Seku Amadu - Massina Empire

Massina Empire

Seku Amadu's theocratic state controlled the Inner Niger Delta, and exerted some authority over the nearby Timbuktu, Ségou and Kaarta. One of the main religious leaders of the jihad in Massina was Muḥammad al-Tāhir, also a student of al-Mukhtār al-Kunti. He issued a manifesto in which he declared that Seku Amadu was the spiritual heir of Askia Mohammad I, the sixteenth century ruler of the Songhai Empire. This was generally accepted in the Timbuktu region. There was little resistance to Timbuktu's informal incorporation into the new Massina empire, which soon became a center of Islamic learning. However, Seku Amadu gradually alienated the leaders of Timbuktu and of Sokoto by his extremely rigorous theology, and by his failure treat the senior Qadiriyya leaders with the respect that they felt was their due. He also assumed the title of Commander of the Faithful in the Sudan, which the Sokoto caliph considered to be his by right. He adversely affected the trade of both Jenne and Timbuktu.

The clerical leader of Timbuktu, Sidi Muḥammad bin al-Mukhtār al-Kunti, died in 1825/6. Seku Amadu asked for formal recognition of his sovereignty over the city. He sent an emissary with a large body of troops to al-Qā'id 'Uthmān bin Bābakr, the temporal ruler, asking him to give up use of the drum and other forms of ceremony, to which 'Uthmān agreed. In 1833 'Uthmān threw off his allegiance and marched against Hamdullahi, but was defeated. However, Sidi al-Muhtar al-Saghir, the spiritual leader of Timbuktu, arranged a truce between the Tuareg and Ahmadu Lobbo under which his Fulbe forces would not occupy Timbuktu. Fines were levied against those who had participated in attack on Hamdullahi.

Seku Amadu Lobbo died in 20 April 1845, leaving control of the Massina Empire to his son, Amadu II. Under his son, Timbuktu was included in the empire for some time. Aḥmadu bin Aḥmadu Lobbo ruled over Massina from 1844 to 1852. The period of stability lasted until the Jihad led by El Hadj Umar Tall in 1862 overthrew Aḥmadu's grandson, Amadu III, and threw the region into chaos.