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Note 1 To My Friend I am at an age when man feels that he is not eternal. I did not want to pass unnoticed. There is no pride in benefiting from the steps forward made by the elders; I wanted to show that I have not been use- less down here. This is why I have used my free hours to write of my lost moments. I have written about the past of our fathers in this corner of Africa: men like SOUNDIATA, SAMORY and ELHADJOUMAR are Africans. They show us our land’s particular distinctive characteristics. I wanted to begin an arduous task: I have tried to shine a bright light on an obscure past. I have written history without self-interest. At the moment when, faced with the rise of European ideas, our past tends to be fused into a generalised history, it was necessary that voices raise, men speak, and researchers who look for the unpublished sing of the glories and the afflictions of our forebears. They are not well-known, these ancestors. They fought for an ideal which scholars and historians will dissociate from the facts. However, for us, heirs of a beautiful past, our desire is to enlighten the young people: they need this in order to recognise themselves in their land where civilisation,1 with its relent- less optimism, is introducing new mores which tend to veil and deform every- thing, even people. In the face of the rise of European ideas, our duty is not to mount a resis- tance (whether passive or active), but to help understanding ourselves in order to love ourselves. Yes, my dear friend, one must know its history in order to love a land. And this history is a civic education which others are developing. My aim was to bring out an image of a regional entity, to show that here there was a semblance of organisation, that man had a profound attachment to his land, to his customs, to his traditions. My aim was to expose certain errors, to indicate certain imperfections which are due to a lack of untainted documen- t|ation; my aim was to subdue the vanity of today’s bourgeoisie, to enhance 2 the prestige of the framework which evidently draws its sources and its powers from the ancestral will which is, after all, just. It will fall to others to touch on the big historical issues, and their repercus- sions on social and economic life. 1 Here Djiguiba Camara refers to the French “mission civilisatrice.” Elara Bertho and Marie Rodet - 9789004424876 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 11:28:03PM via free access 266 “Essai d’Histoire locale” To whom could I address myself, if not to you? As youths, we watched our parents serve an ideal, with a pride drawn from a certain social position. We witnessed as they effectively assisted with French penetration. Together, we attended schools where we began to conceive of a better des- tiny. Later, in accordance with life’s demands, each of us followed his fortune and embraced different careers. Me a Chief, you a private individual who had made the sacred pilgrimage, we have remained the same friends. You the son of a notable, me the child of a chief, both nourrished at the École Française with the nourishing milk of the people, we could not but understand one another. What you could have read here, if you had still been alive, are tales of immi- grations, of wars, of the development of ideas and mores; prohibitions and customs. I might be reproached for forming something so solid when, deep down, I do not believe that it is possible to draw on this as a better source. You will aswell read the history of the CAMARA from Guinée Forestière, and above those from the CERCLEOFBEYLA2 – the gradual arrival of other races,3 the wars which came before and after Samori, the benevolent French presence. I have not had the satisfaction of giving you this opuscule to read. Perhaps you hear me from beyond the grave, for God is great and so is his Prophet. I dedicate this book to you, in witness of our friendship which death has not been able to destroy. Djiguiba Camara 3 Essay on Local History Preface Around the 13th and 14th centuries, following immigration towards the lands situated on either side of the Tropic of Cancer, there were movements of exo- dus towards the South of the African continent.4 Each people succeeded in dislodging the natives, pushing them further south. 2 A cercle was a colonial administrative division in the French empire. Each colony was divided into a certain number of cercles, each with its own capital. Djiguiba Camara uses the concept of cercles throughout his text, including for periods before colonisation, where the term is used to refer to a local political entity. 