Kissidougou

Kissidougou lies near the northern edge of the kola-producing forest country of Upper Guinea, where routes led toward markets on the upper Niger. Traditions associated with the epic of Sundiata link its foundation to Dankaran Toman, Sundiata's half-brother. Historical research nevertheless places Kissidougou within early connections between Kissi country and Mande commerce, with kola providing a reason for traders to enter the forest margin.

A more local tradition concerns Farmaya, the district around Kissidougou. Accounts collected by Denise Paulme trace its ruling Keyta or Mansaré lineage to a hunter from Mande country, whose arrival was placed around the end of the eighteenth century. He married locally, and his son Fadaka was remembered as an ancestor whose descendants founded neighboring villages. These traditions describe alliances, intermarriage and settlement through which a small territorial authority emerged.