Samorian State

The West African state founded by Samori Ture in the late nineteenth century, centered in present-day Guinea and conquered by France in 1898 after years of resistance.

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Samori Ture: A Dyula military and political leader who founded the Samorian State and resisted French conquest. His authority and campaigns shaped the state's government, expansion, and resistance.
Upper Niger region: The broad inland West African region surrounding the upper course of the Niger River. The state's early power grew amid the Upper Niger's trade routes and competing authorities.
Kélétigui Kourouma: A military commander associated with Samori Ture's forces during the resistance to French expansion. Commanders such as Kourouma carried out the state's military campaigns beyond Samori's direct presence.
Battle of Woyowayanko: An 1882 battle in which Samori Ture's forces repelled a French attack near Bamako. The victory demonstrated that French expansion could be checked by Samori's army.
Wassoulou Empire: The polity Samori Ture established in West Africa, also known as the Samorian State. This name identifies the state through its core region and political tradition.
Bissandugu: A settlement in present-day Guinea associated with Samori Ture's early political base. Samori consolidated authority around Bissandugu before building a larger state.
Louis Archinard: A French general who led campaigns to expand French control in the western Sudan during the 1880s and 1890s. Archinard's campaigns embodied the French military pressure Samori's state confronted.
French conquest of West Africa: The nineteenth-century process by which France established colonial rule across much of West Africa. The state's defeat formed part of France's wider colonial conquest.
Dyula: A Mandé-speaking Muslim people whose communities participated in long-distance trade across West Africa. Dyula commercial and religious networks helped connect Samori's state.
Mandé peoples: A group of related peoples in West Africa who speak Mande languages and share historical connections. The state's political and cultural foundations arose in a predominantly Mandé-speaking region.