Imamate of Futa Jallon

Origins Semi-nomadic Fulɓe first came to the Fouta Djallon over successive generations between the 15th and 16th centuries. Initially, they followed a traditional African religion and coexisted peacefully with the native Yalunka people. In the 18th century the region saw an influx of Muslim Fulɓe either from the Sultanate of Massina in the Inner Niger Delta or from the namesake Massina in the Aoukar region of modern-day Mauritania. By 1700, wealthy Muslim Fulanis resented the high taxes and demanded the right to build mosques and Islamic madrasas. Alfa Ba was killed in 1725, however his son Ibrahim Sambegu took over and defeated the animists at the decisive battle of Talansan in 1727. Sori's death in 1791 led to a series of succession disputes between the leading Soriya and Alfaya families. Things improved after 1845, when they agreed to alternate the imamate between them every two years. Throughout the 19th century, the ruling class lived increasingly lavish lifestyles, with the population bearing a heavy tax burden. A resistance movement known as Hubbu, meaning 'those who refuse', broke out, led by a pious Fulbe named Alfa Mamadu Dyuhe. His army, consisting of the oppressed herder class and runaway slaves, waged decades of war against the state, at one point even capturing Timbo before forces from the other provinces united to defeat them. At the decisive Battle of Kansala in 1867 Kaabu's capital was destroyed and the Imamate extended its control into Fuladu in the Casamance basin. In 1879, the Almamy Ibrahima Sory Dara secured an alliance with Samori Ture, whose Wassoulou Empire was rising to the east and needed secure access to European arms traders on the coast. For the Fulas, this alliance served a double purpose, enlisting the Malinke ruler to put down the remnants of the Hubbu, who raided trade caravans, and act as a counterweight to growing French power in the region. ==Government==

The Imamate of Futa Jallon was governed under a strict interpretation of Sharia with a central ruler in the city of Timbo, near present-day Mamou. The Imamate was a federation of nine provinces called diwe, which all enjoyed a certain amount of autonomy. These diwe were: Timbo, Timbi, Labè, Koîn, Kolladhè, Fugumba, Kébaly, Fodé Hadji and Bhouria. The council of elders also had considerable power to advise or remove the Almamy. The Muslims of Futa Jallon became divided into factions. The clerical faction took the name of the Alfaya out of respect to the legacy of Karamokho Alfa, while the secular faction called themselves the Soriya after his successor Ibrahima Sori. The rulers of the two cities of Timbo and Fugumba were descended from the same original family, and later all competition for the position of almamy was between these two cities. In 1845 the two factions came to an agreement that power should alternate between leaders of the two factions, with each faction's chosen almamy serving in alternating two-year terms. This was well-respected up until the Bokar Biro's attempt to hold onto power in 1896, which precipitated the fall of the Imamate. ==Economy and culture==

The Imamate was a major center of Islamic education and art. Fulfulde was in Futa Djallon a vernacular language written using Arabic script. Fula poets composed epic poetry in Fulfulde in the 19th century about faith, law, and morality, and many women could read the Quran. Islamic disciplines such as translation, the hadiths, law, apologetics, mysticism, and the ancillary sciences such as grammar, rhetoric, literature, and astronomy were taught, and Europeans were reportedly impressed at the degree of scholarship. The Imamate enslaved non-Muslim people both inside and outside its border, selling the slaves to European trading houses on the coast, or settling the slaves (hubbu) in agricultural colonies called runde. In 1785 a major slave revolt broke out but was suppressed, although many survivors fled. By the mid-19th century, slaves did most if not all of the agricultural work. ==See also==