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{{Short description|Historical area of West Africa}}
{{Short description|Historical area of West Africa}}
{{for|the musical genre|Wassoulou music}}
{{for|the musical genre|Wassoulou music}}
{{refimprove|date=August 2016}}


[[Image:Wassoulou map.png|thumb|right|200px|The Wassoulou region of [[West Africa]]]]
[[Image:Wassoulou map.png|thumb|right|200px|The Wassoulou region of [[West Africa]]]]


'''Wassoulou''' is a [[cultural area]] and [[historical region]] in the Wassoulou River Valley of [[West Africa]]. It is home to about 160,000 people, and is also the native land of the [[Wassoulou music|Wassoulou genre of music]].
'''Wassoulou''', sometimes spelled '''Wassulu''', '''Wassalou''', or '''Ouassalou''', is a [[cultural area]] and [[historical region]] surrounding the [[Tripoint|point]] where the borders of [[Mali]], [[Ivory Coast]], and [[Guinea]] meet. Home to about 160,000 people,{{cn|date=October 2024}} it is bordered by the [[Niger River]] to the northwest, and by the [[Sankarani River]] to the east. Inhabitants are known as Wassulu, Wassulunka or Wassulunke.


⚫
==History==
Wassoulou surrounds the [[Tripoint|point]] where the borders of three present-day countries meet: [[Mali]], [[Ivory Coast]], and [[Guinea]]. It includes portions of southwestern Mali, northwestern Ivory Coast, and eastern Guinea. It is bordered by the [[Niger River]] to the northwest, and by the [[Sankarani River]] to the east.
The history of Wassoulou before the 19th century is poorly attested in surviving sources, but it appears to have been a relatively decentralized and egalitarian society composed of ''jamana'', alliances of small villages defended by [[Tata (fortification)|walls]].{{sfn|Klein|1999|p=116-7}} The region was in some respects tributary to the [[Segou Empire]] in the 18th and early 19th centuries, but still suffered regular slave raids.{{sfn|Klein|1999|p=118}}


Wassoulou is also the name of an [[Islamic state]], the [[Wassoulou Empire]] (1870–1898), ruled by [[Samori Ture]] and centered on his capital, [[Bissandugu]]. In 1870, Samori overthrew an older Wassoulou state whose ''faama'' (ruler) was Dyanabufarina Modi.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.africanseer.com/rulers-of-africa/rulers-of-mali.php |title=Rulers of Mali |website=AfricanSeer |accessdate=14 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://rulers.org/malitrad.html |website=rulers.org |title=Traditional polities: Wassulu |accessdate=14 May 2016}}</ref> He established a hierarchichal government system for the first time, appointing the local Muslim convert Farbalay Jakite as his representative in the region in 1882.{{sfn|Klein|1999|p=115}}
The name ''Wassoulou'' is alternately spelled '''Wassulu''', '''Wassalou''', and '''Ouassalou'''.


⚫
The Wassoulunke rebelled against Toure multiple times. The first was in 1885 in response to the institutionalization of Islam in the empire and the suppression of animist practices. It was brutally put down by Toure's brother Keme Brema.<ref name= Ba>{{cite web |last1=Ba |first1=Amadou Bal |title=L'Almamy Samory TOURE (1830-1900), résistant et empereur du Wassoulou |url=https://www.ferloo.com/lalmamy-samory-toure-1830-1900-resistant-et-empereur-du-wassoulou-par-amadou-bal-ba/ |website=Ferloo |access-date=30 September 2023 |language=French|date=11 February 2020}}</ref> The war between Samory and [[Kénédougou Kingdom|Kenedougou]] devastated the region, leaving thousands of refugees who were often sold into slavery or even sold themselves to avoid starving to death. Another rebellion after Samory's failure in the siege of [[Sikasso]] was also brutally suppressed.{{sfn|Peterson|2008|p=269}} Toure moved through again in 1891, forcibly moving much of the population east with him as he migrated, and massacring the town of [[N'Tentou]] when the inhabitants refused to leave.{{sfn|Peterson|2008|p=273}}{{sfn|Klein|1999|p=114}} Overall, the Samory Toure years saw the region almost completely depopulated.{{sfn|Klein|1999|p=115}}
⚫
==Culture==
⚫
Wassoulou is the birthplace of [[Wassoulou music]], 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]], [[Ramata Diakite]] and [[Coumba Sidibe]].


