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Samoure Toure was born around 1830 by Lafiya Toure and his mother was Masorona in the Mandika peasant family who practiced traditional kind of life. As a young man, he joined the Duilla long distance trading community which made him to travel over the country between Sierra Leone and the upper Niger dealing in Gold, Slaves, Kola nuts, cattle and firearms. He was also converted to the Tijaniyya brotherhood to which many of the Duilla traders belonged.
Through such movements, he acquired variable knowledge of local affairs over a wide area which he some how later used in the administration of the Mandika empire he built himself. In his adulthood he abandoned this profitable trade when his mother was captured in slave trade. Under the order of Chief Sere Boulay of Sise kingdom in 1853.
In order to have his mother released, Samoure Toure associated with chief Sere and became a recognised member of his army. In 1857, he broke away from Sere's army after acquisition of skills of warfare and weapons which he was later to use in bringing up numerous Mandika states under his leadership. He gradually conquered many states under his leadership. I:{egradually conquered many other small states in West Africa e.g. in 1867 he annexed Sanankoro territory and later conquered Sise kingdom which enabled hint to form a giant Mandika empire.
Samoure Toure didn't only expand his empire by force, he sometimes made marriage
alliances with groups of people such as Toure of Odiene or diplomatic relations with, men like Tijani of Dinguirray society.
Samoure Toure stressed education and in his newly conquered villages, his fiist concern was to establish the Mosques, Schools and bringing in of teachers. He took a personal interest in the schools and education was made compulsory for the children of state officials. The army was also a means of converting and educating people and soldiers about the needs of the Mandika Empire. Soldiers were taught how to be faithful, disciplined and basic literacy.
Sarnoure Toure had the ability· of integrating politics with economic control over Agriculture and markets. He made trade easier by abolishing a great number of custom charges among the small states. Although merchants resented the tight control of Agriculture and markets, they benefited a lot from his promotlon of export trade in which he encouraged the exchange of Agriculture products with weapons and ammunmons from Europeans at the coast.
Samoure was able to use his fellow Duilla traders as his spies far away among the French in the Tukolor Empire and Futa Djalon islands plus the British in Free town (Sierra Leone). This helped him to succeed in international diplomatic relations. As his former fnends these spy men were paid well.
By 1888, Toure's Empire was the third largest political unit in West Sudan states following Sokoto Caliphate and Tukolor Empire. Toure wanted political unification and revival of the Mandika greatness. He used Islam as a tool of unifying the people of Mandika kingdom. He wanted his new state , rules and regulations to be fully based on Islam although he sympathised with traditional religion.
HIS POLITICAL ORGANISATION.
The Mandika Empire was built by military means and it was maintained by a military system. Tome being a military leader, his Empire was primarily a military state. In 1873, he settled at Bisandagu which he developed as the capital of Mandika empire.
His political structures were paramount as they left Mandika empire divided into 162 cantons with each consisting of 20 or more villages. The empire was governed by three parallel lines of authority i.e political power, military and religious authority. All the three were controlled by the state council headed by the Almami who was Samoure Toure himself.
Village heads were chosen by traditional methods. Their power was limited by the village imam with judicial rights and Samoure Toure's appointee who was responsible for leading troops and taking orders to the army. In each village the heads were responsible for the farming and harvesting gardens on behalf of Almami who was the top leader.
Canton chiefs were also chosen by traditional methods although they held honourary positions. Real authority in Samoure Toure's kingdom laid in the hands of Sofas (professional military officers, administrators and the Qadhi). The provinces in Mandika were headed by relatives or close friends of Samoure Toure who had 200 or 300 sofas under their command.
The Almami was the supreme political, judicial and religious head of the empire as well as its military commander. He was assisted by a state council composed of the provisional heads of three lines of authority i.e political, religious and military.
In Samourie's army there was promotion according to ability and talent rather than loyalty to the emperor, Education, Discipline, dedication to work and loyalty to the state other than tribe became the basis of promotion.
The army therefore became an effective ground for training of political officers in which Samoure Toure could reward and call the best talented to serve in the government of Mandika kingdom. Therefore, the major aims of Samoure's administration policies was to destroy tribalism and promote National loyalty among the Mandika people.
He encouraged the working together of men from different families and tried to abolish distinctive or differences between privileged and non privileged class by giving every one the chance in the army ranks to move from the lower to the highest position of the state.
The Mandika unity was based on Law, way of life and Islam. Religious leaders had their positions at every level alongside the political and military lines. Images, ancestors and sacred huts were replaced by Mosques and Quranic Schools after deciding the use of Islam as a tool for unification of the Mandika kingdom.
Taxation and commerce role were all according to the Islamic practice. Judicial matters were usually settled by the village judge (Alkari) in the Alkari courts. The canton or provincial conflicts could be brought before Samoure Toure and his state council headed by the Almami.
In conclusion therefore the personality of Samoure Toure had a multitude of disciplines as he was an innovator, a military genius, a good administrator, a preserve of the old customs, and institutions. He created the essential components of the state, a complex administration with an appointed political service supported by an efficient and loyal army to carry out the will of the central government. Most important of him was that he created a spirit of national unity which survived for long until the invasion of the French men.
Revision questions.
Assess the career and the achievements of Samori Toure by 1897 in West Africa .
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