Wassoulou



Wassoulou is a cultural area and historical region in the Wassoulou River Valley of West Africa. It is home to about 160,000 people, and is also the native land of the Wassoulou genre of music.

Wassoulou surrounds the point where the borders of three present-day countries meet: Mali, Ivory Coast, and Guinea. It includes portions of southwestern Mali, northwestern Ivory Coast, and eastern Guinea. It is bordered by the Niger River to the northwest, and by the Sankarani River to the east.

The name Wassoulou is alternately spelled Wassulu, Wassalou, and Ouassalou.

Culture
Wassoulou is the birthplace of Wassoulou music, a style which blends traditional and modern influences with strong female vocalists and a pentatonic hunter's harp. Wassoulou music is one of the two forms of West African music ethnomusicologists believe to be the origin of the American blues, which developed out of music forms dating back to the American slave trade from West Africa. Some of the most famous residents of Wassoulou include the singers Oumou Sangare, Ramata Diakite and Coumba Sidibe. They are of Wasulu Fulani/Fula origin.

Wassoulou's cultural importance is reflected in the development of internet resources, and the creation of Radio Wassoulou broadcasting from Yanfolila.

Language
Wassoulou is also a dialect of the Eastern Fulfulde language, and is closely related to Kankan Mandinka. Speakers of Wassoulou number some 73,500 in Guinea, with 41,200 speakers estimated in Mali, where the closely related Bamanankan is also spoken. In the far northwest of Côte d'Ivoire there are some 21,000 Wassoulou speakers, where it is related to Wojenaka Maninka.

Inhabitants are known as Wassulu, Wassulunka or Wassulunke.

History
The Wassoulou area is a center for the mingling of several ethnic groups. The Fulani people, who were believed to have emigrated from the Fouta Djallon highlands to the west, integrated into the indigenous Mandé peoples and adopting their language and customs sometime prior to the 18th century, at roughly the same time Islam spread into the area. There are also large populations of Mandinka peoples native to Wassoulou. Due to many generations of intermingling, many Fulas from the Wassoulou region no longer speak their native tongue, but have retained their identity and cultural practices. Some common Fula surnames from Wassoulou are Diallo, Diakite, Sidibe, and Sangare. Some other names include Sow and Dia. These names are not exclusive to Fulas from this region.

While the history of the Mandinka Wassoulou states remain unclear, the small kingdoms of Kenedugu and Wassulu existed from at least the 1650s, benefiting from gold mining and trade in the area.

Wassoulou is also the name of an Islamic state, the Wassoulou Empire (1870–1898), ruled by Samori Ture and centered on his capital, Bissandugu. In 1870, Samori overthrew an older Wassoulou state whose faama (ruler) was Dyanabufarina Modi. The Wassoulou region rebelled against Toure multiple times. The first was in 1885 in response to the institutionalization of Islam in the empire and the suppression of animist practices. It was brutally put down by Toure's brother Keme Brema. The war between Samory and Kenedougou devastated the region, leaving thousands of refugees who were often sold into slavery or even sold themselves to avoid starving to death. Another rebellion after Samory's failure in the siege of Sikasso was also brutally suppressed. Toure moved through again in 1891, forcibly moving much of the population east with him as he migrated. Wassoulou continued to suffer instability and social conflict, including predation by colonial troops, well into the period of French domination.