Wassoulou
Encyclopedia
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...
, northeast Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
(Prefectures
Prefectures of Guinea
||Guinea is divided into 8 regions among which the national capital Conakry ranks as a special zone. The other 7 regions are further subdivided into 33 prefectures...
of Kankan
Kankan Prefecture
Kankan is a prefecture located in the Kankan Region of Guinea. The capital is Kankan. The prefecture covers an area of 11,564 km.² and has an estimated population of 235,000.-Sub-prefectures:...
, Kerouané
Kérouané Prefecture
Kérouané is a prefecture located in the Kankan Region of Guinea. The capital is Kérouané. The prefecture covers an area of 9,750 km.² and has an estimated population of 125,000.-Sub-prefectures:...
, Beyla
Beyla Prefecture
Beyla is a prefecture located in the Nzérékoré Region of Guinea. The capital is Beyla. The prefecture covers an area of 17,452 km.² and has an estimated population of 188,000.-Sub-prefectures:...
, and Siguiri
Siguiri Prefecture
Siguiri is a prefecture located in the Kankan Region of Guinea. The capital is Siguiri. The prefecture covers an area of 15,500 km² and has an estimated population of 244,000.-Sub-prefectures:...
) and the area west of the Sankarani river
Sankarani River
The Sankarani River is a tributary of the Niger River Flowing northward from the Fouta Djallon highlands of Guinea, it crosses into southern Mali, where it joins the Niger approximately 40 km upstream of Bamako...
and south of the Niger River
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
in Mali and Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
. Centered around the town of Yanfolila
Yanfolila
Yanfolila is a town in the Yanfolila Cercle of the Sikasso Region of Mali.Yanfolila has been connected to the Internet since January 2005, thanks to a satellite connection....
, (in the Cercle of Yanfolila, and the Sikasso Region
Sikasso Region
Sikasso is the southern-most region of Mali. The capital city of the same name is the 3rd-largest city and is growing rapidly due to people fleeing the violence in Côte d'Ivoire to the south. Major ethnic groups include the Senoufo, known for masks and reverence for animals, the Samago, known for...
, 150 km south of Bamako
Bamako
Bamako is the capital of Mali and its largest city with a population of 1.8 million . Currently, it is estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa and sixth fastest in the world...
), historic Wassoulou has an estimated population of 160,000. Other towns in Wassoulou include Madina Diassa and Bougouni
Bougouni
Bougouni is a commune and city in Mali, the administrative center of Bougouni Cercle, which is in turn found in the administrative region of Sikasso. Bougouni is located 170 km south of Bamako and 210 km west of the city of Sikasso...
. The region is named for the Wassoulou river valley.
Wassoulou is not the name of any formal governmental entity in any of the three modern nations into which it falls, but rather an historic, cultural region. It should not be confused with the formal Regions of Mali
Regions of Mali
||Mali is divided into eight regions and one capital district. Each of the regions bears the name of its principal city. The regions are divided into 49 cercles. The cercles and the capital district are divided into 703 communes....
, the Regions of Côte d'Ivoire
Regions of Côte d'Ivoire
||Côte d'Ivoire is divided into nineteen regions :The regions are further divided into 81 departments.-External links:...
, or the Regions of Guinea
Regions of Guinea
||Guinea is divided into 8 administrative regions which are further subdivided into 34 prefectures.*Boké Region*Conakry Region*Faranah Region*Kankan Region*Kindia Region*Labé Region*Mamou Region*Nzérékoré Region-See also:*ISO 3166-2:GN...
.
Culture
Wassoulou is best known internationally as the birthplace of Wassoulou musicWassoulou music
Wassoulou is a genre of West African popular music, named after the region of Wassoulou. It is performed mostly by women, using lyrics that address women's issues regarding childbearing, fertility and polygamy...
, a style which blends traditional and modern influences with strong female vocalists and a pentatonic hunter's harp. Wassoulou music is one of the two forms of West African music ethnomusicologists believe to be the origin of the American blues, which developed out of music forms dating back to the American slave trade from West Africa. Some of the most famous residents of Wassoulou include the singers Oumou Sangare
Oumou Sangaré
Oumou Sangare is a Malian Wassoulou musician, sometimes referred to as "The Songbird of Wassoulou." Wassoulou is a historic region south of the Niger River, and the music there is descended from traditional hunting songs, and is accompanied by a calabash...
