HISTORY LESSON

This is what the French said about SAMORY TOURE (specifically what one of the French officers said about Samory Toure). “It is not an exaggeration to say he showed himself superior to all negro chiefs. He was the one who gave proof of those characteristics of a chief: the strategist, a politician, an outstanding leader of men, possessing audacity, energy, the ability to follow up an advantage, and plan in advance, and above all a tenancity which could not be destroyed.”

Al-Mami (meaning “the leader”) Samory Toure was an outstanding West African ruler, who used alliances, supply chain management, and local weapons manufacturing to fight the French invasion, coming out from the French bases in Senegal. He got the 300-400 blacksmiths to create copies of European firearms. He is therefore unique for attempting to create a gun-manufacturing factory.

Samory Toure (c. 1828 – June 2, 1900), also known as Samori Toure, Samory Touré, or Almamy Samore Lafiya Toure, was a Mandinka Muslim cleric, military strategist, and founder of the Wassoulou Empire, an Islamic empire that was stretched across present-day north and eastern Guinea, north-eastern Sierra Leone, southern Mali, northern Côte d'Ivoire and part of southern Burkina Faso. A deeply religious Muslim of the Maliki school of religious jurisprudence of Sunni Islam, he organized his empire and justified its expansion with Islamic principles.

The local enemies of the Wassoulou Empire, the Kong Empire, aligned themselves with France against the Wassoulou Empire in the Mandingo Wars. The Kong Empire was founded by Seku Wattara in 1710 and destroyed by Samory Toure in 1898. Samory Toure’s decision to only seek Muslim allies alienated him from regions which were followers of African religions who saw him as an aggressor.