Wassoulou continued to suffer instability and social conflict, including predation by colonial troops, well into the period of French domination.{{sfn|Peterson|2008|p=274}} As [[slavery]] gradually died out in the [[French Sudan]], tens of thousands of freed slaves made their way back to their native Wassoulou in the decades before the [[First World War]].{{sfn|Klein|1999|p=115}}
Wassoulou's cultural importance is reflected in the development of internet resources, and the creation of ''Radio Wassoulou'' broadcasting from Yanfolila.


⚫
==Population and Culture==
===Language===
The Wassoulou area is a center for the mingling of several ethnic groups. The [[Fula people|Fulani]] people, who are believed to have migrated from the [[Fouta Djallon]] highlands, integrated with the indigenous Mandé populations, adopting a dialect of the [[Bambara language|Bambara]] language and local customs before the 18th century, coinciding with the spread of Islam. The culture of the Wassulunke of [[Fula people|Fulbe]] ancestry is a unique blend of few traditional Fulbe practices and those of the indigenous [[Mandé peoples|Mandé]] peoples. <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reysset |first1=Pascal |last2=Van Den Avenne |first2=Cécile |title=Le dire et le dit dans les entretiens: élements pour le traitement de la complexité du langage |journal=Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique |date=2001 |volume=70 |issue=70 |pages=23–52 |doi=10.1177/075910630107000104 |jstor=23891479 |s2cid=145793962 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23891479 |access-date=7 November 2023 |issn=0759-1063}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Amselle |first1=Jean-Loup |title=L'ethnicité comme volonté et comme représentation: a propos des Peul du Wasolon |journal=Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales |date=1987 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=465–489 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27583523 |issn=0395-2649}}</ref>
Wassoulou is also a dialect of the Eastern Maninkakan language, and is closely related to [[Kankan Mandinka]].<ref>{{e25|emk|Maninkakan, Eastern}}</ref> Speakers of Wassoulou number some 73,500 in [[Guinea]], with 41,200 speakers estimated in Mali, where the closely related [[Bamanankan]] is also spoken.<ref>{{e25|bam|Bamanankan}}</ref> In the far northwest of Côte d'Ivoire there are some 21,000 Wassoulou speakers, where it is related to [[Wojenaka Maninka]].


==Music==
Inhabitants are known as Wassulu, Wassulunka or Wassulunke.
⚫
Wassoulou is the birthplace of [[Wassoulou music]], 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]], [[Ramata Diakite]] and [[Coumba Sidibe]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Durán |first1=Lucy |title=Birds of Wasulu: Freedom of Expression and Expressions of Freedom in the Popular Music of Southern Mali |journal=British Journal of Ethnomusicology |date=1995 |volume=4 |pages=101–134 |doi=10.1080/09681229508567240 |jstor=3060685 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3060685 |issn=0968-1221}}</ref>

⚫
==History==
The Wassoulou area is a center for the mingling of several ethnic groups. The nomadic [[Fula people]], who were believed to have emigrated from the [[Fouta Djallon]] highlands to the west, integrated into the indigenous [[Mandé peoples]] and adopting their language and customs sometime prior to the 18th century, at roughly the same time [[Islam]] spread into the area. There are also large populations of [[Mandinka people]]s native to Wassoulou.

While the history of the Mandinka Wassoulou states remain unclear, the small kingdoms of [[Kenedugu]] and Wassulu existed from at least the 1650s, benefiting from gold mining and trade in the area.

