Decline and Fall
Kong power and control of trade over the territory decreased significantly in the later part of the 1800s. Although the importance for the city in terms of commerce and Islamic study persisted, its independence and sphere of influence had decreased.
On 20 February 1888 Louis Gustave Binger entered Kong and made agreements with the leaders as part of the control of the area by France as part of the Ivory Coast colony. These agreements made Kong a key target for attacks from Samori Ture as a front in the Mandingo Wars between the Wassoulou Empire and the French. In 1897, Samori defeated the last forces of Kong and burnt the town to the ground causing members of Seku's royal house to flee to the north.
The remaining members of Seku's royal house took refuge in the Black Volta region where they divided territory creating what the French called "Les Etats de Kong." These kingdoms lasted for a short time before losing relevance to French colonial administration. The city of Kong was rebuilt by the French, but only about 3,000 residents returned and the city decreased significantly in relevance.
Read more about this topic: Kong Empire
Famous quotes containing the words decline and fall, decline and, decline and/or fall:
“Or else I thought her supernatural;
As though a sterner eye looked through her eye
On this foul world in its decline and fall,
On gangling stocks grown great, great stocks run dry,
Ancestral pearls all pitched into a sty,
Heroic reverie mocked by clown and knave....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Or else I thought her supernatural;
As though a sterner eye looked through her eye
On this foul world in its decline and fall,
On gangling stocks grown great, great stocks run dry,
Ancestral pearls all pitched into a sty,
Heroic reverie mocked by clown and knave....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“But only that soul can be my friend which I encounter on the line of my own march, that soul to which I do not decline, and which does not decline me, but, native of the same celestial latitude, repeats in its own all my experience.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Favor and honor sometimes fall more fitly on those who do not desire them.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)