Odienné

Odienné
Odienné
Coordinates	9 ° 30 ′  N , 7 ° 34 ′  W Coordinates: 9 ° 30 ′  N , 7 ° 34 ′  W
Basic data
Country	Ivory Coast
District	Denguélé
height	451 m
Residents	50,506 (2014 census)

Odienné is a city in the northwest of the Ivory Coast with 50,506 inhabitants (2014 census). The city is the capital of the Denguélé region and the seat of the Diocese of Odienné , a Roman Catholic diocese of the Ivory Coast.

history

Pre-colonial period

The area around today's Odienné was originally inhabited by the Senufo . Some historians assume that Odienné was named after the Malinke leader Djenné , who defeated the Senufo in the region in the Middle Ages and then settled in what is now Odienné, where he ruled a Muslim kingdom.

In the 14th century Odienné was part of the Mali Empire of the Malinke and an important Muslim trading center for yams , cassava , cattle and sheep .

From around 1720 Odienné belonged to the Nafana kingdom of the non-Muslim Dioula .

After the Dioula were driven out by descendants of the Mali dynasty in the early 1840s, the city was then part of the newly founded Muslim Kabadugu kingdom from around 1845 , the first of which was Vakaba Touré . The Kabadugu kingdom secured its supremacy especially through the exploitation of surrounding and conquered areas.

When Vakaba Touré died in 1858, his eldest son VaBrèma took the throne. VaBrèma died the following year, so that his younger brother VaMukutar succeeded him to the throne and held the business of government until his death in 1875. Then the third son Mangbé Madu ruled until 1893.

All three sons remained true to the political guidelines originally heralded by their father Vakaba Touré during their reigns , so that neighboring and conquered areas were constantly exploited in favor of the Kabadugu kingdom, and, in general, the possibility of new conquests was continuously pursued with vigor.

Odienné to times of Kabadugu -Herrschaft Sofadugu called increased during these years the center of the Kabadugu -Königreiches and both members of the royal family, as well as their numerous slaves were staying in the city, which experienced a very rapid population growth. According to early French explorers, around 75% of the inhabitants of the Kabadugu kingdom were slaves. That is why Odienné or Sofadugu was mostly inhabited by slaves in the late 19th century .

In 1878/79 the inhabitants of Odienné rose up in the form of a bloody revolt against the ruling family, which followed an increasingly excessive lifestyle. Mangbé Madu was able to suppress the unrest with great difficulty and restore his rule. However, since that revolt, his status has never been as unchanged as it was before. This forced Mangbé Madu in July 1881 to enter into an alliance with his relative Samory Touré , who had built up and ruled the Wassoulou Kingdom, at the time the most powerful successor empire of the former Mali Empire in West Africa , from around 1870 . Through this more or less "forced" alliance, the powerful Samory Touré gained strong influence over the Kabadugu kingdom. Some historians are of the opinion that as a result of this alliance , the Kabadugu kingdom has increasingly become a vassal state of the Wassoulou kingdom . However, Mangbé Madu continued to rule the kingdom, at least officially, as a completely sovereign state.

French colonial rule

From around 1890 the pressure of the French increased immensely both on the Kabadugu kingdom and on Samory Touré . In early 1892, after numerous battles and military expeditions, the French succeeded in occupying the heartland of the Wassoulou Empire. From then on, Samory Touré pursued a “scorched earth” strategy and had all villages within the reach of the French destroyed. The residents were evacuated with all transportable resources (e.g. food, weapons, tools). Finally, under pressure from the French , Samory Touré left his direct sphere of influence to the east, where he finally reached the Kabadugu kingdom.

The arrival of Samory Touré and countless uprooted people from the now in disintegration Wassoulou Empire had a lasting impact on the Kabadugu kingdom and its center Odienné. Allegedly, the army with which Samory Touré entered Odienné was so large that it was able to build a village just outside Odienné within a single day in the absence of accommodation for itself.

Because Mangbé Madu had been at war with the Dioula since 1888 and no longer saw himself militarily capable of victoriously ending this conflict, he now asked Samory Touré for assistance. In this regard, the Dioula had now joined forces with the Senufo against Mangbé Madu and thus, indirectly, against Samory Touré . For their part, the French learned of this new alliance against Samory Touré and the Kabadugu kingdom and wanted to use it to their advantage by entering into an alliance with the Dioula. The Dioula refused, however, because they did not want to be associated with any of these parties with regard to the French on the one hand and Samory Touré on the other. As a result, they were then defeated by Samory Touré , which gave him the opportunity to evade further east in the face of the French threat.
The military presence of Samory Touré in Odienné now steadily decreased as more and more troops followed him in an easterly direction.

