Samory

in full Samory Touré

(born c. 1830, near Sarranko, Upper Guinea—died June 2, 1900, Gabon, French Congo) Muslim reformer and military adventurer. A member of the Malinke people, Samory in 1868 proclaimed himself a religious chief and led a band of warriors in establishing a chiefdom in the Kankan region of Guinea. He fought the French in 1883, 1886, and 1891, managing to expand into the Sudan, but he was ultimately forced to transfer his kingdom to the upper Ivory Coast. Captured in 1898, he died two years later.

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