I received this copy of a document in January 1995 from Dr Boubacar Barry of Dakar. Dr Barry in turn had received the document in about 1980 from A Teixeira de Mota, the famous Portuguese historian of West Africa. Teixeira da Mota presumably acquired the document somewhere in Guine-Bissau, some of which was in the old kingdom of Gaabu. Dr Barry has the original from which this copy was made.

I received this copy in 1981 from Dr Labelle Prussin, who made a photographic copy in the town of Dingiray about that time. It is difficult to read, but seems to have been composed at the time of Ahmad al-Kabir’s reign and even to make reference to his death at Maikulki (late 1897), near Sokoto. It seems to deal primarily with the Umarian family, and particularly his sons, in Dingiray.

This is a poor photocopy I made in 1976. It seems in fact to deal with the history of the whole Middle Niger, and not just Bamako, across a number of periods corresponding to chapter divisions: the founding of Bamako, the kingdom of Segu, the kingdom of Karta, Shaikh Ahmad Lobbo, Shaikh Umar, the coming of the Christians, Sikasso, and Almamy Samori.

This is an account, signed in 1970 and photographed by me in 1976 as part of the MAMMP (Malian Arabic Manuscript Microfilm Project funded by a grant from NEH to Yale University). It deals very summarily with the history of Jenne, within the context of the Middle Niger Delta, and at one point chronicles the reigns of Hamdullahi, then Umar and his nephew Ahmad al-Tijani, and then the French (“Christians”), who controlled the town in the 19th and 20th centuries.

This chronicle of 47 pages was one I filmed in August 1976 as part of the MAMMP project at the home of Mamadou Jire, called “Benke.” It was composed by his ancestor or relative, Abdoullay Jire, and divides into chapters. On p 44 the date 1357 AH, corresponding to 1938-9, appears.

This chronicle, which comes from the CEDRAB collection of Timbuktu, document 34, is the same as volume 5684, ff 138-42 of the Umarian library housed at the BNP in Paris. It is not a very good copy. It includes a letter written by the “people” of Sansanding to Ahmad b Ahmad (Amadu III) of Hamdullahi. This copy was made in 1975.

Anonymous (Segu 2 in Robinson’a Holy War); Bandiagara chronicle

Robinson notes from published Inventaire, with corrections: blue: M1 (vol. 5147-) – M5 (-vol 5499); orange: G1 (vol. 5500-) – G19 (vols. 5734, 5735, 5636, 5673 and 5651); blue: M6 (vol. 6096-vol. 6851)