, Ramata Diakite
Ramata Diakite
Ramata Diakite is a Malian Wassoulou musician. She died October 30, 2009 in Burkina Faso.-Life & Origins:Ramata was born in 1976....
and Coumba Sidibe.
Wassoulou's cultural importance is reflected in the development of internet resources, and the creation of Radio Wassoulou broadcasting from Yanfolila.
Language
Wassoulou is also a dialect of the Eastern Maninkakan language, and is closely related to Kankan Mandinka. Speakers of Wassoulou number some 73,500 in GuineaGuinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
, with 41,200 speakers estimated in Mali, where the closely related Bamanankan is also spoken. In the far northwest of Côte d'Ivoire there are some 21,000 Wassoulou speakers, where it is related to Wojenaka Maninka.
Inhabitants are known as Wassulu, Wassulunka or Wassulunke.
History
The Wassoulou area is a center for the mingling of several ethnic groups. The nomadic Fula peopleFula people
Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...
, who were believed to have emigrated from the Fouta Djallon
Fouta Djallon
Fouta Djallon is a highland region in the centre of Guinea, West Africa. The indigenous name is Fuuta-Jaloo...
highlands to the west, integrated into the indigenous Mandé
Mandé
Mandé or Manden is a large group of related ethnic groups in West Africa who speak any of the many Mande languages spread throughout the region. Various Mandé groups are found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Chad, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger,...
people and adopting their language and customs sometime prior to the 18th century, at roughly the same time Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
spread into the area. There are also large populations of Bambara peoples native to Wassoulou.
Wassoulou is also the name of an Islamic state
Islamic State
An Islamic state is a type of government, in which the primary basis for government is Islamic religious law...
, the Wassoulou Empire
Wassoulou Empire
The Wassoulou Empire, sometimes referred to as the Mandinka Empire, was a short-lived empire of West Africa built from the conquests of Dyula ruler Samori Ture and destroyed by the French colonial army....
(1870-1898), ruled by Samori Ture
Samori
Samory Toure was the founder of the Wassoulou Empire, an Islamic state that resisted French rule in West Africa from 1882 until his capture in 1898.-Early life and career:...
and centered around his capital, Bissandugu
Bissandugu
Bissandugu, a city in what is now southwestern Guinea, was the native city of Dyula conqueror Samori Ture. Named the capital of Samori's new Wassoulou Empire in 1878, the city was burned by the forces of French Colonel Archinard on April 9, 1891....
. Samori overthrew the older Wassoulou state of Fama
Fama
-Biography:Formed in 1989 by brothers Javier, Oscar, and Edgar Galvan, and friend Eddie Gonzalez, the band gained prominence in the mid-1990s with a string of hit albums. They were given the nickname "The Golden Boys" by Tejano music DJs...
Dyanabufarina Modi in 1870, and expanded his empire from there, taking the Wassoulou name. While the history of the Mandinka Wassoulou states remain unclear, the small kingdoms of Kenedugu and Wassulu existed from at least the 1650s CE, benefiting from gold mining and trade in the area.
See also
- Wassoulou musicWassoulou musicWassoulou is a genre of West African popular music, named after the region of Wassoulou. It is performed mostly by women, using lyrics that address women's issues regarding childbearing, fertility and polygamy...
- Wassoulou EmpireWassoulou EmpireThe Wassoulou Empire, sometimes referred to as the Mandinka Empire, was a short-lived empire of West Africa built from the conquests of Dyula ruler Samori Ture and destroyed by the French colonial army....
- Sikasso RegionSikasso RegionSikasso is the southern-most region of Mali. The capital city of the same name is the 3rd-largest city and is growing rapidly due to people fleeing the violence in Côte d'Ivoire to the south. Major ethnic groups include the Senoufo, known for masks and reverence for animals, the Samago, known for...
- Manding languagesManding languagesThe Manding languages are a fairly mutually intelligible group of dialects or languages in West Africa, belonging to the Mande languages. Their best-known members are Bambara, the most widely spoken language in Mali; Mandinka, the main language of Gambia; Maninka or Malinké, a major language of...
- Mandinka peopleMandinka peopleThe Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....
- Fula peopleFula peopleFula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...