Manga Sewa
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Manga Sewa was a nineteenth-century ruler of Solimana in what is now Sierra Leone.
Manga Sewa encountered British explorer William Winwood Reade in 1869, when Reade set out north from Freetown with sixteen Africans and marched to Sewa's capital of Falaba. Presumably wary of allowing Europeans direct contact with West Africa's interior, Sewa detained Reade for three months, warning of a war with neighboring Fulani.
In 1884, Mandinka conqueror Samori Ture joined the king of Kaliere in attacking Solimana. After Samori's general N'fa Ali destroyed a number of surrounding villages, the Mandinka forces began a five-month siege of Falaba, Manga Sewa's capital.
As the city's residents grew desperate with hunger, Manga Sewa attempted to send his younger brother, Dugu to the Koranko for aid; however, Dugu was captured and executed within view of the city walls. Not long after, Manga Sewa gathered his family in the city's powder magazine and lit a torch, killing them and himself included. The resulting breach in Falaba's walls allowed Mandinka forces to penetrate the city, and it was soon assimilated into Samori's Wassoulou Empire.
[edit] References
- Hargreaves, J.D. "Winwood Reade and the Discovery of Africa." African Affairs 56.225 (Oct 1957): 306-316.
[edit] External links
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