Futa Diallon (18th and 19th century)

Last modified: 2000-09-01 by zeljko heimer
Keywords: futa diallon | guinea |
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• Flags of Futa Diallon

• Guinea

Flags of Futa Djalon

by Jorge Hurtado

by Jorge Hurtado

A state of Futa Diallon, being a Muslim clerical oligarchy existed ca. 1700 to post 1934. It was created by the ethnic Fulani c. 1725 under the leadership of Karamoko, with capital in Timbo since 1780. French protectorat since 6.II.1897 to 1912 (French flag added to canton). Since 1912 part of French Guinea.
Jaume Ollé, 7 August 1999 and Andreas Herzfeld, 9 August 2000

Any idea what supposed to be written on the flag? It starts as : Al-Kham.... but I can't figure out the rest (Maybe Al-Khamsh?) Dov Gutterman, 8 August 1999

More details about this state, from the Encyclopaedia Universalis CD-ROM (1998):

"During XVIIIth and XIXth centuries, the Peul ethny lived relatively isolated from the other regions of Guinea. In the Futa Djalon highlands, the Peuls created, according to T. Diallo, a kind of "theocratic regime of feudal type, ideologically based on the Muslim religion and economically based on familial slavery exploitation." The great fouders of the regime were Karamako Alpha (1725-1750) and his cousin and successor, Ibrahima Sori (1751-1784). Sori had the prestigious title of "Almamy". Original political institutions were created. To get rid of rivalries, the Council of the Ancients established after the death of Sori an "alternating bicephalism". Two "almamy", the one being Karamoko Alpha's descendant and the other Ibrahima Sori's descendant, were appointed as holders of the power, but each of them exerted power only in alternating periods of two years. The system worked until 1896, when tragic rivalry between the two families facilitated the French conquest."