Kénédougou Kingdom
Burkina Faso, 1650–1898. Draft, not yet reviewed
The Kénédougou Kingdom was a pre-colonial West African state established in the southeastern portion of present-day Mali, as well as parts of northern Côte d'Ivoire and western Burkina Faso. Kénédougou was first established in the 17th century by the Dioula Traore clan. In the 18th century, Kénédougou was a far-flung extension of the Kong Empire. By 1825, Kong power had declined in the region and the kingdom, under the rule of Doaula Ba Traoré, was able to establish independence.
Seat of power: Bougoula
No rulers documented for this era yet.
Culture
- The new kingdom, mostly inhabited by the Senufo people, was conveniently located to dominate the exchange of desert and forest goods.
- Kenedougou adopted some Mandé practices such as the royal title of faama.
- Faama Tieba moved the capital of the kingdom from Bougoula to his mother's home city of Sikasso in 1877. There he built a new palace on a strategic hill called the Mamelon and a massive city wall, the Tata of Sikasso, which remains a tourist attraction today.
- Sikasso withstood a 15-month siege by Ture from 1887 to 1888 before the French, allies of Kenedougou against Ture, relieved the city. The French began a major artillery barrage against the tata on April 15th 1898, and the city fell on May 1st amid furious house-to-house fighting.
Picture
Sikasso, a city in the south of Mali, was the capital of the Kénédougou Kingdom between 1877 and 1898.
Image: Mousssa NIAKATE, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.