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A history of the Dogon Several oral traditions have been recorded concerning the origin the Dogon. One relates how they came from Mandé, a region located to the south-west of the Bandiagara escarpment near Bamako. According to this oral tradition, the first Dogon settlement was established in the extreme south-west of the escarpment at Kani-Na.[31] Over time the Dogon moved north along the escarpment, arriving in the Sanga region in the 15th century.[32] Another oral history places the origin of the Dogon to the west beyond the river Niger, while a third tells of the Dogon coming from the east. It is possible that the Dogon of today are composed of several groups of diverse origins. All Dogon oral traditions stress, however, that the Bandiagara escarpment offered protection against hostile peoples. Archaeological investigations and anthropological research in the region of Sanga have shown that in the 15th century the Dogon populated the Bandiagara escarpment. They slowly replaced a resident population, the Tellem ("we found them"). On the basis of archaeological finds from burial caves high up in the escarpment, the Tellem occupation has been dated to the period between the 11th to 16th centuries.[33] Well-preserved finds include textiles, such as burial blankets and clothing, leather items and wooden sculptures. These finds belong to the oldest organic materials from archaeological contexts preserved in sub-Saharan Africa. The Tellem were not the first to live among the cliffs, however. Cultural remains, such as granaries, dating to the third and second centuries BC have been attributed to a population termed the Toloy.[34]
The settlement history of the plateau and the plain is less well understood. Local traditions in the plateau, such as those collected for Sibi-Sibi [35] claim that this particular region was unpopulated before the arrival of the Karembé clan from the west. Contrastingly, recent archaeological investigations at Ounjougou suggest a long settlement history on the plateau, spanning the Stone Ages to the recent past.[36] At the time of the first Dogon settlement in the Sanga region in the 15th century the political arena in the region was dominated by the Empire of Mali, which at this point was on the verge of disintegration.[37] After the fall of the Empire of Mali small, rivalling power centres occupied the political landscape in the 16th and 17th centuries, causing political unrest in the form of wars and slave raiding. The second half of the 17th century saw the foundation of two Bamana empires: Ségou and Kaarta. During the 17th and the 18th centuries the Bamana from Ségou regularly initiated conflict in the Bandiagara region.[38] In 1818 the Fulani Empire of Macina was founded by Sheikh Sékou Ahmadou, an important Islamic leader, whose aim was the full conversion to Islam of the inhabitants of his empire. He established his residences close to the Bandiagara plateau: a camp at Modjodjé and three years later his capital at Hamdallahi, about 37 km south-east of Mopti.[39] Part of the Dogon population fled to the Bandiagara escarpment to seek refuge from the slave raids carried out by both the Fulani from the west and the Mossi from the south. Because of its inaccessibility the Bandiagara escarpment was never under the full control of the Fulani. However, some villages on the plateau cooperated with the Fulani and converted to Islam in order to avoid confrontation.[40] In c. 1862 the Fulani came into conflict with another proponent of Islam, the Toucouleur El Hadj Omar. His nephew and successor Tidjani Amadou Seydou Tall established his headquarters in Bandiagara, from where he defeated the Fulani in 1864. The Fulani fled towards Timbuktu and the Seno plain and attacked the Toucouleur repeatedly until 1880, causing unrest in the Dogon area. The Dogon villages on the plateau were a source of slaves for the Toucouleur, and many were converted to Islam.[41] In 1890 the French began to colonise the Inner Niger Delta and adjacent regions. The Dogon resisted French colonial rule for more than two decades. In 1920 the last Dogon village, Tabi, submitted to the French.[42] The French improved communication systems and the infrastructure, the result being an opening up of the Bandiagara region. This facilitated the spread of Islam as well as of western influences. | |
