Gwiriko

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox country |native_name = |conventional_long_name = Gwiriko Kingdom |common_name = |status = |era = Postclassical Era |year_start = 1714 |year_end = 1897 |event_start =  |date_start = |event_end = French colonial control |date_end =  |event1 = Established independence from Kong Empire |date_event1 = 1740 |event2 = |date_event2 = | p1 = Kong Empire | flag_p1 =  | image_p1 =  | s1 = French West Africa | flag_s1 =  |flag =  |flag_type = | |image_coat =  |symbol =  | |image_map = |image_map_caption = | |capital = Bobo-Dioulasso |national_motto = |national_anthem = |common_languages = Dyula |religion = Islam<ref name="Quimby1972"/> |currency = |leader1 = |leader2 = |year_leader1 = |year_leader2 = |title_leader = |legislature = |stat_year1 = |stat_area1 = |stat_pop1 = |stat_year2 = |stat_area2 = |stat_pop2 = |stat_year3 = |stat_area3 = |stat_pop3 = |stat_year4 = |stat_area4 = |stat_pop4 = |stat_year5 = |stat_area5 = |stat_pop5 = |today = Burkina Faso |footnotes = }}

The '''Gwiriko Kingdom''' (Dyula: ''Masaya Gwiriko''), also spelled '''Gouiriko''', was a kingdom in the 18th and 19th centuries in what is now part of present-day Burkina Faso around the watershed of the River Banifin. It was founded by Famagan Ouattara (Wattara) and lasted until French occupation in 1897. Its chief city was Bobo-Dioulasso.

==Historiography== The nature of the Gwiriko polity is debated by historians. Juula elders in the region do not retain a historical tradition of any kingdom of that name, yet since its inclusion in Dominique Traore's 1937 paper 'Notes sur le royaume mandingue de Bobo' it has appeared in numerous historians' accounts.{{sfn|Şaul|1998|p=568}} The early history of this kingdom is also recorded in the Ghunja Chronicle (''Kitab al-Ghunja'').<ref name="Ogot1999">{{cite book |last1=Ki-Zerbo |first1=Joseph |author1-link=Joseph Ki-Zerbo |last2=Izard|first2=Michel |editor1-last=Ogot |editor1-first=Bethwell A. |title=UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. 5: A Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century |date=1992 |publisher=Heinemann International |page=358-9 |chapter=From the Niger to the Volta}}</ref>

The word "Gwiriko" and its variant "Gbirinko" mean "at the end of the long stage",<ref name="Ogot1999"/> or alternatively "beyond the forest", in the Dyula language. The term, therefore, may have been a term for the remote lands far from the center of Ouattara power in Kong rather than denoting a specific territory.{{sfn|Şaul|1998|p=568}}

==History== In the early 18th century, Sékou Ouattara took control of the city of Kong and expanded his influence, creating the Kong Empire. In about 1714, Seku's brother Famagan Ouattara established the Kingdom of Gwiriko in the bend of the Mouhoun River, acting as a representative of Seku but with a high degree of independence.<ref name="Quimby1972">Quimby, Lucy Gardner. "Transformations of belief: Islam among the Dyula of Kongbougou from 1880 to 1970." (1972). p31-33</ref>{{sfn|Şaul|1998|p=543}} At Seku's death around 1740, Famagah refused to pay allegiance to Sekou Ouattara's sons and seized the area which included Tiefo, Dafin, and Bwamu. He allied with the Bobo-Juula, and established a state. His successors faced repeated revolts which were put down by violent repression.<ref name="Ogot1999"/>

After the succeeding leader, Diori Ouattara, died in 1839, the state collapsed, and the Tiefo, Bobo Joola, Bolon, and other peoples became independent.<ref name="Ajayi1989"/> Bako Moru stemmed the collapse by allying with the Tiéfo and Bobo Joola. In a battle at {{ill|Bléni|fr}} in the 1860s, the army of ''faama'' Daula Traoré of Kenedougou was defeated and his son Tieba was captured and later sold as a slave.<ref name="Ajayi1989">{{cite book |last1=Ki-Zerbo |first1=Joseph |last2=Arhin |first2=Kwame |author1-link=Joseph Ki-Zerbo |editor1-last=Ajayi |editor1-first=JF Ade |title=UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. 6: Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880s |date=1995 |publisher=Heinemann International |page=677 |chapter=States and peoples of the Niger Bend and the Volta}}</ref>{{sfn|Bangali|Diamitani|Rupley|2013|p=28}}

