4.4.5. THEN CONTAINS IT

AMADOU RESTRAINS THE MOST ASSERTIVE TRADERS

It is they who bring textile production to Djimini and whom several kingdoms expel.

Zoom

Hausa silver traders, 1920's

Umar shows his favor to them when he makes Amadou, his son by a Hausa wife, his successor. Amadou looks Hausa and speaks Hausa, and a Hausa interlocutor in Ségou told me that his father and one of Amadou's sons exchanged cordial visits.

 -- Dakar archives, 1895

Yet Hausa legacies go to the State: those exceptionally dynamic traders cannot transmit their wealth.

*    *

As for the Soninke, Amadou says, "Their fortunes are like the fleece of sheep, which grows back as one cuts it."

-- Bamako archives, 1897

 The theocracy limits the profits 

of potential challengers,

as did the kingdoms of the past. 

End of this section.

 *      *      * 

Next section,

4.5.

Back to Djimini: Violence returns