Niagassola ߢߊ߰ߛߏ߬ߟߊ߫ (N’ko) Nyasola (romanized) | |
|---|---|
Sub-prefecture and town | |
 | |
  Niagassola Location in Guinea | |
| Coordinates: 12°19′N9°07′W / 12.317°N 9.117°W | |
| Country |  Guinea |
| Region | Kankan Region |
| Prefecture | Siguiri Prefecture |
| Founded | c. 1810 |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) |
Niagassola is a town and sub-prefecture in the Siguiri Prefecture in the Kankan Region of north-eastern Guinea. [1] It is located near the border with Mali. It has no electricity and three water pumps. [2]
Niagassola and its surroundings were, according to some oral traditions, the site of Dakadjalan, the capital of Naré Maghann Konaté and boyhood home of Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire. [3]
Niagassola was preceded by a city called Waranban, which was mentioned by Mungo Park after his visit to the area in the late 18th century. [4] It was located on a key slave-trading route linking Kangaba to the Atlantic coast, where they would be sold to European or American slavers. [5] Founded around 1810, Niagassola was one of the principal cities of the Manding region after the decline of the Mali Empire, sometimes allied with and other times fighting against Kangaba. [6] [4] [7] This rivalry continued in the early colonial period, with Niagassola given preferential treatment by the French. [8]
The town is the home of the world's oldest balafon and an important object for the Mandinka people, the 13th century Sosso-Bala, which has been labeled as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. [9]
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. 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.
The balafon is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé, Bwaba Bobo, Senoufo and Gur peoples of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch of the Mandinka ethnic group, but is now found across West Africa from Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali. Its common name, balafon, is likely a European coinage combining its Mandinka name ߓߟߊ bala with the word ߝߐ߲ fôn 'to speak' or the Greek root phono.
Sundiata Keita was a prince and founder of the Mali Empire. He was also the great-uncle of the Malian ruler Mansa Musa, who is usually regarded as the wealthiest person of all time, although there are no reliable ways to accurately calculate his wealth.
In 1324, while staying in Cairo during his hajj, Mansa Musa, the ruler of the Mali Empire, told an Egyptian official whom he had befriended that he had come to rule when his predecessor led a large fleet in an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean and never returned. This account, recorded by the Arab historian al-Umari, has attracted considerable interest and speculation as a possible instance of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact. The voyage is popularly attributed to a Mansa Abu Bakr II, but no such mansa ever reigned. Rather, the voyage is inferred to have been undertaken by Mansa Muhammad ibn Qu.
Siguiri is a city in northeastern Guinea on the River Niger. It is a sub-prefecture and capital of Siguiri Prefecture in the Kankan Region.
Mansa is a Maninka and Mandinka word for a hereditary ruler, commonly translated as "king". It is particularly known as the title of the rulers of the Mali Empire, such as Mansa Musa, and in this context is sometimes translated as "emperor". It is also a title held by traditional village rulers, and in this context is translated as "chief".
Soumaoro Kanté was a 13th-century king of the Sosso people. Seizing Koumbi Saleh, the capital of the recently defunct Ghana Empire, Soumaoro Kanté proceeded to conquer several neighboring states, including the Mandinka people in what is now Mali. However, the Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita built a coalition of smaller kingdoms to oppose him at the Battle of Kirina, defeating the Sosso and leaving Sundiata's new Mali Empire dominant in the region.
Sunjata is an epic poem of the Malinke people that tells the story of the hero Sundiata Keita, the founder of the Mali Empire. The epic is an instance of oral tradition, going back to the 13th century and narrated by generations of jelis (griots). There is no single or authoritative version. Material pertaining to the epic first began to be collected during the early 20th century in French Sudan, notably by the French elite school École William Ponty, resulting in the "modern" version of the tale as considered standard today, based on the oral account by Djeli Mamoudou Kouyate, a jeli or traditional oral historian, translated into French by Djibril Tamsir Niane in 1960.
