Solimana was a small

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

n state of the nineteenth century with a capital at the fortress town of

Falaba Falaba is a rural town in Solima chiefdom, Falaba District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The population of Falaba is largely from the Yalunka, Kuranko and couple of Mandingo ethnic groups. Falaba is virtually all Muslim and it is ...

. Situated on rich

trading Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market (economics), market. Traders generally negotiate throu ...

routes in what is now

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

, Solimana was visited in 1822 by

Alexander Gordon Laing Major (United Kingdom), Major Alexander Gordon Laing (27 December 179426 September 1826) was a Scottish exploration, explorer and the first European to reach Timbuktu, arriving there via the north-to-south route in August 1826. He was killed sho ...

and in 1869 by William Winwood Reade, making it nominally

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

. It was formed by the Yalunka of the Samura clan, it was an amalgamation of various Yalunka clans in order to resist

Futa Jallon Fouta Djallon (, , ; ) is a highland region in the center of Guinea, roughly corresponding with Middle Guinea, in West Africa. Etymology The Fulani people call the region Fuuta-Jaloo ( ) in the Pular language. 'Futa' is a Fula word for any re ...

expansion. The state managed to survice the threat and began to expand its political influence within the region. In 1884,

Mandinka Mandinka, Mandika, Mandinkha, Mandinko, or Mandingo may refer to: Media * Mandingo (novel), ''Mandingo'' (novel), a bestselling novel published in 1957 * Mandingo (film), ''Mandingo'' (film), a 1975 film based on the eponymous 1957 novel * ''Man ...

conqueror

Samori Samori Ture ( – June 2, 1900), also known as Samori Toure, Samory Touré, or Almamy Samore Lafiya Toure, was a Mandinka people, Malinke and a Soninke people, Soninke Muslim cleric, military strategist, and founder of the Wassoulou Empire, an Is ...

joined the king of Kaliere in attacking Solimana, then under the rule of

Manga Sewa Manga Sewa (died 1884) was a Yalunka King of the Solimana who blew up a magazine and much of Falaba, the capital of Solimana, killing himself, his family and other leaders, rather than let it fall to Samori Toure's army. Early life and career M ...

. After Samori's general N'fa Ali destroyed a number of surrounding villages, the Mandinka forces began a five-month siege of Falaba itself. With the city's residents starved nearly to death, Manga Sewa gathered his family in Falaba's

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

magazine and lit a torch, simultaneously killing himself and breaching Falaba's walls. The territory of Solimana was then briefly assimilated into Samori's

Wassoulou Empire The Samorian state, also referred to as the Wassoulou empire, Ouassalou empire, Mandinka empire or Samory's empire, was a short-lived West African state that existed from roughly 1878 until 1898, although dates vary from source to source. It span ...

. Following Samori's own fall several years later, it was claimed by the British and incorporated into the Crown Colony of Sierra Leone.

References

External links

Brief biography of Manga Sewa
History of Sierra Leone Former countries in Africa States and territories disestablished in 1884 19th century in Africa {{SierraLeone-hist-stub