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Generational Conflict in the Umarian Movement after the Jihād: Perspectives from the Futanke Grain Trade at Medine1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

John H. Hanson
John H. Hanson
Affiliation:
West Chester University
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Extract

This article attempts to correct the stereotype which portrays the Futanke who joined in the jihād of al-ḥājj Umar Tal in western Mali as militant Muslim warriors who were not responsive to opportunities in production and trade. It shows that Futanke officials and settlers in the area of Jomboxo (southwestern Karta) responded quickly to the possibility of producing grain, on the land and with the slaves acquired during the jihad, and marketing it at the nearby river factory of Medine, where French officials and merchants, resident African traders and nomadic gum caravan leaders converged in a brisk commerce for three decades in the late nineteenth century. The grain sales were a response to strong demand from the desert-side economy and gum trade as well as to French needs for provisions. These emerging economic interests brought the settlers into conflict with Umarian officials and a younger generation of Futanke, recruited in the 1870s and 1880s and eager to wage war to accumulate wealth and establish their position. This social and generational cleavage hindered the effort to mobilize resistance against French encroachment and conquest.

Type
Conservatives and Revolutionaries in Muslim Societies
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , July 1990 , pp. 199 - 215
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

2 Futanke are residents of Futa Toro in the middle Senegal River valley. Tukolor and Toucouleur are synonyms for Futanke.

3 See, for a recent analysis of the Umarian jihād, Robinson, David, The Holy War of Umar Tal (Oxford, 1985).Google Scholar

4 Kanya-Forstner, A. S., The Conquest of the Western Sudan (Cambridge, 1969).Google Scholar

5 Saint-Martin, Yves, L'Empire toucouleur (Paris, 1970)Google Scholar; Oloruntimehin, B. O., The Segu Tukulor Empire (London, 1972)Google Scholar; Roberts, Richard, Warriors, Merchants and Slaves (Stanford, 1987).Google Scholar

6 I discuss the issue in ‘Umarian Karta (Mali, West Africa) in the late nineteenth century: dissent and revolt among the Futanke after Umar Tal's holy war’ (Ph.D. thesis, Michigan State University, 1989).Google Scholar I also touch on an aspect of the problem in ‘“Telescoping” and Umarian Oral Historiography’, History in Africa (forthcoming).

7 Gallieni, Joseph, Voyage au Soudan français (Paris, 1885)Google Scholar; Soleillet, Paul, Voyage à Ségou (1878–79) (Paris, 1887)Google Scholar; Frey, Henry, Campagne dans le Haut-Sénégal et dans le Haut-Niger (Paris, 1888)Google Scholar; Méniaud, Jacques, Les Pionniers du Soudan, 2 volumes (Paris, 1931).Google Scholar

8 Meillassoux, C., ‘The role of slavery in economic and social history of Sahelio-Sudanic Africa,’ in Inikori, J. (ed.), Forced Migration, (New York, 1982).Google Scholar

9 Roberts' work initially focused on the middle Niger River valley, but he subsequently extended the scope of his analysis to include Karta. Roberts, Compare, ‘Production and reproduction of warrior states: the Segu Bambara and Segu Tukolor’, International Journal of African Historical Studies, XIII (1980)Google Scholar, with Warriors, Merchants and Slaves, 100–6.

10 Jean Bazin touches briefly on similar patterns in his analysis of the Bambara state of Segu: ‘Guerre et servitude à Ségou,’ in Meillassoux, C. (ed.), L'Esclavage en Afrique précoloniale, ed. (Paris, 1975).Google Scholar

11 Saint-Martin, Y., L'Empire toucouleur et la France (Dakar, 1967), 183–4.Google Scholar

12 Cissoko, Sékéné-Mody, ‘Contribution à l'histoire politique des royaumes du Khasso dans le Haut Sénégal des origines à la conquête française’, 2 volumes, (thèse de Doctorat d'état, University of Paris, 1979), 640–4.Google Scholar François Manchuelle notes that the data for the grain trade at Medine are ‘almost non-existent’ but he assumes that a considerable quantity flowed through the market. Manchuelle, , ‘Background to Black African emigration to France: The labor migrations of the Soninke, 1848–1987’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1987), 182.Google Scholar

