Ngolo Diarra

Last updated
Ngolo Diarra
Faama
Reign1766-1790
Predecessor Ali Coulibaly
Successor Mansong Diarra
BornNiola
Religiontraditional African religion

Ngolo Diarra was faama of the Bambara Empire from 1766 to 1790.

Contents

As a young man his village, Niola, gave Ngolo to the state as disongo annual tribute and became a ton djon or slave warrior in the service of Bitòn Coulibaly. After his rise to power, Ngolo returned to his native village and destroyed it as revenge. [1] :413

Following the 1755 death of empire founder Bitòn Coulibaly, his descendants (the Bitonsi) proved unable to maintain control, and the kingdom fell into chaos. Ngolo Diarra, by now a leader of the ton djon, seized the throne in 1766 and soon restored order. He defeated the Macina Empire and re-established firm control over Djenne and Timbuktu. [2] His reign is remembered in oral histories as a time of great economic prosperity. [1] :324

Mungo Park, passing through the Bambara capital of Ségou two years after Diarra's 1795 death, recorded a testament to the Empire's prosperity under his reign:

"The view of this extensive city, the numerous canoes on the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding countryside, formed altogether a prospect of civilization and magnificence that I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa." 1

Ngolo Diarra died in a campaign against the Mossi in 1790 and was succeeded by his son Mansong Diarra. His descendants, the Ngolosi, continued to rule the Empire until its fall to Toucouleur conqueror El Hadj Umar Tall in 1861. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mali Empire</span> Empire in West Africa from c. 1226 to 1670

The Mali Empire was an empire in West Africa from c. 1226 to 1670. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa. The Manding languages were spoken in the empire. At its peak, Mali was the largest empire in West Africa, widely influencing the culture of the region through the spread of its language, laws and customs. Much of the recorded information about the Mali Empire comes from 14th-century Tunisian historian Ibn Khaldun, 14th-century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta and 16th-century Andalusian traveller Leo Africanus. The other major source of information comes from Mandinka oral tradition, as recorded by storytellers known as griots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bambara people</span> Ethnic group in West Africa

The Bambara are a Mandé ethnic group native to much of West Africa, primarily southern Mali, Ghana, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal. They have been associated with the historic Bambara Empire. Today, they make up the largest Mandé ethnic group in Mali, with 80% of the population speaking the Bambara language, regardless of ethnicity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ségou</span> Commune and town in Ségou, Mali

Ségou is a town and an urban commune in south-central Mali that lies 235 kilometres (146 mi) northeast of Bamako on the right bank of the River Niger. The town is the capital of the Ségou Cercle and the Ségou Region. With 130,690 inhabitants in 2009, it is the fifth-largest town in Mali.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bamana Empire</span> West African state from 1712 to 1861

The Bamana Empire was one of the largest states of West Africa in the 18th century. Along with Kaarta it was one of the most important successors of the Songhai Empire. Based on an earlier kingdom established in 1640, it grew into a powerful empire in the early 18th century under Bitòn Coulibaly. The empire existed as a centralized state from 1712 until the 1861 invasion of Toucouleur conqueror, El Hadj Umar Tall.

Kaladian Coulibaly was a West African ruler who founded one of the first large Bambara kingdoms, centered on Ségou in what is now Mali. Originally from Kong in what is now the Ivory Coast, he was a mercenary warlord who overthrew the ruling Koita dynasty of Segou. Around 1650, Coulibaly's kingdom was one of the dominant forces in the region. Though it lacked a systematic framework and thus failed to outlast his death, his great-grandson Bitòn Coulibaly would found a more stable Bambara Empire fifty years later on the same spot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bitòn Coulibaly</span> Ruler of the Bambara Empire

Bitòn Coulibaly (1689?–1755), also known as Mamary Coulibaly, founded the Bambara Empire in what is now Mali's Ségou Region and Mopti Region.

Mansong Diarra, also rendered Monzon Jara, was the faama of the Bambara Empire. Son of king Ngolo Diarra, he the throne of Ségou following his father's death in battle. He earned renown as a great warrior, with defeats against several other groups, including Kaarta, Massina, Dogon, and Mossi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaarta</span> West African state 1650 to 1890

Kaarta, or Ka'arta, was a Bambara kingdom that arose after the fall of the Songhai Empire in what is today the western half of Mali.

Dinkoro Coulibaly was the ruler of the Bambara Empire from 1755 to 1757. Successor and relative of empire founder Bitòn Coulibaly, Dinkoro soon lost control of the empire in a succession of military coups. Dinkoro was assassinated in 1757, and succeeded by his brother, Ali Coulibaly. The empire fell briefly into civil war before Ngolo Diarra seized control in 1766 and reasserted stability.

Ali Coulibaly was a king of the Bambara Empire of Ségou.

Diarra is a French translation of the clan name Jara used in West Africa, as a hangover from the French colonial empire in that region. It originates from the Bambara language word jara, meaning lion, synonymous with waraba. It is frequently used with reference to the 18th to early 19th-century Bambara Empire in Ségou, Mali, which was ruled successively by Ngolo Diarra, his son Mansong Diarra, and then his son Da Diarra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of Mali-related articles</span>

Articles related to Mali include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legends of Africa</span>

The Legends of Africa reflect a wide-ranging series of kings, queens, chiefs and other leaders from across the African continent including Mali, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea and South Africa.

The Gbara or Great Assembly was the deliberative body of the Mali Empire, which ruled much of West Africa during the Middle Ages. It was first formed in 1235 on the orders of Sundiata in the Mandinka constitution known as the Kouroukan Fouga.

The military history of the Mali Empire is that of the armed forces of the Mali Empire, which dominated Western Africa from the mid 13th to the late 15th century. The military culture of the empire's driving force, Mandinka people, influenced many later states in West Africa including break-away powers such as the Songhay and Jolof empires. Institutions from the Mali Empire also survived in the 19th century army of Samory Ture who saw himself as the heir to Old Mali's legacy.

Epic of Bamana Segu is one of the longest epics recorded in Africa. The epic was composed by Bambara people in the 19th century. The epic reflects on political and military events which occurred during the reign of three rulers of the second dynasty of Segu Bambara State: Ngolo Diarra, his son Monzon Diarra and grandson Da Monzon Diarra.

Ngolo, N'Golo, or NGolo may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manding region</span> Region located in West Africa

Manding, Manden or even Mandé is a region located in West Africa, a space between southern Mali and eastern Guinea. It is the historic home of the Mandingo community.

Super Biton de Ségou, Super Biton for short and also known as the Orchestre Régional de Segou and Super Biton National de Ségou, are an African jazz musical group. They were especially popular and influential in the 1970s, when they became the national orchestra of Mali, and in the first half of the 1980s. They formed in Ségou, Mali, in the 1960s, had up to 19 members at one point, but dwindled after 1986 after band leader Amadou Bâ left. After a hiatus, they re-formed with four new members and guitarist Mama Sissoko as band leader in 2001, and started playing the closing set at the Festival sur le Niger in Ségou each year.

References

  1. 1 2 Green, Toby (2020). A Fistful of Shells. UK: Penguin Books.
  2. 1 2 Page, Willie F. (2005). Davis, R. Hunt (ed.). Encyclopedia of African History and Culture. Vol. III (Illustrated, revised ed.). Facts On File. p. 239.

Notes

  1. Qtd. in Davidson 245.