Sofa in The Dyula Empire of Wassoulou
The institution of the sofa survived into the late 19th century among Dyula in the Wassoulou region between the modern states of Mali, Guinea and Ivory Coast. Under the leadership of Samori Ture, the Dyula formed the Wassoulou Empire and successfully challenged French ambitions in West Africa until 1898. The sofa under Samori were organized into standing armies of slaves, much like those in Mali six centuries earlier and armed by the state. However, instead of bows and arrows, Wassoulou sofas went to war armed with modern rifles, which they put to good use against African and European enemies.
Read more about this topic: Sofa (warrior)
Famous quotes containing the words sofa and/or empire:
“There is nothing so slipperily alluring as sadness; we become sad in the first place by having nothing stirring to do; we continue in it, because we have found a snug sofa at last.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Positively I sit here, and look at Europe sink, first one deck disappearing, then another, and the whole ship slowly plunging bow-down into the abyss; until the nightmare gets to be howling. The Roman Empire was a trifle to it.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)