13 Monteil, Charles, Les Bambara de Ségou et du Kaarta (Paris, 1924), 4–5.Google Scholar

14 The Massassi state in Karta, in contrast to its neighbour in Segu, is not blessed with an extensive historical literature. Sékéné-Mody Cissoko provides a very useful overview in Contribution à l'histoire politique du Khasso dans le Haut-Sénégal des origines à 1854 (Paris, 1986).Google Scholar

15 For an Arabic document discussing the defeat of the Awlad Mbark, see Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, Manuscrits Orientaux, Fonds Arabes (hereafter BNP, MO, FA), vol. 5361, fos. 10–11.

16 This paragraph summarizes my argument in ‘Umarian Karta’, chapter two.

17 Saint-Martin describes informal negotiations between Umarian leaders at Konya-kary and the French in L'Empire toucouleur et la France, chapter four.

18 Webb, James Jr, ‘The trade in gum arabic: prelude to the French conquest in Senegal’, Journal of African History XXVI (1985).Google Scholar

19 Raffenel, A., Nouveau voyage dans le pays des Nègres, volume I (Paris, 1856), 386–7.Google Scholar

20 French officials report on the negotiations which occurred at Medine in their correspondence in the Archives Nationales du Sénégal (hereafter ANS) 13G210–213 and 15G108–109.

21 Archives Nationales du Mali (hereafter ANM) 1D48: ‘Monographic de Medine’.

22 ANS Q23.

23 Amilhat, Pierre (ed. and trans.), ‘Petite chronique des Id ou Aich, hériteurs guerriers des Almoravides sahariens,’ Revue des études islamiques (1937).Google Scholar

24 Very few data exist in the archives regarding the firearms trade; a reference for 1871 puts Umarian purchases at 1,500–1,800 guns for the year. ANS 13G171: Bakel, 28 February 1871, Ct. Bakel to the Governor.

25 The Ijil salt trade is discussed in McDougall, E. Ann, ‘The Ijil salt industry: Its role in the precolonial economy of the Western Sudan’ (Ph.D. thesis, Birmingham University, 1980).Google Scholar

26 Marty, Paul, Etudes sur l'Islam et les tribus du Soudan (Paris, 1921), vol. 4, 215–16.Google Scholar

27 See my taped oral interviews of 26 January 1986 with Amadou Ba and 6 February 1986 with Yilé Sibey at Nioro-du-Sahel, Mali.

28 Pollet, Eric and Winter, Grace, La Société soninke (Brussels, 1971).Google Scholar

29 ANM 1D51: ‘Notice historique sur la région du Sahel par Ct. de Lartigues’; ANS 1G310: ‘Renseignements historiques, géographiques et économiques sur le Cercle de Kayes par Administrateur Roux’, Kayes, 30 March 1904.

30 Dramé, Tiébilé, ‘Alfa Umar Kaba Jakite, fondateur de Kabala, marabout et conseilleur de Siixumaru Tal (al-Hajj Umar)’, Islam et sociétés au sud de Sahara, 2 (1988), 114–21.Google Scholar Alfa Umar's sons and grandsons continued to play a role in Umarian affairs.

31 Oloruntimehin, B. O., ‘Muhammad Lamine in Franco-Tukulor relations, 1885–87’, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, IV (1968)Google Scholar; Nyambarza, Daniel, ‘Le Marabout El Hadj Mamadou Lamine d'après les archives françaises’, Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines, 9 (1969)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bathily, Abdoulaye, ‘Mahmadou Lamine Dramé et la résistance anti-impérialiste dans le Haut-Sénégal (1885–87)’, Notes Africaines, no. 125 (1970).Google Scholar

32 Archives Nationales de la France, Section Outre-Mer (hereafter ANF.SOM) SEN.1 61c: Saint Louis, 5 June 1878, Governor to the Minister.

