Massina Empire
Encyclopedia
Mopti Region
Mopti is the fifth administrative region of Mali, covering 79,017 km². Its capital is the city of Mopti.-Geography:Mopti Region is bordered by Tombouctou Region to the north, Ségou Region to the southwest, and Burkina Faso to the southeast....
and Ségou Region
Ségou Region
Ségou is the fourth most populous administrative region in Mali, whose capital is the town of Ségou.-Geography:Situated at the center of Mali, Ségou Region covers 64,947 km²...
s of Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
. Its capital was at Hamdullahi
Hamdullahi
Hamdullahi was a nineteenth-century imamate in what is now the Mopti Region of Mali...
.
The Fulas of the region had for centuries been the vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
s of larger states, including the Mali Empire
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire or Mandingo Empire or Manden Kurufa was a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I...
(13th-14th centuries), the Songhai Empire
Songhai Empire
The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire, was a state located in western Africa. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city...
(15th century), the Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
pashas of Tomboctou (16th century), and the Bambara Empire
Bambara Empire
The Bamana Empire was a large pre-colonial West African state based at Ségou, now in Mali. It was ruled by the Kulubali or Coulibaly dynasty established circa 1640 by Kaladian Coulibaly also known as Fa Sine or Biton-si-u...
at Ségou
Ségou
Ségou is a city in south-central Mali, lying northeast of Bamako on the River Niger, in the region of Ségou. It was founded by the Bozo people, on a site about from the present town...
(17th century).
Inspired by the recent Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
uprisings of Usman dan Fodio
Usman dan Fodio
Shaihu Usman dan Fodio , born Usuman ɓii Foduye, was the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate in 1809, a religious teacher, writer and Islamic promoter. Dan Fodio was one of a class of urbanized ethnic Fulani living in the Hausa States in what is today northern Nigeria...
in nearby Hausaland, preacher and social reformer Seku Amadu
Seku Amadu
Seku Amadu was the founder of the Fula Massina Empire in what is now the Mopti Region of Mali...
led a Fula army in jihad
Amadu's Jihad
Amadu's Jihad was a religious war or jihad fought from 1810 to 1818 in what is now the Mopti Region of Mali.Seku Amadu , a Fulani Muslim leader in West Africa, overthrew the ruling Fulani dynasty of the Macina region of what is now Mali and created a new theocratic state with its capital at...
against the Bambara Empire in 1818. The empire expanded rapidly, taking Djenné
Djenné
Djenné is an Urban Commune and town in the Inland Niger Delta region of central Mali. In the 2009 census the commune had a population of 32,944. Administratively it is part of the Mopti Region....
in 1819 and establishing a new capital at Hamdullahi
Hamdullahi
Hamdullahi was a nineteenth-century imamate in what is now the Mopti Region of Mali...
in 1820.
At the height of the Empire's power, a 10,000 man army was stationed in the city, and Seku Amadu ordered the construction of six hundred madrasas to further the spread of Islam. Alcohol, tobacco, music and dancing were banned in accordance with Islamic law, while a social welfare system provided for widows and orphans. A strict interpretation of Islamic injunctions against ostentation led Amadu to order the Great Mosque of Djenné
Great Mosque of Djenné
The Great Mosque of Djenné is the largest mud brick or adobe building in the world and is considered by many architects to be the greatest achievement of the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style, with definite Islamic influences. The mosque is located in the city of Djenné, Mali on the flood plain...
to be abandoned, and all future mosques were ordered built with low ceilings and without decoration or minaret
Minaret
A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....
s.
One of the most enduring accomplishments was a code regulating the use of the inland Niger delta region by Fula cattle herders and diverse farming communities.
In 1825, Seku Amadu conquered Timbuktu
Timbuktu
Timbuktu , formerly also spelled Timbuctoo, is a town in the West African nation of Mali situated north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali...
. He died in 1845, leaving control of the Massina Empire to his son, Amadu Seku
Amadu Seku
-External links:* *....
. Amadu Seku
Amadu Seku
-External links:* *....
in turn soon abdicated the throne in favor of his son Amadu Amadu
Amadu Amadu
Amadu Amadu was the last ruler of the Fula Massina Empire in what is now the Mopti Region of Mali...
.
In 1862, Toucouleur
Toucouleur
The Toucouleurs are a Fula agricultural people who live primarily in West Africa: the north of Senegal in the Senegal River valley, Mauritania, and Mali.-History:...
conqueror El Hadj Umar Tall launched an attack on the Massina from his newly-secured base at Ségou. After a series of bloody battles, he entered Hamdullahi on March 16, levelling it. Amadu Amadu was captured and put to death. Though resistance briefly continued under Amadu Amadu's brother Balobo
Balobo
Balobo, or Ba Lobbo, was the son of Massina Empire ruler Amadu Seku, and brother of Amadu Amadu, the Empire's last king.After the 1862 fall of the Empire's capital Hamdullahi to El Hadj Umar Tall's Toucouleur Empire, Amadu Amadu was captured and executed, leaving Balobo the leader of remaining...
, the destruction marked the effective end of the Massina Empire.
See also
- Sanankoua, Bintou. Un empire peul au XIXe siècle - La Diina du Maasina. Paris, 1990.
- Bâ, Amadou Hampâté and Daget, Jacques. L’empire peul du Macina, 1818-1853. Nouvelles Editions Africaines.