⚫
Wassoulou is also the name of an [[Islamic state]], the [[Wassoulou Empire]] (1870–1898), ruled by [[Samori Ture]] and centered on his capital, [[Bissandugu]]. In 1870, Samori overthrew an older Wassoulou state whose ''faama'' (ruler) was Dyanabufarina Modi.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.africanseer.com/rulers-of-africa/rulers-of-mali.php |title=Rulers of Mali |website=AfricanSeer |accessdate=14 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Mali_native.html |website=worldstatesmen.org |title=Mali Traditional states: Wassulu (from 1880, Samori Empire) |accessdate=14 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://rulers.org/malitrad.html |website=rulers.org |title=Traditional polities: Wassulu |accessdate=14 May 2016}}</ref> The Wassoulou region rebelled against Toure multiple times. The first was in 1885 in response to the institutionalization of Islam in the empire and the suppression of animist practices. It was brutally put down by Toure's brother Keme Brema.<ref name= Ba>{{cite web |last1=Ba |first1=Amadou Bal |title=L’Almamy Samory TOURE (1830-1900), résistant et empereur du Wassoulou |url=https://www.ferloo.com/lalmamy-samory-toure-1830-1900-resistant-et-empereur-du-wassoulou-par-amadou-bal-ba/ |website=Ferloo |access-date=30 September 2023 |language=French|date=11 February 2020}}</ref> The war between Samory and [[Kénédougou Kingdom|Kenedougou]] devastated the region, leaving thousands of refugees who were often sold into slavery or even sold themselves to avoid starving to death. Another rebellion after Samory's failure in the siege of [[Sikasso]] was also brutally suppressed.<ref name = Peterson>{{cite journal |last1=Peterson |first1=Brian J. |title=“History, Memory and the Legacy of Samori in Southern Mali, C. 1880-1898.” |journal=The Journal of African History |date=2008 |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=261-79 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40206642 |access-date=8 October 2023}}</ref>{{rp|269}} Toure moved through again in 1891, forcibly moving much of the population east with him as he migrated.<ref name = Peterson/>{{rp|273}} Wassoulou continued to suffer instability and social conflict, including predation by colonial troops, well into the period of French domination.<ref name = Peterson/>{{rp|274}}


==See also==
==See also==
Line 40: Line 33:


==Sources==
==Sources==
* {{cite journal |last1=Klein |first1=Martin |title=ETHNIC PLURALISM AND HOMOGENEITY IN THE WESTERN SUDAN: SAALUM, SEGU, WASULU |journal=Mande Studies |date=1999 |volume=1}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Peterson |first1=Brian J. |title="History, Memory and the Legacy of Samori in Southern Mali, C. 1880-1898." |journal=The Journal of African History |date=2008 |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=261–79 |doi=10.1017/S0021853708003903 |jstor=40206642 |s2cid=155012842 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40206642 |access-date=8 October 2023}}

==Further reading==
* [http://www.eddufao.com/joliot%202007.htm Échange école Joliot Curie, école Wassoulou, Février 2007], Joint French - Malian Education Project (EDDUFAO), in the villages of Guéna, Djélibany and Kaka.
* [http://www.eddufao.com/joliot%202007.htm Échange école Joliot Curie, école Wassoulou, Février 2007], Joint French - Malian Education Project (EDDUFAO), in the villages of Guéna, Djélibany and Kaka.
* [http://www.abidjan.net/qui/profil.asp?id=557 Portrait of the most famous Female Griot from Wassoulou: Oumou Sangaré], Abidjan.net.
* [http://www.abidjan.net/qui/profil.asp?id=557 Portrait of the most famous Female Griot from Wassoulou: Oumou Sangaré], Abidjan.net.
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[[Category:Regions of Africa]]
[[Category:Regions of Africa]]
[[Category:Geography of Mali]]
[[Category:Geography of Mali]]
[[Category:Malian culture|Wassoulou region and culture]]
[[Category:Culture of Mali|Wassoulou region and culture]]
[[Category:Geography of Guinea]]
[[Category:Geography of Guinea]]
[[Category:Guinean culture|Wassoulou region and culture]]
[[Category:Culture of Guinea|Wassoulou region and culture]]
[[Category:Denguélé District]]
[[Category:Denguélé District]]
[[Category:Ivorian culture|Wassoulou region and culture]]
[[Category:Culture of Ivory Coast|Wassoulou region and culture]]
[[Category:French West Africa]]
[[Category:French West Africa]]
[[Category:Fula people]]
[[Category:Mande languages]]
[[Category:Mandinka]]
[[Category:Bambara language]]
[[Category:Mali]]

Latest revision as of 20:11, 25 October 2024

For the musical genre, see Wassoulou music.
The Wassoulou region of West Africa

Wassoulou, sometimes spelled Wassulu, Wassalou, or Ouassalou, is a cultural area and historical region surrounding the point where the borders of Mali, Ivory Coast, and Guinea meet. Home to about 160,000 people,[citation needed] it is bordered by the Niger River to the northwest, and by the Sankarani River to the east. Inhabitants are known as Wassulu, Wassulunka or Wassulunke.

