Sanan

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A sanan plays a mouth bow . Admission to the Tropenmuseum Amsterdam, 1970–71

The Sanan , also Samo , are an ethnic group of the Mande in West Africa . The settlement area of ​​the approximately 300,000 people is located in Burkina Faso .

Before the colonization by France , the Sanan were organized in autonomous village communities. Their language, also called San , is divided into three individual languages. Within Burkina Faso, the Sanan became known for the production of millet beer ( Dolo ).

At the turn of the century, the Sanan suffered from the oppression of the Tukulor from Macina (in today's Mali ) and the colonization that had just begun by the French . Many of them became victims of the slave hunters operating in this region and were abducted to the north. Their settlement area was often crossed by the French when they advanced south and exploited to supply troops. For example, Samo had to work as a porter. During his visit to the area in 1901, Captain de Batz saw the image of impoverished and bled villages. Since the Sanan's drive for independence on the recently subjugated Mossi from Yatengabegan to encroach, French punitive expeditions set out for the Sanan. Village after village was subjugated, each presenting a different situation; While in some villages the inhabitants fled from the French into the savannah and shot at the attackers from an ambush, in other villages there was a fight for the wells. These were occupied by the French in order to force the dying of thirst to give up. In one case, a cave was fumigated in which about 180 people were hiding. Other villages were burned. Several hundred of the Sanan, numbering just a few hundred thousand, are estimated to have been killed in their submission.

Known Sanan

Web links

Commons : Sanan  - collection of images, videos and audio files