The Brave Queen Of Africa Who resist Against French Colonial Troops

Sarauniya Mangou, the Hausa Queen Who Resisted French Colonial Troops at the Battle of Lougou, currently Niger Republic 🇳🇪 in 1899.

Sarauniya Mangou was a chief/priestess of the  one  subgroup of  Hausa tribe, who fought French colonial troops of the Voulet–Chanoine Mission at the Battle of Lougou (in present-day Niger) in 1899.

Sarauniya means queen or female chief in the Hausa language. Among the predominantly Hausa people of Lougou and surrounding Hausa towns and villages, the term refers to a lineage of female rulers who exercised both political and religious power in the region like Sarauniya Daurama of Daura, Sarauniya Amina of Zazzau, Sarauniya Ƴargoje of Zamfara among others.

Sarauniya Mangu was the most famous of the Hausa's Queens in 19th century due to her resistance against French colonial troops at the Battle of Lougou in 1899. While most chiefs in Niger pragmatically submitted to French power,Sarauniya Mangou mobilized her people and resources to confront the French forces of the Voulet–Chanoine Mission, which launched a fierce attack on her fortress capital of Lougou.

Overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the French, she and her fighters retreated from the fortress, and engaged the attackers in a protracted guerrilla battle which eventually forced the French to abandon their project of subduing her.

According to native oral history she was a great warrior with pure yellow eyes who could hurl fire at the invaders and even summon fog to help them get away from the French army. It's said her magical charms erased her troops footsteps from the battlefield and any crops that were blazed to ash regrew overnight with more than enough food to keep the warriors going.

The Battle of Lougou:

The French Voulet-Chanoine Mission, led by the captains Paul Voulet and Julien Chanoine, had been dispatched in 1898 to Africa by the French government with the mission to conquer the territories between the Niger River and Lake Chad and join in uniting French territories in West Africa. After leaving French Sudan in January 1899, they ruthlessly subjugated the native peoples, meeting little resistance.

One of the few to resist was the sorcerer queen Sarauniya, ruler of the sub Hausa group, who practice Traditional religion  in a long Islamized region. Determined to bar the expedition's road, Sarauniya wrote to Voulet a provocative letter full of insults; the French took up the challenge, and on 15 April left the camp, marching towards the villages of Lougou and Tougana, where Sarauniya had concentrated her forces.

The day after, at 6:00, started what Lt. Paul Joalland called "one of the hottest moments of the campaign". The French found the enemy assembled on the field, while women and children had already retired themselves in a small thick and almost impenetrable bush where the Hausa defended themselves when facing a superior enemy. After the Hausa had started to disperse under the French gunfire, their lines broke when hit by three grapeshot balls; the Hausa people then retreated in the bush, where the thick foliage partly protected the natives from the gunfire.

The French felt that if left there, the Hausa may attack them at night; so it was decided to assault the bush, but being careful to leave a way of escape for the Hausa open, so to avoid a too deadly confrontation that could cost too much blood. The French met a strong resistance, killing two riflemen and wounding four, but were at the end successful and forced the Hausa warriors to escape.

The battle had protracted itself till 13:00, and among the French tirailleurs four were killed and six wounded, with 7,000 cartridges consumed.

She's still being celebrate among Hausa people, Niger Republic and Africa as the great warrior who's capable as men. She is the subject of the 1986 film Sarraounia based on the novel of the same name by Nigerien writer Abdoulaye Mamani.

Source: Rabee'u Garba Ruwan Godia