History

[edit]

The history of Wassoulou before the 19th century is poorly attested in surviving sources, but it appears to have been a relatively decentralized and egalitarian society composed of jamana, alliances of small villages defended by walls.[1] The region was in some respects tributary to the Segou Empire in the 18th and early 19th centuries, but still suffered regular slave raids.[2]

Wassoulou is also the name of an Islamic state, the Wassoulou Empire (1870–1898), ruled by Samori Ture and centered on his capital, Bissandugu. In 1870, Samori overthrew an older Wassoulou state whose faama (ruler) was Dyanabufarina Modi.[3][4] He established a hierarchichal government system for the first time, appointing the local Muslim convert Farbalay Jakite as his representative in the region in 1882.[5]

The Wassoulunke rebelled against Toure multiple times. The first was in 1885 in response to the institutionalization of Islam in the empire and the suppression of animist practices. It was brutally put down by Toure's brother Keme Brema.[6] The war between Samory and Kenedougou devastated the region, leaving thousands of refugees who were often sold into slavery or even sold themselves to avoid starving to death. Another rebellion after Samory's failure in the siege of Sikasso was also brutally suppressed.[7] Toure moved through again in 1891, forcibly moving much of the population east with him as he migrated, and massacring the town of N'Tentou when the inhabitants refused to leave.[8][9] Overall, the Samory Toure years saw the region almost completely depopulated.[5]

Wassoulou continued to suffer instability and social conflict, including predation by colonial troops, well into the period of French domination.[10] As slavery gradually died out in the French Sudan, tens of thousands of freed slaves made their way back to their native Wassoulou in the decades before the First World War.[5]

Population and Culture

[edit]

The Wassoulou area is a center for the mingling of several ethnic groups. The Fulani people, who are believed to have migrated from the Fouta Djallon highlands, integrated with the indigenous Mandé populations, adopting a dialect of the Bambara language and local customs before the 18th century, coinciding with the spread of Islam. The culture of the Wassulunke of Fulbe ancestry is a unique blend of few traditional Fulbe practices and those of the indigenous Mandé peoples. [11][12]

Music

[edit]

Wassoulou is the birthplace of Wassoulou music, 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, Ramata Diakite and Coumba Sidibe.[13]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Klein 1999, p. 116-7.
  2. ^ Klein 1999, p. 118.
  3. ^ "Rulers of Mali". AfricanSeer. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Traditional polities: Wassulu". rulers.org. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  5. ^ a b c Klein 1999, p. 115.
  6. ^ Ba, Amadou Bal (11 February 2020). "L'Almamy Samory TOURE (1830-1900), résistant et empereur du Wassoulou". Ferloo (in French). Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  7. ^ Peterson 2008, p. 269.
  8. ^ Peterson 2008, p. 273.
  9. ^ Klein 1999, p. 114.
  10. ^ Peterson 2008, p. 274.
  11. ^ Reysset, Pascal; Van Den Avenne, Cécile (2001). "Le dire et le dit dans les entretiens: élements pour le traitement de la complexité du langage". Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique. 70 (70): 23–52. doi:10.1177/075910630107000104. ISSN 0759-1063. JSTOR 23891479. S2CID 145793962. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  12. ^ Amselle, Jean-Loup (1987). "L'ethnicité comme volonté et comme représentation: a propos des Peul du Wasolon". Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales. 42 (2): 465–489. ISSN 0395-2649.
  13. ^ Durán, Lucy (1995). "Birds of Wasulu: Freedom of Expression and Expressions of Freedom in the Popular Music of Southern Mali". British Journal of Ethnomusicology. 4: 101–134. doi:10.1080/09681229508567240. ISSN 0968-1221. JSTOR 3060685.

Sources

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
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