On February 13, 1893, French troops entered Odienné. They found the city burning, destroyed and largely abandoned, as a large part of the population had already fled eastwards. Because Mangbé had left Madu Odienné together with Samory Touré , the power of government in the Kabadugu kingdom , which was now de facto ruled by the French, passed to his brother Moriba Touré , who initially only ruled as a vassal of Samory Touré and Mangbé Madu .
Increasingly dissatisfied with this role, and because he feared the possible return of his brother Mangbé Madu , Moriba Touré finally asked for official French assistance in 1897 in order to regain full control of the Kabadugu kingdom. Ultimately, Moriba Touré speculated above all on being able to use the military superiority of the French in his favor in order to be able to free himself once and for all from the influence of Samori Touré and his brother Mangbé Madu .

The French, for their part, demanded the establishment of a military base on its territory as a condition for an alliance, which Moriba Touré initially refused. At the end of 1897, in view of the military superiority of the French, he nevertheless agreed to this demand, so that a French military base was established in Odienné. This marked the de facto fall of the Kabadugu kingdom, although Moriba Touré remained at least officially governor of the empire of the French. A year later, in 1898, knowing that Moriba Touré had degenerated into a puppet of the French , fled with his entire army to Liberia in the hope of being granted asylum there. However, this request was unsuccessful, so that Moriba Touré initially returned to Kabadugu as the "King without a Kingdom" .

In the same year, Samory Touré was finally defeated by the French, captured, sentenced in Dakar and finally deported to Gabon , where he died in 1903. Together with Samory Touré , Moriba Touré's brother and former ruler of Kabadugu , Mangbé Madu , was captured and exiled to Timbuktu until 1905 . At the end of his life, Mangbé Madu was allowed to return to Odienné, where he died in 1912. Previously tolerated more or less, Moriba Touré was finally arrested by the French in Odienné on March 24, 1899. His relative Ismailia Touré became the governor of Kabadugu .
In May 1899 Moriba Touré after Bafoulabé into exile sent. In 1901 he came to Bingerville , where he received a pardon, so that he could return to Odienné that same year. The French, although they now dominated the region militarily, continued to struggle with the problem of finding a Kabadugu king who was sufficiently suitable for both French and indigenous interests. In this regard, the current King Ismailia Touré did not meet French expectations either, which is why it was decided in April 1899 to hold an election to bring a more France-minded Kabadugu king to power.

From these elections Mody Touré emerged as the new king. This "election" is more likely to have been a "sham election", since the French only allowed the "election" to be held in order to obtain legitimacy in accordance with indigenous traditions.

However, Mody Touré soon proved to be a relatively unsuitable "ruler" with regard to the interests of the French. In this regard, it quickly became apparent that he had not stayed in Kabadugu for many years and was therefore only incompletely familiar with local customs. In 1901 he was finally deposed by the French and replaced by his younger brother Lanténé Sidiki Touré . But even with Lanténé Sidiki Touré , contrary to their initial opinion, the French were quickly dissatisfied, so that one year later he was also sent into exile and replaced by Ibrahima Touré . Ibrahima Touré ultimately ended the temporary incontinence of the Touré dynasty and remained in power until his death in 1934.

From 1900 the French erected the first administrative buildings in Odienné to supplement their military post and the first French settlers settled in the village. In 1911 the city consisted essentially of two parts, one for the indigenous population and the other, which was characterized by colonial architecture, was reserved for French settlers.

Despite their factual rule over Kabadugu for a good 15 years , the French only struck a revolutionary blow against the long-established kingdom in 1907 when they declared all slaves of the Kabadugu ruling class to be free. This was such a major turning point in the structures of Kabadugu because the kingdom had used slavery as the basic base of its power base from the beginning of its existence under Vakaba Touré . This was lost in one fell swoop and around 9,000 people, hitherto slaves, abruptly left the kingdom. When some local aristocrats did not consent to the release of their slaves, the French army stepped on the scene and locally forced the end of slavery by force of arms.

