History Myth / SegouCycle

* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Biton Coulibaly overhears a conversation between a vulture and hyena about where to found the city of Segou.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The Segou Cycle is much less idealized than the medieval legends of heroic Sundiata Keita and his noble court, or the Dausi of ancient Ghana. Segou and its immediate neighborhood are acknowledged as a dangerous place to be: from its DeadlyDecadentCourt to roving slavers to human sacrifices to man-eating demons walking the earth. The legitimacy of the Mansas had given way to the Faamas who are more like military strongmen than rightful monarchs.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The Segou Cycle is much less idealized than the medieval legends of heroic Sundiata Keita and his court, or the Dausi. Segou and its immediate neighborhood is acknowledged as a dangerous place to be from its DeadlyDecadentCourt to roving slavers to human sacrifices to man-eating demons walking the earth.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The Segou Cycle is much less idealized than the medieval legends of heroic Sundiata Keita and his court, or the Dausi. Segou is acknowledged as a dangerous place to be from its DeadlyDecadentCourt to roving slavers to human sacrifices to man-eating demons walking the earth.

! The Segou Cycle includes examples of:

From this era of constant warfare and uncertainly, a new corpus of legend was born. The four greatest of the nineteen kings of Segou became the central components of this cycle: Biton Coulibaly, Ngolo Diarra, Monzon Diarra, and Da Monzon.

[[caption-width-right:350: According to legend, the city of Segou was home to 4,444 sacred Balanza trees and one "hunchback" Balanza.[[note]]Or 1,444 Balanzas depending on the jeli. The "hunchback" tree is a reference to the club traditionally used to beat incompetent/feeble kings to death, as well as the ubiquitous treachery of Segou.[[/note]]]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350: According to legend, the city of Segou was home to 4,444 sacred Balanza trees and one "hunchback" Balanza.]]

Enter the Bambara. Stalwart adherents of traditional Manding religion known as "Bamanaya", the Bambara distinguished themselves in this way from the increasingly Islamized Mandinka. Starting in the mid-17th century the Bambara would grow into the most influential political and military force in the Western Sudan, establishing the much-feared Bambara empire in 1712 under king Biton Coulibaly. The pagan Bambara of Segou were a bellicose people and mighty drinkers of alcohol, in stark opposition to the historically Muslim or pseudo-Muslim aristocrats of the medieval Sahelian empires. The leaders of Segou frequently came from outside of the traditional Mande social hierarchy: namely hunters of the Dozo fraternity and slaves. Charismatic hunters deriving renown from their occult powers would gather followings of disenfranchised slaves who fought for them in return for higher social status and material benefits such as plunder. Jonba or "Big Slaves" could not be sold at market and formed the bedrock of the slave army, forming a political entity reminiscent of the Mamluks or Janissaries. In contrast, Jonfin or "Black Slaves" could be freely bought and sold at market.

Enter the Bambara. Stalwart adherents of traditional Manding religion known as "Bamanaya", the Bambara distinguished themselves in this way from the increasingly Islamized Mandinka. Starting in the mid-17th century the Bambara would grow into the most influential political and military force in the Western Sudan, establishing the much-feared Bambara empire in 1712 under king Biton Coulibaly. The pagan Bambara of Segou were a bellicose people and mighty drinkers of alcohol, in stark opposition to the historically Muslim or pseudo-Muslim aristocrats of the medieval Sahelian empires. The leaders of Segou frequently came from outside of the traditional Mande social hierarchy: namely hunters of the Dozo fraternity and slaves.

Enter the Bambara. Stalwart adherents of traditional Manding religion known as "Bamanaya", the Bambara distinguished themselves in this way from the increasingly Islamized Mandinka. Starting in the mid-17th century the Bambara would grow into the most influential political and military force in the Western Sudan, establishing the much-feared Bambara empire in 1712 under king Biton Coulibaly.

Enter the Bambara.

This change in West Africa occurred for a few reasons. The exhaustion of the West Sudanese goldfields caused a shift in influence from the Western Sudan to the Central Sudan, affirming the renewed prominence of entities like the Hausa city-states and Kanem-Bornu empire among others.

With the collapse of the Songhai empire in 1591, the Western Sudan region was thrown into near-constant turmoil and clashing fiefdoms.

[[caption-width-right:350: According to legend, the city of Segou was home to 4,444 sacred Balanza trees and one "hunchback" Balanza.]]

[[caption-width-right:350: According to legend, the city of Segou was home to 4,444 Balanza trees and one "hunchback" Balanza.]]