33 Blanc, Emile, a French colonial official, published some oral traditions regarding the raids in ‘Contribution à l'étude des populations et de l'histoire du Sahel soudanais’, Bulletin du Comité d'Etudes Historiques et Scientifiques de l'Afrique Occidentale Française, vii (1924).Google Scholar

34 During this era, he obtained recognition as the Commander of the Faithful from desert-side groups north of Karta. BNP, MO, FA., vols. 5640, fos. 25–38; 5713, fos. 46, 59,182.

35 Roberts documents the economic dislocation and the rise of new regional commercial centres, such as Banamba, at the expense of previous commercial centres, such as Sinsani, in Warriors, Merchants and Slaves, especially 107–12.

36 Local cloth served as the currency in Karta. During the late nineteenth century, guinée cloth expanded into Karta and functioned as a currency. Cowrie shells, however, never penetrated the Kartan economy, indicating that the middle Niger region did not pull Karta into its sphere. Soleillet, , Voyage à Ségou, 168.Google Scholar Karta's economic autonomy also is reflected in its ability to receive Ijil salt even when quantities were scarce in Segu. ANF.SOM SEN.1 58a: St Louis, 21 July 1874, Governor to the Minister of Colonies.

37 Ct. Sup. Borgnis-Desbordes, who led the French advance in the early 1880s, felt that Muntaga, the Umarian leader at Nioro, would accept an alliance with the French in order to ensure Kartan access to French markets, but Muntaga refused all initiatives. ANS 1D68: Bamako, 11 and 14 February 1883, Ct. Sup. to the Governor; ANS 15G144, no. 110: Nioro, n.d., Muntaga to Ct. Sup. (in Arabic).

38 Muntaga informed the French that their advance divided his followers into two groups: supporters and opponents of military confrontation. Ct. Sup. Borgnis-Desbordes summarizes Muntaga's letter in ANS 1D69: ‘Rapport sur la campagne, 1882–83’.

39 Méniaud, , Pionniers, vol. 2, 336–8Google Scholar; ANM 1D51: ‘Notice historique sur la région du Sahel’.

40 Few current residents of western Mali remember the production complex in any detail. I discuss the issue in ‘Umarian Karta’, chapter five.

41 Guinée cloth also was an item of exchange in the markets of the Senegal River valley. Abdoulaye Bathily notes a similar integration of the slave and grain trades for an earlier period in ‘La traite atlantique des esclaves et ses effets économiques et sociaux en Afrique: la cas du Galam’, J. Afr. Hist., XXVII (1986), 269–93.Google Scholar

42 Manchuelle discusses the activities of these traders, referred to by the French as marigotiers, for the Bakel area during the early nineteenth century: ‘Background to Black emigration’, 94–9.

43 The first reference to the integration of the gum and grain trades at Medine appears in 1872, but the traitants surely were involved in the grain trade prior to that date. ANS 15G109: Medine, 1 August 1872, Ct. Medine to the Governor.

44 I base this conclusion on assertations in French reports that the traitants brought grain at ‘favourable’ prices.

45 ANS 15G109: Medine, 6 January, 1872, Ct. Medine to the Governor.

46 ANS 15G113: ‘Recensement de la population de Medine—1882’.

47 ANS 15G111: Medine, June, 1877, February, March, April, November, 1879, ‘Registre journal’; ANM 1Q70: Medine, 26 July 1884, ‘Rapport commercial’; ANM 1Q70: Medine, 18 October, 1885, ‘Rapport sur l'accroissement du commerce’.

48 Park, Mungo, Travels in the Interior of Africa (New York, 1907).Google Scholar Similar assessments from subsequent eras appear in Gray, Major W. and Dochard, Staff Surgeon, Travels in Western Africa (London, 1925), 299Google Scholar and ANS 1D117: n.p., n.d., ‘Lignes d'étapes de Konyakary à Dionkolané’.

49 Local groups in the upper Xoolimbinne valley north of Jomboxo exchanged much of their surplus grain with desert-side herders for milk, hides, cattle and small quantities of salt.