3 The concept of race, used by Djiguiba Camara, is linked to the maninka notion of “si,” that is to say a generic word for “distant group, lineage, clan.” 4 For a study of migratory movements in the region, see Massing 1985. See also Wilks 2010. Elara Bertho and Marie Rodet - 9789004424876 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 11:28:03PM via free access English version 267 The Koné from Sudan (known by the name of Diarra) and from Upper Côte d’Ivoire moved into the land along the Dion and its tributaries: Seissou–Kouan (the rivers which divide Simandougou from Guirila in Konian). Formerly, the Tomas of Guinée Forstière inhabited a good part of what are now the cantons of the cercle de Beyla (Simandougou – Konianko – Kér- ouané).5 Traces of their stay remain: the River Tohoro, Toma, and Ourado are Toma words, modified over the centuries, and prove more or less precisely that this people dwelt around there. A long line of stones placed one on top of another, with important gaps here and there, runs from Kofilakoro to Damaro and has its own legend related to the life of the Tomas of old. The Koné came from Sudan and drove the Tomas out of the Guinée Fores- tière. They settled on the land, occupying all of the cantons which today form the North of the cercle of Beyla. The Koné were fetishists first and foremost, and at that time they had their own dialect and mores and a distinctive hierarchy. The dialect “KIBAKAN” is extinct, but it once existed. “Kibakan” Translation “Kibakan” Translation Words GEEI MOUTH Fouroukouma POTATO KEKE TOOTH MAOUGUEKI SWEET OUE HUT FOUROUKOUMA SWEETPOTATO MA OUGEKI GUINIMINI TWINS GNASSOUMA Formerly when Famourou (from San Kaladala = Sankaran6 divided his 55 sons 4 into 2 groups, 30 went to Nièkè. This group subdivided 5 Djiguiba Camara uses the term canton for both the colonial and precolonial periods. He uses it particularly to refer to geographical zones and chiefdoms in Samori Touré’s Empire. He himself was chief of the canton of Simandougou, from 1928 until canton chiefs were abol- ished by Sékou Touré in 1957. On the subject of the abolition of chiefs, see Suret-Canale 1966. 6 There is no closing bracket. Elara Bertho and Marie Rodet - 9789004424876 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 11:28:03PM via free access 268 “Essai d’Histoire locale” 1. FINKASSIAKONE Ona Biraïma went to Wore And, later, all the and OTHERS went to Silé Koné went to Diémou Ourodougou Diémou (Ouorodougou) Vacé Koné went to Foromare Vagbou Koné went to Korokoro 2. SOUMA BALE Bilama went to Doubadou (Béla Faranah) Sola Oulénkoun went to Sinko (Guirila) 3rd unknown went to Kofi- (Simandougou Beyla lakoro and Gondo Kankan) The Koné stayed on the soil until the Camara arrived and succeeded in con- quering it by infiltration. The Koné disappeared over time as they were absorbed by the Camara. There are still a few rare descendants of the Koné in certain villages, whilst the majority has stayed in the North (Ouorodougou and Béla-Faranah). The Camara who are the subject of this study will come later to reinforce their supremacy over the soil (the cantons of Simandougou, Guirila, etc …) INVASION: We must go back several centuries to see the origins of an inva- sion movement going from the Maghreb towards the banks of the Niger. The riverside tribes, torn from their soil by pillaging Berbers, fled towards the valley of Tinkisse and the Mandé region. From the land of Mandé, the Camara came to Farinkamaya, a village situated 5 in the vicinity of Siguiri. It is from there that | five half-brothers, accompanied by their close relatives, left in search of a “Promised Land.” The 1st, Souma Balé CAMARA, headed to the region of Kouroussa where he founded Baléa. The 2nd, Firigui CAMARA, went towards Faranah and settled in Firia, which gave birth to a canton of the same name; The 3rd, Sonkoly CAMARA, took the same path as his predecessor and founded Sonkoya, now situated between the posts of Douane and Hérémakono and of Samboudou (in the cercle of Dabola), while part of his entourage made for Sierra-Leone where it prospered; The 4th settled to the west of Siguiri; The 5th, who interests us here, came to Sianoh in Maou (cercle of Touba). He was called Diman CAMARA. He had the good fortune to find there a marabout named Diéné Moussa. Last mentioned, either hating the Kéita, the Kings of Manding who had uprooted him from the land, or having much sympathy for Dioman, promised to help the fugitive. He gave him a protective horn Elara Bertho and Marie Rodet - 9789004424876 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 11:28:03PM via free access English version 269 which shielded him against attacks and evil spells.

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