Bambouk

"[2][3] The Diakhanke established Diakha-ba and became Muslim clerics for the Malinke chiefs after Bambuk was conquered by the Mali Empire in the 13th century.

According to Levtzion, "From their centre in Bambuk, the Diakhanke spread to Bondu, Kedougou, and Futa Djallon and established new communities such as Niokhol and Dantilia - in order to secure a monopoly over the trade with the Europeans.

[5][6] The area was sparsely populated with a series of largely autonomous villages, and the mountainous terrain made it an ideal refuge.

These villages, however, were rarely able to unify for mutual protection, and so were often prey for more powerful nearby states such as Khasso and Bundu in the 18th and 19th centuries,[7] before becoming a part of French Sudan.

"[4] For centuries, European powers aspired to control the mines, but even when the French under Louis Faidherbe finally managed to do so after 1860 output was low and the specialist engineers often died of disease.