyula trading center of Kankan, on the upper Milo River. Kankan was a center for the trade in kola nuts, and was well sited to dominate the trade routes in all directions. By 1881, Wassoulou extended through Guinea and Mali, from what is now Sierra Leone to northern Côte d'Ivoire.
Samori conserved most organizations and traditions of conquered peoples, though he forced local animist populations to convert to Islam and in 1884 took the title of Almany, commander of believers. This same year, he also besieged and took the city of Falaba, then capital of Solimana.
While Samori conquered the numerous small tribal states around him, he also moved to secure his diplomatic position. He opened regular contacts with the British in Sierra Leone, and built a working relationship with the Fulbe jihad state of Futa Jallon. Samori sold slaves to Futa Jallon in exchange for cattle, horses, and, most importantly, French rifles.
First battles with the French
The French began to expand aggressively in West Africa in the late 1870s, pushing 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.
In February 1882, a French expedition attacked one of Samori’s armies besieging Kenyeran. Samori was able to drive the French off, but he was alarmed at the discipline and firepower of the European military.
Samori tried to deal with the French in several ways. First, he expanded southwestward to secure a line of communication with Liberia. In January of 1885 he sent an embassy to Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, offering to put his kingdom under British protection. The British were not interested in confronting the French at this time, but they did allow Samori to buy large numbers of modern repeating rifles.
When an 1885 French expedition under Col. A. V. A. Combes attempted to seize the Buré gold fields, Samori counterattacked. Dividing his army into three mobile columns he worked his way around the French lines of communication and forced them to withdraw in haste.
War and defeat
By 1887, Samori had a disciplined army of 30-35,000 infantry, organized into platoons and companies on the European model, and 3,000 cavalry, in regular squadrons of 50 each. However, the French were determined not to give Samori time to consolidate his position. Exploiting the rebellions of several of Samori's animist subject tribes, the French continued to expand into his westernmost holdings, forcing Samory to sign several treaties ceding territory to them between 1886 and 1889.
In March of 1891, a French force under Col. Archinard launched a direct attack on Kankan. Knowing his fortifications could not stop French artillery, Samori began a war of maneuver. Despite victories against isolated French columns (for example at Dabadugu in September 1891), Samori failed to push the French from the core of his kingdom. In June of 1892, Col. Archinard’s replacement, Humbert, leading a small, well-supplied force of picked men, captured Samori’s capital of Bissandugu. In another blow, the British stopped selling breech loaders to Samori in accordance with the Brussels convention of 1890.
Samori moved his entire base of operations eastward, toward the Bandama and Comoe. He instituted a scorched earth policy, devastating each area before he evacuated it. Though this maneuver cut Samori off from his last source of modern weapons, Liberia, it also delayed French pursuit.
Nonetheless, the fall of other resistance armies, particularly Babemba Traoré at Sikasso, permitted the colonial army to launch a concentrated assault against Touré. He was captured 29 September, 1898 by French Commandant Goudraud and exiled to Gabon.
Samori died in captivity on June 2, 1900, following a bout of pneumonia.
Babemba Traoré
Babemba Traoré was a king of the Kénédougou Empire. Following the 1893 death of his brother Tieba Traoré, Babemba assumed the Kénédougou throne. The capital, Sikasso, was beset at this time by both the Dyula forces of Samory Touré and by the rapidly advancing French colonial army. The neighboring Toucouleur Empire's capital at Ségou had fallen to the French the previous year, leaving the French free to focus on subduing the Kénédougou.
In April 1898, the French began a major artillery barrage against Sikasso's walls; the city itself fell on May 1, 1898. Rather than surrender to the French, Babemba ordered his guards to kill him, an action still celebrated in Mali today. Samory Touré was captured in September of the same year, marking the effective end of West African resistance to French rule.
The stadium of Sikasso today bears his name.
Ahmed Saikou Toure
Samori's great gran nephew(through the mother line) Ahmad Saikou Toure was the first brave man of the 19th century who stood alone to gain his country's independance despite the french treat.He said.."Freedom in poverty is better than riches in slavery"..The french witdrew from Guinea distroying everything but Saikou was brave.He started from scratch.Making sure he overcome hunger by asking every citizen to plant an edible tree....He was also the first and the last pan-African to allow a fellow President who was overthrown undemocratically to come to his country and be made a co-president.He ruled with Osagiefoe Dr.Kwame Nkurumah until the latter died in Guinea and made sure he was given a state burial in his native country(Ghana).
When I went ti Labbe(In Guinea)I was so much respectful of Saikou's efforts that I thought his son should be aworded the honour of president to complete his father's legacy.This man made so many plantations that Guinea can be proud of self food sufficiency that you eat bananas,pears,Mangoes (you name it).My God this man with his vission,he should have been the president of Africa.
God bless Him.
No wounder he is Toure from Almamy Samore.
Mankajang Janyanfara. |
Edited by - Janyanfara on 27 Mar 2006 00:43:11 |
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anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 27 Mar 2006 : 19:12:13
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Wow, Mr Janyanfara - it will take a while before i have learnt all these historical facts by heart. Where do you find this information?
My Gambian partner is especially fond of Saikou (or Sekou), he will be very pleased to see that you provided me with all these details.
I will take good care of my Touray from this great and large family, and hope with all my heart that he will remain with me longer than 'seven years (the seven year itch?), seven months and seven days'!
Thank you very much for replying so extensively! |
When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
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Janyanfara
Tanzania
1350 Posts |
Posted - 28 Mar 2006 : 00:53:13
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You welcome,
Though I am now a law student,I was very keen on history and am now on the move writing my first book(Its History) so its part of my life.
I also have high regard for Saikou Toure.He is my role model. |
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