Between Wagadu proper, Kaniaga and Mema lie the Soninke villages of Bakhunu and of the Goumbou-Sokolo Sahel, ravaged, Niane says, by the civil war of the Soninke provinces in the twelfth century.
Some of their clans, loyal to the old rites, fled to Mema. The traditions collected here make the Diarisso a ruling family of Wagadu; Delafosse made them Sosso's first dynasty.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not known; the traditions of Goumbou and Sokolo speak of the Diarisso as rulers of Wagadu
- Title
- Soninke clan heads
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
Disputed between Ghana and the Sosso; parts may still answer to Wagadu.
How things stand that morning
Unsettled frontier country between Ghana and the Sosso.
Customs
Soninke clan government (nobles, clerics, artisans, captives), millet and herds.
Assemblies
Clan heads.
Overlord claims
Ghana; the Sosso.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Tradition and Niane's synthesis.
On the map: Approximate.
Sources and studies
- D. T. Niane, 'Mali and the second Mandingo expansion', UNESCO General History of Africa IV (1984), pp. 117-171 (read through archive.org search-inside)
- Wikipedia, Sosso Empire (Conrad 1984; Levtzion 1976, 1981; Barth's date as cited by Conrad; Fofana 2007)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.