Ségou

Ségou stands on the Niger, where riverside villages and cultivated fields occupy the broad valley. It became the centre of a powerful Bamana kingdom, whose rulers governed farmers, merchants, fishers and pastoralists from a capital on the river. Ségoukoro, the old town west of the later city, retains the memory of its founding dynasty.

In the early eighteenth century Mamary Coulibaly, known as Biton, built a military force from a youth association and made Ségou the seat of his kingdom. His warriors and fleets of canoes extended its power along the Niger. After his death in 1755, rivalries shook the state until Ngolo Diarra established another ruling dynasty. The kingdom remained a major power on the middle Niger, drawing wealth and labour from the lands under its authority.