Expansion
Samori's campaign swept first through his neighbors, the Bérété and the Cissé, and then into the Wassoulou region (the border of today's Guinea and Mali). In 1876, he secured the Buré gold mines, and by 1878, his position was secure enough to officially declare himself faama (military leader) of a new Wassoulou Empire.
Later conquests included Kankan, a key Dyula trading center, and sections of what are now Sierra Leone and northern Côte d'Ivoire.
Samori forced animist subject villages to convert to Islam, taking the title of "Almany", chief of all believers, in 1884. In non-religious matters, however, he conserved most traditions and local institutions of conquered peoples using the title of faama (king).
Read more about this topic: Wassoulou Empire
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