Summary

The captive trade was undoubtedly one of the fundamental driving forces behind the hegemonic project of Samory Touré, the famous Malinke figure who emerged from Upper Guinea in West Africa in the late 19th century. As part of his war economy, he was one of the pillars of the quadrangular trade (captive, horse, rifle, foodstuffs) initiated by the Malinke conqueror. But beyond this economic analysis, these precious spoils of war also played a part in the demographic history of West Africa at the end of the 19th century. According to several estimates, tens of thousands of captives were sold by Samory and his Sofas throughout West Africa. Captives and fugitives escaping the fate of captivity were the driving force behind the human dispersal triggered by Samory’s wars and slave trades. This episode constituted a further stratum in the Malinke expansion toward the forest and the West African coast, and its consequences are still visible in the spatial distribution of communities and socialization processes in this region of Africa. Thousands of captives and fugitives returned to their homelands after Samory was captured in September 1898, encouraged by the French authorities in their policy of repopulation to provide the manpower needed to begin the economic exploitation of the colonies. Others chose to take up residence in their new homeland, contributing to the formation of Malinke diasporas, mainly in the forest zone and on the West African coast. Subsequently, these captives and other fugitives became smugglers or aided in the dissemination of the cultural, material, and spiritual characteristics of Malinke and Islamic civilization in their various refuges. Malinke art, folklore, music, Islam, style of dress, language and forms of socialization enabled Mande culture to spread beyond its traditional bases.