African Art

This EI-Hadj Omar, who thus captured three powerful States in

the space of eight years, was a Tukulor of the Torodo caste, the

one which had directed a movement of revolt against the

Denianke. Born at Aloar, in the province of Podor around 1797;

he undertook, in 1820, a journey to Mecca where he was

received into the brotherhood of the Tijania and invested with

the title of “Khalife” for Sudan; on his return he sojourned with

the Kanemi, master of Bornu, with Mohammed-Bello, the Tukulor

emperor of the Sokoto, and with Seku-Hamadu, the Fulani king

of the Massina. Returning to West Africa only in 1838, he first

settled in the Futa-Jallon, then in 1848 in Dinguiray, where he

was actively occupied in constituting an army. It did not take him

long to force the Mandinka to submit to his authority, capturing

the Bambuk, and then under the pretext of converting the

Bambara, who had always remained pagans as they are still

today, he marched against the Masasi and entered Nioro as

conqueror (1854).

After having made propositions of alliance, which were repulsed,

to Hamadu-Hamadu, then king of the Masasi, and to Turukoro-

Mari, the Bambara king of Segu, he turned against the Khasso

and came, in April, 1857, with some 20,000 men to besiege

Medine, the capital of this State. The siege was sustained during

three months with a rare valiance by Diuka-Sambala, king· of the

Khasso, and the French mulatto Paul Holle, commandant of the fort

that the French possessed in that locality. Governor Faidherbe

arrived on 18 July with reinforcements and put to flight El-Hadj

Ornar. The latter, in passing by the Boundu and the Futa-Toro,

attacked in vain the French post of Matam in 1859, where he

found himself face to face with Paul Holle. He then returned to

Nioro, marched against the Beledugu and, after a whole series of

combats between the Bambara and the Fulani, captured Segu, on

10 March 1861. Without resting, he turned his arms against

Hamadu-Hamadu, made himself master of Hamdallahi and had

the king of the Massina’s head cut off (1862).

Always thirsty for new conquests, he went to pillage Timbuktu,

came back to the Massina where his cruelty to the Fulani excited

a revolt, was blocked in Hamdallahi, succeeded in getting away

under cover of a fire which he lit himself, and finished by miserably

perishing in a grotto where he had been cornered by the Fulani in

September, 1864.

An empire founded under such conditions, and not even having as

a base the homeland of its founder, could not last. EI-Hadj had left,

in each one of the kingdoms conquered by him, one of his sons

or relatives as governor; all were jealous of one another or did not

agree except in the jealousy of one of them, Ahmadu, who was

installed in Segu and who claimed the supreme authority. The

peoples oppressed by EI-Hadj, his sons and his bands, seized all

occasions to revolt against the detested yoke; pagans and

Plaque (Benin), 16thcentury.
Nigeria.
Brass, 44 x 32 cm.
The Trustees of the British Museum, London.

The support pillars of the palaces at the end of the 17thcentury were made of
wood and covered with brass palques. Brass, similarly to coral and ivory, was a
material with royal connotations and its use was strictly controlled. Many of the
plaques appear to have been broken when being pulled from the pillars, as nails
were hammered through. Recurrent scenes of ritual were more common than
unique events, though it is difficult to precisely identify many of them now.
A single figure is seen here with an elaborate coiffure; the briad which
appears to be flying is unusual in terms of the usual, static art of Benin leading
us to believe it may have been an accident. The sword, unusual bag and bell are
supported by a tasselled belt which crosses the chest and hangs from the waist.
To the knee, both legs appear to be painted or tattooed in a fashion only
otherwise seen on nude pages. Despite the clothing on this figure, his genitals
are exposed and suggest that he, too, may be a page. The pages remained nude
until the Benin Obamade them men and gifted them with land, wives, and rich
clothing. Images with hats, beards, and their hands at their lips resemble
European heads, posed similarly to other images on the plaque.