The Sosso Empire, also written as Soso or Susu, or alternatively Kaniaga, was kingdom of West Africa that originated as a vassal of the Ghana Empire before breaking away and conquering their former overlords. Inhabited by the Soninke ancestors of the modern-day Sosso people, it was centered in the region south of Wagadou and north of Beledougou. The empire peaked under the reign of Soumaoro Kante, who was defeated by the rising Mali Empire of Sundiata Keita.
Kouroussa or Kurussa is a town located in northeastern Guinea, and is the capital of Kouroussa Prefecture. As of 2014 it had a population of 39,611 people. A trade center and river port from at least the time of the Mali Empire, Kouroussa has long relied upon its position near the upstream limit of navigation of the Niger River to make it an important crossroads for people and goods moving between the Guinea coast and the states of the western Soudan and Niger River valley. The town and surrounding area is a center of Malinke culture, and is known for its Djembe drumming tradition.
Siby is a village and rural commune in the Cercle of Kati in the Koulikoro Region of southern Mali. The commune contains 21 villages and in the 2009 census had a population of 26,632. The village lies 50 km southwest of the capital, Bamako, on the plain to the south of the Monts Mandingues. The RN5 road that links Bamako with Siguiri in Guinea runs through the village.
Kouroukan Fouga, or Kurukan Fuga, was the constitution of the Mali Empire created after the Battle of Krina (1235) by an assembly of nobles to create a government for the newly established empire, according to the Epic of Sundiata. According to oral tradition of the jelis of Mali and Guinea, the Kouroukan Fouga established the federation of Mandinka clans under one government, outlined how it would operate and established the laws by which the people would live. The name Kurukan Fuga is a toponym, translating to "clearing on granite/lateritic rock", referring to the plain near where the narrative has Sundiata Keita present the charter. This is often claimed to have been near the town of Ka-ba, following the interpretation of Djibril Tamsir Niane, but other scholars have argued that oral histories more commonly place the event at nearby Dakajalan.
Pre-imperial Mali refers to the period of history before the establishment of the Mali Empire, an African empire located mostly in present-day Mali, in c. 1235.[[Image:Ghana successor map 1200 .png|right|thumb]]
Mande Bori, also known as Mande Bakari and known in Arabic as Abu Bakr, is a heroic figure in Mande oral tradition who was involved in the founding of the Mali Empire. He was the brother and right-hand man of Sunjata, the founder of the empire, and served as the empire's kankoro-sigui, an office that has been translated as "viceroy" or "lieutenant-general". Though Mande Bori never himself reigned as mansa, his grandsons Musa and Suleyman ruled the Mali Empire at the apex of its power and prestige, and he is often erroneously cited as Mansa Abu Bakr II.
Kangaba is a town, commune, and seat of the Kangaba Cercle in the Koulikoro Region of south-western Mali.
The Ghana Empire, also known as simply Ghana, Ghanata, or Wagadu, was a West African classical to post-classical era western-Sahelian empire based in the modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali.
Narena is a small town and commune in the Cercle of Kangaba in the Koulikoro Region of south-western Mali. As of 1998 the commune had a population of 8275.
Circa 1230s-1600s, the MaliEmpire was created in Western Africa along the Niger River. Often associated with being founded by Sunjata Keita, the history of Mali is extremely based on oral history. The story of the founder of Mali, Sunjata Keita, is largely based on oral history. Oral history may be defined as the preservation and interpretation of historical, cultural or personal experiences by way of a speaker. In Mali, such a speaker can be described as a poet, a storyteller, a praise singer or a musician. A large amount of Mali's history is transferred via oral historians. Such oral historians in Mali are known as griots, Jalis, and Jelis. The origins of oral history in Mali may be traced back to the story of Sunjata Keita. Modern-day oral history in Mali has transformed from the history based griots to a more contemporary musical and negotiator based griots. The current state of oral history in Mali has travelled to other realms like popular culture and politics.
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 Mandinka community.
The history of the Mali Empire begins when the first Mande people entered the Manding region during the period of the Ghana Empire. After its fall, the various tribes established independent chiefdoms. In the 12th century, these were briefly conquered by the Sosso Empire under Soumaoro Kante. He was in turn defeated by a Mande coalition led by Sundiata Keita, who founded the Mali Empire.
