Sosso Empire | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 1200–c. 1235 | |||||||||
 Map of West Africa after the fall of Ghana to the Sosso | |||||||||
| Capital | Sosso | ||||||||
| Common languages | Soninke | ||||||||
| Religion | African traditional religion | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
• c. 1200-1235 | Soumaoro Kante | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Capture ofWagadu | c. 1200 | ||||||||
| c. 1235 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Mali | ||||||||
TheSosso Empire, also written asSoso orSusu, or alternativelyKaniaga, was kingdom ofWest Africa that originated as a vassal of theGhana Empire before breaking away and conquering their former overlords. Inhabited by theSoninke ancestors of the modern-daySosso people,[1] it was centered in the region south ofWagadou and north ofBeledougou.[2] The empire peaked under the reign ofSoumaoro Kante, who was defeated by the risingMali Empire ofSundiata Keita.
The term 'Sosso' may come from the word for horse, as the kingdom had a monopoly on the horse trade vis-a-vis its southern neighbors. The capital, a town of that name, still exists in Mali, nearBoron in theKoulikoro Region.[3] The empire is sometimes referred toKaniaga, the Malinke name for the region where it appeared.
Oral histories, not to mention the Western written histories derived from them, can compress events and people from different periods into single narratives, obscuring the historical facts. There may have been multiple Kante kings who were responsible for the growth of the Sosso Empire, but only the name Soumaoro has been remembered, and so all the accomplishments are credited to him.[4]
Colonial-era historianMaurice Delafosse asserted that Diarisso dynasty ruled Kaniaga until 1180, when a series of weak-willed and quarrelous brothers brought the kingdom to its knees through civil war until they were overthrown by a mercenary general, Kemoko or Diarra Kante, who gradually came to dominate theSoninke-inhabited southern provinces of Ghana and was father to Soumaoro Kante.[5] This narrative has been repeated and enlarged upon by other historians since the early 20th century. It was, however, constructed by haphazardly mixing different oral traditions and inventing information to fill in gaps, and there is in fact no evidence that Diarra had any connection to Soumaoro Kante.[6][7]
Historian Stephen Bühnen has argued that Sosso, rather than being located in Kaniaga south of Wagadu, was in fact centered in theFuta Jallon.[8] This theory has not, however, been generally accepted by other Africanists, and is a minority position amonggriots, who have associated Sosso the empire with Sosso the village since the 1880s.[9][10]
The Sosso originated as a clan of slaves of theKaya Magha of theGhana Empire, part of the group ofKusa lineages, who gradually accumulated power, populating the royal bureaucracy and army, and serving as governors of provinces.[11] Soumaoro was reputed to have been the head of all the royal slaves and a governor of a province in northern Beledougou.[7]
Oral histories collected inSokolo andGoumbou claim that the Diarrisso family ruled Wagadu at the time. A civil war between two groups of half-brothers over the succession broke out. Repeated conflict, including the intervention of a mercenary named Diarra, so weakened the state that it became easy prey for Soumaoro Kante, an event thatHeinrich Barth dated to approximately 1203.[12][13] A letter sent by Abu’l-Rabi, theAlmohad governor ofSijilmasa, "to the king of the Sudàn in Ghàna" in 1199 refers to their difference in religion; this might reflect the dominance of the pagan Sosso.[14]
He conqueredDiarra andGajaaga and subdued theMandinka chieftaincies to the south, where the important goldfields ofBure were located.[15][2][16]Dialonkadugu was also a Soso province.[17]
Besides the capital of Sosso, four major cities have been remembered in oral history: Kukuba, Bantamba, Nyemi-Nyemi, and Kambasiga. Kukuba wasSoumaoro Kante's personal fortress from which he waged war on the Manding chiefdoms to the south. Today known as Koulouba, the site, on a cliff overlookingBamako, holds thepresidential palace ofMali. Bantamba, the site of Soumaoro's 'war medicine' and fire oracle, is possibly the city ofBanamba. Nyemi-Nyemi may refer to the city ofNiamina, near the important ritual center of Niamanko where young blacksmiths were trained and initiated.[18]
Soumaoro is remembered in Mande oral histories as a cruel, harsh leader. ManySoninke people left the region to escape his rule, and religious persecution drove Muslim traders to abandon Koumbi Saleh forDjenne andOualata. He beheaded Muslim kings who opposed him.[5]
At theBattle of Kirina (c. 1235) theMandinka princeSundiata Keita led a coalition of smaller states to soundly defeat the Sosso and kill Soumaoro. Sundiata marched on Sosso itself and destroyed it, marking the kingdom's end.[19]
When the Soso empire collapsed, the entire Kaniaga region was incorporated into Sundiata'sMali Empire. The resulting upheaval led to massive population movements, with the remains of the Sosso either moving west intoSenegambia or south into theFuta Jallon, where they became the ancestors of theSusu andYalunka peoples.[1][20] The presence of some or all of theseMande peoples may, however, predate the Sosso Empire, and reflect a gradual process of emigration as the Ghana Empire expanded and warred rather than a single cataclysmic population shift.[21]
