Ségou: History

Pre-20th-Century History

By the 6th century AD, the lucrative trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt and slaves had begun, facilitating the rise of empires in present-day Mail.

The last of these was the Bambara Empire of Ségou, which rose in the early 18th century under the control of Biton Mamary Coulibaly. The beautiful village of Ségou Koro was the centre of Coulibaly's empire and he is buried there.

The empire briefly controlled huge swathes of Mali, before being usurped by two waves of Fula-led Islamic jihad, the second originating from the Tukulor Empire of northern Senegal.

Weakened by successive attacks during the early 19th century, the Bambara empire was finally defeated by the forces of Omar Tall, who seized Ségou in March 1861 and then converted the population to Islam.

Modern History

The Tukulor were still around when the French expanded east into Mali during the mid-19th century.

By the end of the 19th century, Ségou was part of French West Africa. Remnants of this colonial era visible today include the huge Office du Niger irrigation scheme near Ségou, which was built with forced labour.

Scottish surgeon and explorer Mungo Park, who passed through Ségou in 1796, described its prosperity in his book Travels in the Interior of Africa : '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 civilisation and magnificence that I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa.'

Recent History

Visitors to Ségou are still surprised by its sophistication. It's a wonderful place to slow down and get a sense of the Mali that exists beyond its tourist sites. The tree-lined streets just back from the riverbank still bear traces of decaying colonial elegance.

From the small but interesting pottery market on the riverbank, it's a pleasant stroll to Quai Ousmane Djiri which is slowly being developed with replica traditional buildings (including an artisan workshop and exhibition area).

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