50 The French officials never distinguished between millet (petit mil) and sorghum (gros mil). The quantitative estimates appear in: ANF.SOM SEN.1 56b: St Louis, 14 September 1872, Governor to the Minister; ANS 15G109: Medine, July 1874 and April 1878, ‘Bulletin agricole, commercial et politique’; ANS 15G111: Medine, April 1882, ‘Bulletin agricole, commercial et politique’; ANM 1E54: Medine, May 1883, ‘Bulletin agricole, commercial et politique’; ANS 2B75: St Louis, 12 September and 12 November 1885, Governor to the Minister.

51 The ‘purchasing year’ began in October with the harvest of grains and ran until the end of the subsequent rainy season. Most of the grain trade occurred between January and June.

52 The traitants estimated the grain trade in terms of barriques, the largest unit of measurement used in the Senegal valley. I use a 20: 1 ratio in my calculations for this table. French estimates of the barrique appear in ANM 1Q70: Medine, 1 April 1886, ‘Rapport commercial’; ANM 1E207: Medine, 13 May 1886, Ct. Medine to the Ct. des Cercles; ANS 2B75: St Louis, 12 August 1885, Governor to the Minister.

53 Umarian leaders imposed an embargo on trade with Medine for several months in 1881–2, so the figure would have been higher.

54 ANS 13G184: Bakel, 1 October 1884, ‘Rapport trimestriel’.

55 Roberts, Richard, ‘The emergence of a grain market in Bamako, 1883–1908’, Canadian Journal of African Studies, XIV (1980).Google Scholar

56 ANS 1D62:Kita, 14 February 1881, Ct. Sup. to Governor; ANS 3B98: Saint Louis, 3 August 1883, Governor to Ct. Sup.

57 Manchuelle, , ‘Background to Black migration’, 94–9.Google Scholar

58 Roberts, , Warriors, Merchants and Slaves, 100–106.Google Scholar

59 Marty, , Etudes sur l'Islam, vol. 4, 237–8.Google Scholar

60 ANS 13G168: Medine, 7 October 1863, Ct. Medine to Ct. Bakel.

61 ANS 13G210: Medine, 16 October 1865, Ct. Medine to Ct. Bakel; ANS 15G108: Medine, 27 March 1866, Ct. Medine to Ct. Bakel.

62 ANS 13G210: Medine, 27 July 1864, Ct. Medine to Ct. Bakel.

63 Information drawn from the Arabic chronicle composed by Cerno Yahya Tal of Konyakary. He presents information from extensive oral interviews conducted by Demba Sadio Diallo, a local oral historian. Cerno Yahya allowed me to tape his oral recitation of the chronicle.

64 ANS 15G108: Medine, 27 March 1866, Ct. Medine to Ct. Bakel.

65 ANS 15G109: Medine, 6 January 1872; ANM 1E54: Medine, June 1887, ‘Rapport politique’.

66 A few local élites obtained the authorization to collect jakka, but most agents were Futanke immigrants. Cissoko, ‘Contribution à l'histoire’.

67 Compare, for example, the comments in ANM 1D51: ‘Notice historique’, and ANS 1G310: ‘Renseignements historiques’. The former is drawn from information from the Nioro region and the latter from informants from the Konyakary region.

68 Soleillet, , Voyage à Ségou, 222–3.Google Scholar

69 When Medine was closed, Futanke settlers sometimes took their grain to Bakel. ANS 13G173: Bakel, 21 February 1876, Ct. Bakel to the Governor.

70 Soleillet describes Futanke slavery in Voyage à Ségou, 162ff.

71 ANS 13G187: Bakel 23 February 1887, Ct. Bakel to Ct. Kayes.

72 Calculations of slave prices in the aftermath of the trans-Atlantic slave trade are based on very limited data. Martin Klein offers numerous insights in his corpus of works on slavery. See, for example, Klein, M., ‘The demography of slavery in the Western Sudan’, in Gregory, J. and Cordell, D. (eds.), African Population and Capitalism. Historical Perspectives (Boulder, 1987)Google Scholar. Other useful works in a growing literature include Lovejoy, Paul, Transformations in Slavery (Cambridge, 1983)Google Scholar and the contributions in Meillassoux (ed.), L'Esclavage en Afrique précoloniale.

