3 - “A World of Deception and Defection”

Summary

Mademba marched into his new kingdom at the head of a large entourage of his followers, prisoners of war, and their wives. Upon his arrival in his new kingdom, Mademba demanded that chiefs and notables submit to him, although the town of Sinsani and its region had never had rulers of their own. Mademba’s actions during the first year of his rule exacerbated old rivalries and resulted in a widespread revolt, which formed part of a wider set of revolts against French colonial conquest and rule throughout the Middle Niger Valley. The French attributed the revolts to Islamic conspiracies, which displaced attention from their own colonial policies. The French eventually suppressed the revolts and rescued Mademba from the siege of Sinsani. Archinard removed Bojan from the rulership of Segu, but he retained his commitment to indirect rule by appointing Aguibu as ruler of Bandiagara and reasserting Mademba as ruler of a somewhat reduced kingdom in Sinsani. The Ministry of Marine in Paris intervened to restrain continued military actions and incessant budget overruns by appointing a civilian governor in 1893.