Editing Samori Ture (section)

==Rise to power==
At the time, the [[Manding region]] had many war bands that were indistinguishable from bandits. Unable to settle into a peaceful life, Samory joined one of these groups but, with his reputation as a warrior, came into conflict with the incumbent leader. After being whipped for insubordination, he left for another band of which he soon took control.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|21–22}} His force would set up outside villages, feeding themselves by extorting passing peasants until the village accepted Samory's authority, then they moved on.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|25}} Their first serious obstacle was the fortified village of Tere, defended by Sere Brema's governor in the region. Samory failed both to capture it and to bribe the governor, Dianka, into switching sides.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|26}} Still, he managed to capture  all of the Toron region either by force or diplomacy, building alliances with the powerful Konate family of Gbodou and the leaders of [[Bissandougou]], and taking the village of Faranfina by a ruse.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|30–32}} This first expansionist phase, lasting from 1866 to 1873, saw Samory's army and influence grow dramatically as members of his mother's Camara clan and numerous other volunteers were attracted by his success.<ref name = revuemilitaire/>

===Battle of Saman-saman===

Samory's 1873 capture of Bissandougou represented a declaration of war against Nantenin Famoudou Kourouma, pagan king of Saboudou, who kept his capital at Worokoro. Samori was beaten in their first battle and fell back into the heart of his lands.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|33}} The night before battle beneath the walls of Bissandougou, Samory went to negotiate with Jamoro Adjigbe Diakite, one of Kourouma's most powerful lieutenants. "I believe that you are wrong to fight against your brother Muslim," he said. "You are [[Fula people|Fula]] and the Fula are Muslim, and I am Ture and the Ture clan are ''Manden-Mori'' (Muslim of Mande), and one Muslim can't fight against his brother Muslim. I brought you a few cola for you to stop this war." With that, he gave Diakite a large bribe to switch sides.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kante |first1=Souleymane |title=History of Samory Toure |pages=64 |language=Malinke<!--codes not recognized by Mediawiki, no solution to the problem-->}}</ref>

The next morning, Diakite's troops fired on Samory's without having loaded bullets into their guns, then turned and helped route Kourouma, who was captured and beheaded. Samory was now [[Faama]] of all the land between the [[Milo River|Milo]], the [[Sankarani river|Sankarani]], and [[Dion river]]s.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|34}}

===Theocratic alliance with Bate&nbsp;===

After his victory in the battle of Saman-saman, in 1875 the [[Bate Empire]], a theocratic state ruled by the Kaba dynasty of [[Kankan]], sent commissioners to Ture in Bissandougou. Karamo Mori Kaba asked for an alliance against his pagan neighbors, particularly the Condé clan based in Gbérédou. This Samory accepted, sealing the pact with a meeting at [[Tintioule]].<ref name = Camara>{{cite web |last1=Camara |first1=Mohamed Saliou |title=The History of Guinea |url=https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-626 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.626 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedias |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |access-date=11 September 2021 |location=Oxford, Oxfordshire |date=29 May 2020 |isbn=978-0-19-027773-4 }}</ref> As part of this holy alliance, Samory deepened his knowledge of Islam studying with a Mauritanian teacher named Sidiki Cherif.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|47–9}}

After clearing the immediate environs of Kankan, Samory and the Kaba launched a successful 10-month siege of [[Koumban]] upstream of Kankan on the left bank of the Milo. He won over [[Gbérédou-Baranama]] and Jadaba Conde (likely an ancestor of [[Alpha Condé]]) of [[Baro, Guinea|Baro]]. Rather than facing down the important center of [[Kouroussa]] he marched down the banks of the [[Niger river]], conquering or negotiating with various chiefs. The final step was the city of [[Norassoba]], which fell after a 9 month siege and joined the Samory's alliance. With this victory, Kouroussa's chief Karinkan-Oulen Doumbouya was left with no allies and agreed to submit, with Samory confirming him in his position.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|51}} He continued on to the capital of Joma (Dioma), [[Dielibakoro]]; one of Ture's griots was from there, managed to negotiate their peaceful submission.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|55–6}} After the treaty of Dielibakoro Samory looked to the gold fields of [[Buré]], annexing [[Fodekaria]] (Balimana), then crossing the Milo river and where many of the local chiefs joined the alliance.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|56}} He subdued the [[Wassoulou]] region, which would eventually give its name to his entire empire despite the fact that it was rather peripheral to it. During this series of campaigns he arrested and beheaded Jamoro Adjigbe Diakite for conspiring with the enemy.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

To protect his arms caravans, Samory formed a non-aggression pact with [[Aguibou Tall]] of [[Dinguiraye]] in 1878, then an alliance with the [[almamy]] of the [[Imamate of Futa Jallon]] Ibrahima Sory Dara in 1879.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|53–4}} He sent the remains of the son of [[Omar Saidou Tall|El Hadj Oumarou Tall]], Seydou, who had died at Norasoba, to [[Dinguiraye]] for burial.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} By this point, he was importing breech-loading [[rifle]]s via the port of [[Freetown]] in the [[Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate|British colony of Sierra Leone]]. He opened regular contacts with the [[British Empire|colonial administration]] there. By 1878 he was strong enough to proclaim himself ''[[Faama]]'' (military leader) of his [[Wassoulou Empire]].

===War against the Cissé===
While Samory had been conquering in the north of his empire in the years 1875-8, Sere Brema Cissé's nephew Morlaye had pushed into the Sankaran region, exploiting Samory's relative lack of influence there but attacking some of his allies.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|52}} The situation now reached a head, and diplomatic outreach came to nothing.

While marching to confront Morlaye, Samory passed through Kankan and asked the Kaba to contribute troops. With the Cissés being fellow Muslims as well as relative by marriage, and feeling sidelined in the alliance, they refused, breaking the accord of Tintioule. Samory left his brother Keme Brema to besiege Kankan while he marched to face the Cissé. He captured Morlaye at Sirinkoro, and then defeated the army sent to rescue him. Soon he had trapped Sere Brema in Worokoro, which soon fell.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|58}}

Meanwhile, an effort to relieve the siege of [[Kankan]] led by the Sakhos of Koundian and the Coulibalis of [[Keniera]] who had also revolted against Samory failed and the city was captured. Daye Kaba, who commanded the garrison of the suburb of Karfamoria, managed to escape to Keniera and later to [[Segou]], where he took refuge with [[Ahmadu Tall]]. His family was removed from power in Kankan, whose inhabitants were spared a sack but forced to pay a large indemnity in gold.<ref name = Fofana/>{{rp|59}} With this great trading center secure, the [[Wassoulou Empire]] extended through the territory of present-day Guinea and southern Mali, from what is now Sierra Leone to northern [[Côte d'Ivoire]].

[[File:Colonizacion de l'Africa Occidentala.png|thumb|250px|Samori Ture's empire in West Africa, c. 1896]]