Wassoulou

Wassoulou, sometimes spelled Wassulu, Wassalou, or Ouassalou, is a cultural area and historical region surrounding the point where the borders of Mali, Ivory Coast, and Guinea meet.

The history of Wassoulou before the 19th century is poorly attested in surviving sources, but it appears to have been a relatively decentralized and egalitarian society composed of jamana, alliances of small villages defended by walls.

[5] Wassoulou continued to suffer instability and social conflict, including predation by colonial troops, well into the period of French domination.

[10] As slavery gradually died out in the French Sudan, tens of thousands of freed slaves made their way back to their native Wassoulou in the decades before the First World War.

The Fulani people, who are believed to have migrated from the Fouta Djallon highlands, integrated with the indigenous Mandé populations, adopting a dialect of the Bambara language and local customs before the 18th century, coinciding with the spread of Islam.