73 ANS 15G109: Medine, 1 May 1874, ‘Régistre journal’; 15G110: Medine, 7 September 1876, Ct. Medine to the Governor; 15G111: Medine, 30 June 1877, ‘Régistre journal’; Medine, June 1877, and March and April 1879, ‘Bulletin agricole, commercial et politique’.

74 Between 1874 and 1885, the French report no less than ten instances of commercial stoppage, of one week to several months, due to wars or embargoes in Umarian Karta.

75 ANF.SOM SEN.1. 61c: Saint Louis, 5 June 1878, Governor to the Minister.

76 I analyse the movement in chapter three of ‘Umarian Karta’.

77 ANS 13G127: Podor, 14 March 1878, Ct. Podor to Ct. Bakel.

78 ANS 1D73: Kayes, 31 October 1883, Ct. Sup. to the Governor; ANS 15G126: Kita, 29 April 1884, Ct. Kita to Ct. Sup.

79 Soleillet, , Voyage à Ségou, 158–61.Google Scholar

80 ‘Rapport de M. Perraud sur un voyage à Nioro’, Le Moniteur du Sénégal et Dépendances, no. 488 (1865).Google Scholar

81 ANS 1D105: ‘Rapport militaire, 1889–90’, 63.

82 Futanke settlers from Konyakary communicated these sentiments to the French commandant at Medine. ANS 15G110: Medine, 7 September 1876, Ct. Medine to the Governor.

83 After the French conquest, Futanke settlers tried to convince French officials that they should be allowed to return to Jomboxo because they had expanded agricultural production in the region. ANM 1D74: ‘Rapport du Cpt. Mazillier sur le Jomboxo, le Séro et les Maures d'Askeur’.

84 Taped interview of 25 September 1977 with Mamadou Alpha Diallo at Gavinané, Mali, by Abdoul Aziz Diallo. Diallo kindly shared his oral evidence with me.

85 The visit occurred in the context of Amadu's struggle with his brother Muntaga. I discuss the conflict in ‘Umarian Karta’, chapters eight and nine. French sources for the period include: ANM 1E207: Medine, 19 January, 6 March, 5, 13 and 28 April, 8 and 18 May 1885, Ct. Medine to Ct. Sup; ANM 1E54: Medine, 15 April 1885, ‘Rapport politique’; ANS 15G127: Kita, 15 May 1885, Ct. Kita to Ct.Sup.

86 The appeal to Amadu Sheku points to the broader Umarian context and the diversity of interests in Karta. Although Umar delegated power over Kartan affairs to local Umarian leaders when he left Nioro in 1859, Amadu Sheku claimed authority over the region by virtue of his subsequent appointment as Commander of the Faithful. Other sons of Umar also tried to seize power in Nioro and Konyakary, leading to a confrontation among various claimants beginning in the late 1860s. Amadu Sheku marched to Nioro and defeated his main rivals, but not without the support of several brothers, whom he later appointed as military leaders in Karta. These appointees subsequently asserted their autonomy from Amadu, forcing him to march to Karta for a second time in 1885. He once again defeated the challenge and remained at Nioro until the French invasion of northern Karta in 1891. Several written sources point to the delegation of power, including an Arabic chronicle composed by members of the Kaba Jakite family and translated by French officials. See Adam, M. G., Légendes historiques du pays de Nioro (Sahel) (Paris, 1904)Google Scholar; Delafosse, Maurice, ‘Traditions historiques et légendaires du Soudan occidental’, Bulletin du Cotnité d'Afrique Française, Renseignements Coloniaux, nos. 8–10 (1913).Google Scholar

87 Only a poor harvest in 1889 brought it to a halt. ANM 1E54: Medine, June, 1887, ‘Rapport politique’; ANM 1Q70: Medine, 31 July 1889, Ct. Medine to Ct. Sup.; ANS 15G76/3: Kayes, 1 November 1889.

88 Saint-Martin, L'Empire toucouleur; Oloruntimehin, Segu Tukolor Empire; Roberts, Warriors, Merchants and Slaves. Roberts's occasional references to autonomous garrisons and political ‘zones’ are obscured by his statements regarding an ‘Umarian state’ which encompasses the entire Western Sudan.