Samori Ture (var: Samory' Toure’):

Samori Ture (c1830-1900) was the founder of an Islamic military state that resisted ((French)) rule in West ((Africa)) from 1882 to his capture in1898.

Born c. 1830 in Manyambaladugu (in what is now southeastern Guinea), the child of Dyula (Islamicized Malinke) 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.

Rise to Power

In 1848, Samori’s mother was kidnaped by slave traders. To ransom her, Samori became a mercenary, serving various leaders in the eternal power struggles afflicting the region. In 1864, El Hadj Umar , the founder of the aggressive Muslim Fulbe (Fulani) Tukolor kingdom that dominated the Upper Niger River, died. As the Tukolor state lost its grip on power, generals and local rulers vied to create states of their own.

By 1867, Samori was a full fledged condottieri, with an army of his own centered on Sanankoro in the Guinea Highlands , on the Upper Milo, a tributary of the Niger. Samori understood that he needed to accomplish two things: creating an efficient, loyal fighting force equipped with modern firearms, and building a stable state of his own. By 1876 Samori was able to import breach loading rifles through the British colony of Sierra Leone. He conquered the Bure’ 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 kingdom.

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, Samori controlled an emerging state extending through Guinea and Mali, from what is now Sierra Leone, to northern Cote d’Ivoire .

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, while also building a working relationship with the Fulbe jihad state of Futa Jallon (extending from what is now southeastern Senegal, through Guinea-Bissau and into Guinea). Samori’s sold slaves to Futa Jallon in order to obtain cattle, horses, and, most importantly, the rifles the Fulbe chiefs were able to buy from the French in Senegal.

The Struggle With the French

Humiliated by their defeat by Germany in the Franco-German War of 1870-71, the French began to expand aggressively in West Africa in the late 1870s. The French sought to push eastward from their holdings in Senegal in an attempt to reach the upper reaches of the Nile in what is now Sudan. They also sought to drive southeast from Senegal to link up with their bases on the Cote d’Ivoire. These moves put them directly into conflict with Samori.

In February of 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. He began expanding 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. 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. When a French expedition under Col. A.V.A. Combes attempted to seize the Bure’ gold fields in 1885 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.

Above all Samori sought to establish a permanent state. The basis of this was to be an orthodox version of Islam. In 1884 he proclaimed himself almani, underscoring his status as a Muslim ruler. In November of 1886 he announced his intention to eventually abolish the consumption of alcohol, and put an end to traditional animistic practices within his domains.

But the French were determined not to give Samori time to consolidate his position. Taking advantage of rebellions by subject tribes stirred up by Samori’s demands for tribute and acceptance of orthodox Islam, the French continued to whittle at Samori’s western territories.

In March of 1891, Col. Archinard, due to be replaced soon in his command in West Africa, launched a direct attack on Kankan. Samori knew his fortifications could not stop French artillery, so he committed himself to a war of manoeuver. He could cut up isolated French columns, as he did at Dabadugu in September of 1891, but he could not push the French out of 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 . Worse, in 1892, the British, in accordance with the Brussels convention of 1890, stopped selling breach loaders to Samori. They had made their own agreements with the French and were now prepared to partition West Africa completely.

Undaunted, Samori took the bold move of moving his entire base of operations eastward, toward the Bandama and Comoe. He instituted a scorched earth policy, devastating each area before he evacuated it. This strategic manoeuver cut Samori off from his last source of modern weapons, Liberia, but it also made it harder for the French to get at him.

But by now the French were committed to finishing Samori off. In September of 1898 a French column captured Samori at Guelemou, en route toward the Liberian border. He was deported to distant Gabon, and French control was imposed on his remaining dominions. Samori Ture’ died a French prisoner, in 1900.

If Samori Ture’ was defeated, his name has become an inspiration to the independent states of modern West Africa. A genuinely brilliant military commander, with a broad view of grand strategy. He did not have the time to fully establish the centralized state he had planned.

Sources:

Ajayi, J.F. Ade, Editor: UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. VI: Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880s. (1989) University of California Press, Berkeley.

Boahen, A. Adu, Editor: UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. VII: Africa Under Colonial Domination, 1880-1935. (1985) University of California Press, Berkeley.

Gann, L.H. and Duigan, Peter, Editors: Colonialism in Africa, 1870-1960, Vol. 1: The History and Politics of Colonialism 1870-1914. (1969) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Oliver, Roland and Sanderson, G.N., Editors, The Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 6: from 1870-1905. (1985) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.