Guimbe Ouattara (c 1836–1919), daughter of Diori Ouattara, was a noted leader in campaigns against the Kénédougou Kingdom and Noumoudara in this era.{{sfn|Bangali|Diamitani|Rupley|2013|p=155}}

During the reign of Ali Dyan (1854–1878) and his successor Kokoro Dyan, the central state lost control of the state and groups such as the Tyefo took control of the land.<ref name="Oliver1985">{{cite book |last1=Person |first1=Yves |last2=Brett |first2=Yvonne |author1-link=Yves Person |editor1-last=Oliver |editor1-first=Roland |editor2-last=Sanderson |editor2-first=G. N. |title=The Cambridge History of Africa. Vol. 6. |date=1985 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=242-3 |chapter=Western Africa, 1886-1905}}</ref> By the late 1800s, Gwiriko was pressed on many sides and in 1897, Pintieba Ouattara was installed to replace Tieba Ouattara by the French when Pintieba made a deal with French commandant Paul Caudrelier. Thereafter, the influence of the state quickly waned and while Pintieba and his successor Karamoko Ouattara held the title of King until 1915, by that time the state no longer existed.{{sfn|Bangali|Diamitani|Rupley|2013|p=155}}

==List of rulers== {| class="wikitable" |- align=left ! width="18%"|Tenure ! width="30%"|Incumbent ! width="30%"|Notes |- valign=top |1714||colspan="2"|''Foundation of Gwiriko state'' |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1714 to 1729||Famaghan Ouattara||Founded Gwiriko as a replica of the Kingdom of Kong. Relative of Sekou Ouattara, ruler of Kong. Seized Tiefo, Dafin, and Bwamu and allied with Bobo-Juula.<ref name="Ogot1999"/>{{sfn|Bangali|Diamitani|Rupley|2013|p=155}} |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1729 to 1742||Famagan denn Tieba|| {{sfn|Bangali|Diamitani|Rupley|2013|p=155}} |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1742 to 1749||Kere Massa Ouattara|| <ref name="Ogot1999"/> |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1749 to 1809||Magan Wule Ouattara|| <ref name="Ogot1999"/> |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1809 to 1839||Dyori Ouattara||Son of Magan Wule<ref name="Ajayi1989"/> |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1839 to 1851||Bako Moru Ouattara|| <ref name="Ajayi1989"/> |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1851 to 1854||Laganfyela Moru|| <ref name="rulers">{{Cite web|url=http://www.rulers.org/burktrad.html|title = Burkinabe traditional polities}}</ref> |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1854 to 1878||Ali Dyan|| <ref name="Oliver1985"/> |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1878 to 1885||Kokoroko Dyan|| <ref name="Oliver1985"/><ref name="rulers"/> |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1885 to 1892||Sabana|| <ref name="rulers"/> |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1892 to 1897||Tyeba Ouattara "Nyandane"||Tyeba was replaced by distant relative Pintyeba by French in exchange for Pintyeba's cooperation in French interests.{{sfn|Bangali|Diamitani|Rupley|2013|p=155}} |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1897 to 1909||Pintyeba Ouattara||Relatively powerless{{sfn|Bangali|Diamitani|Rupley|2013|p=155}} |- valign=top bgcolor="#ffffec" |1909 to 1915||Karamoko Ouattara||Held title, but state no longer existed{{sfn|Bangali|Diamitani|Rupley|2013|p=155}} |}

==See also== *Mossi states *Kong Empire

==References== {{reflist}}

===Sources=== * {{cite book |last1=Bangali |first1=Lamissa |last2=Diamitani |first2=Boureima |last3=Rupley |first3=Lawrence |title=Historical Dictionary of Burkina Faso |date=2013 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-8010-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PzXEKPYNXm8C&q=gouiriko |access-date=18 February 2025}} * {{cite journal |last1=Şaul |first1=Mahir |title=The War Houses of the Watara in West Africa |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |date=1998 |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=537–570 |doi=10.2307/221475 |jstor=221475 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/221475 |access-date=16 February 2025|url-access=subscription }}

Category:Former monarchies of Africa Category:Countries in precolonial Africa Category:States and territories established in 1710 Category:1897 disestablishments Category:History of Burkina Faso Category:1714 establishments in Africa