In the 18th century, Saint Louis was an important French settlement that organized a trade in slaves, gum Arabic and hides with the interior of West Africa along the Senegal river. French traders first established themselves on the unoccupied, narrow peninsula stretching south from Mauritania that was known as N'Dar (island) in Woloff and which appeared on French maps as "Langue de Barbarie".
The name cleverly references not only the shape of the peninsula (like a "tongue"). But it is also an echo of the way ancient Greeks and referred to North Africans as "barbarians" because their languages sounded like "the squeaking of bats," suggesting something of the lens through which some of the French may have perceived both themselves and the Africans of the region. The early settlement was separated from the mainland by the major river that arcs approximately 1,000 miles inland to its source in the Fouta Djallon mountains of Guinea, with savanna along its southern bank and desert along its northern bank.
Like Saint Louis, Sikoro (Bamana for "under the Shea tree") or Segou-Sikoro was a trading settlement on the shore of a major body of water: the eastern bank of the Niger river, about 720 miles inland from the Atlantic coast. It was the center of a rapidly expanding polity, founded circa 1712 by a military ruler, Mamari Koulibaly, whose strength and wealth grew throughout his reign from the brisk trade in slaves--both north across the Sahara and west to port destinations like Saint Louis.
The first map above shows the relative position of the two places. In the late 18th century, the precise location of Segou-Sikoro was not yet known to Europeans, only that the a "kingdom of Bambaras" (as the Bamana people were then known) was to be found to the east of gold mines at Bambuk.
It wasn't until the 1790s that the Scottish surgeon Mungo Park first reached the Niger river at the crossing to Sikoro, a major accomplishment for European powers seeking better knowledge of the African interior. Sikoro's ruler at the time, Da Monzon, refused to allow Park to enter the town.
One more quick observation about the 1770s map shown at the very top of the page: the Cabo Verde islands are shown as much larger in relation to the African mainland than they are in reality. This is a reflection of the islands' importance at the time as a staging ground and transit point for Atlantic trade with western Africa.
Here are a couple of other map views of both cities. First Saint Louis:
From here it is easy to see the way the city sits on a narrow peninsula that extends south from what today is Mauritania. As Europeans --- first the Portuguese in the 1440s and then other groups in succeeding centuries-- traveled south along the Atlantic coast, this area around the mouth of the Senegal river was generally where they considered bilad as Sudan or the "land of the blacks" to begin. The southern peninsula and a small island next to it seem to be where the oldest settlements were (the housing in those sections looks more tightly packed together and the streets less regular). Today a bridge connects them to the mainland where a contemporary city with gridlock streets stretches eastward until what appear to be marshlands begin.
Today on the middle Niger river the 18th century settlement of Sikoro is still inhabited. Its founder, Mamari Koulibaly is buried there. Also, his palace has been reconstructed in the laterite "banco" mud in the style common to the area. But Sikoro sits is in the shadow of a march larger modern city of Segu located about seven miles away. With a population of 100,000 people Segu is the third largest city in Mali, after Mopti and Bamako, the country's capital. Each February, it has been hosting the Festival sur le Niger/Festival on the Niger that features famed musicians from around Mali and other parts of West Africa and draws thousands. You can see the relative location of Segu (in gold) and Sikoro (in purple) on this map:
The green area to the west of Sikoro represents agriculture next to the settlement. The buildings in Sikoro are in the mud-walled style common across this region of Mali. Its narrow winding streets are not paved. Here is two last shots: one of a mosque said to have been built in the mid-18th century by Mamari Koulibaly for his mother, and one that gives a sense of the housing and density of streets.
More next week!
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