To this day there are socio-cultural tensions in the region around Odienné between the descendants of the former ruling class and former slaves.

Civil war

In the course of the civil war in the Ivory Coast (2002-2007), Odienné developed into a stronghold of the political opposition and was comparatively fiercely contested in this context. In the course of the conflict, Odienné became part of the rebels' sphere of influence of the Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire (FN), which it still is today.

Economy and Infrastructure

In the north-west of the Ivory Coast, Odienné is still the most important trading center for agricultural products. In this context, for example, a large rice processing factory is located in the city. Manganese is also mined in the area around Odienné .
The Odienné region also produces large quantities of Dah , a substitute for jute , for international export.

Odienné is a hub of the Ivorian border traffic to Mali and Guinea , with the next border crossing to Guinea only 35 km southwest of Odienné. The border with Mali is around 120 km north of the city.
The nearest major Ivorian cities are Korhogo 233 km east and Man 268 km south. It is 461 km to the state capital, Yamoussoukro , and the metropolis of Abidjan is around 700 km away. All of these destinations can be reached via a network of trunk roads. The city also has a national airport.

In the 1940s, French geologists discovered diamond deposits in the vicinity of Odienné , which were subsequently mined. Diamond mining in the area around Odienné continued after the independence of the Ivory Coast by Ivorian companies until supplies were finally exhausted in the late 1970s.

sons and daughters of the town

• Tiken Jah Fakoly (* 1968), Ivorian musician

Trivia

The union and politician Simone Gbagbo, wanted by an international arrest warrant, is in custody in Odienné (2012).

Climate table

Odienné
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.     0   34 15th     14th   36 19th     42   35 21st     77   34 22nd     126   33 22nd     173   31 21st     282   29 21st     381   29 21st     281   30th 20th     152   31 20th     58   32 20th     10   32 15th Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm Source: wetterkontor.de

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Odienné Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 33.5 35.5 35.0 34.1 32.5 30.7 29.4 28.7 29.5 30.9 31.8 32.2 O 32 Min. Temperature (° C) 14.8 19.1 21.3 22.2 21.9 21.1 21.2 20.6 20.2 20.0 19.6 15.1 O 19.8 Precipitation ( mm ) 0 14th 42 77 126 173 282 381 281 152 58 10 Σ 1,596 Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 8.1 8.2 7.1 7.2 8.1 7.5 5.9 5.7 6.3 7.4 8.4 8.0 O 7.3 Humidity ( % ) 44 45 53 65 73 78 81 83 82 79 71 58 O 67.8 Source: wetterkontor.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Results of the 2014 census . Retrieved January 7, 2016.
2. ↑ Odienné on Geoba.se , accessed on April 12, 2013. (English)
3. ↑ Odienné on Horlogeparlante.com , accessed on April 13, 2013. (English)
4. ^ AW Massing: Wangara, an old Soninke Diaspora in West Africa? A study on the historical relationships between trade, religion and family. (PDF; 102 kB) 1999, accessed on April 13, 2013. (English)
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Odienné. In: Encyclopaedia Britannica. accessed on April 13, 2013. (English)
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t} J. M. O'Sullivan: The French Conquest of Northwest Ivory Coast - The Attempt of the Rulers of Kabadugu to Control the Situation. 1983, accessed April 13, 2013. (English)
7. ↑ Njoh AJ: Planning Power - Town planning and social control in colonial Africa. 2007, accessed on April 13, 2013. (English)
8. ^ Reforming the Ranks: PUBLIC SECURITY IN A DIVIDED CÔTE D'IVOIRE. (PDF; 1.9 MB) accessed on April 13, 2013. (English)
9. ^ KA Morris: Diasporic Politics, Transnational Media Circulation, and the Multifocality of Côte d'Ivoire. City & Society, Vol. 24, Issue 2, pp. 240–259 (PDF; 115 kB) 2012, accessed on April 23, 2013. (English)
10. ↑ ^{a b} Odienné on Travelingluck.com , accessed April 13, 2013. (English)
11. ↑ L. Gberie: West Africa: Rocks in a Hard Place - The Political Economy of Diamonds and Regional Destabilization. ( Memento of the original from January 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 475 kB) 2003, accessed on April 23, 2013. (English) 
12. ^ Until Our Independence (2012): The life of Simone Gbagbo in Odienné. accessed on April 12, 2013. (English)