Ngolo Diarra wasfaama of theBambara Empire from 1766 to 1790.

As a young man his village, Niola, gave Ngolo to the state asdisongo annual tribute and became aton djon or slave warrior in the service ofBitòn Coulibaly. After his rise to power, Ngolo returned to his native village and destroyed it as revenge.^[1]: 413

Following the 1755 death of empire founderBitòn Coulibaly, his descendants (the Bitonsi) proved unable to maintain control, and the kingdom fell into chaos. Ngolo Diarra, by now a leader of theton djon, seized the throne in 1766 and soon restored order. He defeated theMacina Empire and re-established firm control overDjenne andTimbuktu.^[2] His reign is remembered in oral histories as a time of great economic prosperity.^[1]: 324

Mungo Park, passing through the Bambara capital ofSégou two years after Diarra's 1795 death, recorded a testament to the Empire's prosperity under his reign:

"The view of this extensive city, the numerous canoes on the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding countryside, formed altogether a prospect of civilization and magnificence that I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa."¹

Ngolo Diarra died in a campaign against theMossi in 1790 and was succeeded by his sonMansong Diarra. His descendants, the Ngolosi, continued to rule the Empire until its fall toToucouleur conqueror El HadjUmar Tall in 1861.^[2]

• Davidson, Basil.Africa in History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

• Timeline of Western Sudan
• Pre-colonial Malian History {French language}

1. Qtd. in Davidson 245.

• Bamana Empire
• 18th-century monarchs in Africa
• Faamas

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