Wobogo
Encyclopedia
Mogho Naba
Mogho Naba is a title for king of the Mossi, an ethnic group in Burkina Faso.-References:...
(ruler) of Ouagadougou
Ouagadougou
Ouagadougou is the capital of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural and economic center of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 1,475,223 . The city's name is often shortened to Ouaga. The inhabitants are called ouagalais...
from 1890 to 1897, at the time of the French colonial conquest of Upper Volta
French Upper Volta
Upper Volta was a colony of French West Africaestablished on March 1, 1919, from territories that had been part of the colonies of Upper Senegal and Niger and the Côte d'Ivoire...
.
Wobogu was originally called Boukary Koutou, but dropped those names on his accession and assumed the name "Wobogu", meaning elephant.
Years of independence
Ouagadougou was the main Mossi KingdomMossi Kingdoms
The Mossi Kingdoms, sometimes mistakenly referred to as the Mossi Empire, were a trio of powerful states in modern-day Burkina Faso. Each state possessed similar customs and government, but were ruled independently of each other...
in what is now Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
, with its origins in the 15th century. The Mossi
Mossi Kingdoms
The Mossi Kingdoms, sometimes mistakenly referred to as the Mossi Empire, were a trio of powerful states in modern-day Burkina Faso. Each state possessed similar customs and government, but were ruled independently of each other...
were a warlike nation with formidable cavalry, who had successfully resisted all past invaders.
With the decline of the central state in the 18th century, Yatenga
Yatenga
Yatenga is a modern province in the Nord Region of Burkina Faso, located in its Nord Region. In modern Yatenga, the most prominent city is Ouahigouya . This city served as the capital of the old Mossi kingdom, but its influence has decreased in the century or two since colonization...
, with its capital at Ouahigouya
Ouahigouya
Ouahigouya is the most important town in northern Burkina Faso. It is the capital of the Yatenga Province and one of its subdivisions the Ouahigouya Department. It is also the biggest town in the Nord Region. It is the third largest city in the country with a population of 122,677. It is situated ...
, had become independent of Ouagadougou, as had other places.
During the 19th century there was sporadic warfare among the Mossi.
Boukary Koutou's father, ruler of Ouagadougou, died in 1850 when Boukary was a young man.
Boukary competed unsuccessfully with his brother Sanum to become ruler but was disallowed due to his youth.
After fomenting a civil war against his brother, he was exiled to Banema on the border of the kingdom.
There he made a living through slave trading, capturing the slaves in mounted razzias directed at the villages of the Gurunsi people
Gurunsi
The Gurunsi are a set of ethnic groups inhabiting northern Ghana and southern Burkina Faso.-Pre-Colonial History and Origins:Oral traditions of the Gurunsi hold that they originated from the western Sudan near Lake Chad. While it is unknown when the migration occurred, it is believed that the...
.
When Sanum died in 1890, he left no male heir, and all his brothers were in competition for the throne.
The elders were reluctant to make Boukary the Mogho Naba
Mogho Naba
Mogho Naba is a title for king of the Mossi, an ethnic group in Burkina Faso.-References:...
, since his rebellion had made him ineligible, but were persuaded when he surrounded their meeting place with soldiers.
Although now the principal Mossi ruler, Wobogo was not in full control. At the time of Dr. Francois Crozat's visit in September 1890, the Yako
Yako
Yako is a town in northern Burkina Faso, once capital of a small state. It lies north-west of Ouagadougou. Yako is known for its large mosque, and as the birthplace of Thomas Sankara....
and Yatenga
Yatenga
Yatenga is a modern province in the Nord Region of Burkina Faso, located in its Nord Region. In modern Yatenga, the most prominent city is Ouahigouya . This city served as the capital of the old Mossi kingdom, but its influence has decreased in the century or two since colonization...
people were engaged in civil war. Wobogo attempted to halt the fighting to avoid giving a poor impression to his European visitor, but was not successful.
Character
The French explorer Louis Gustave BingerLouis Gustave Binger
Louis Gustave Binger was a French officer and explorer who claimed the Côte d'Ivoire for France.Binger was born at Strasbourg in the Bas-Rhin . In 1887 he travelled from Senegal up to the Niger River, arriving at Grand Bassam in 1889. During this expedition he discovered that the Mountains of Kong...
visited the Mossi in 1888. He described Boukary Koutou, whom he found in exile at Bassawarga, as a tall and handsome man in his forties, neatly dressed, with a round face decorated with tattoos and a small goatee.
He said of the future ruler "His whole appearance denotes intelligence. He seems to be a just man, but firm in his resolutions".
Binger saw a resemblance to Iamory Ouattara, ruler of the Kong
Kong Empire
The Kong Empire , also known as the Wattara Empire or Ouattara Empire for its founder, was a pre-colonial African Muslim state centered in north eastern Cote d'Ivoire that also encompassed much of present-day Burkina Faso.-Early Period:...
state of Knniara, but said Boukary had much finer features.
However, Crozat was not impressed by Wobogo upon meeting him in 1890. He described him in his reports as "timid, shaky" and living "confined to his palace with his servants and wives, not daring to go out". Crozat reported that Wobogo "spent his time consulting holy men who had him under their control and who used up the resources of the realm to contrive the oddest and most expensive charms in order to allay the ruler's fear that he would be assassinated".
Crozat reported that Wobogo had a hundred wives, although he did not see this many when he visited since many lived in neighboring villages.
Defeat and exile
Wobogo ruled at a time when the French and British were taking control of the region, and intensely distrusted both.When the French explorer Parfait-Louis Monteil
Parfait-Louis Monteil
Parfait-Louis Monteil was a French colonial military officer and explorer who made an epic journey in West Africa between 1890 and 1892, travelling east from Senegal to Lake Chad, and then north across the Sahara to Tripoli....
visited Ouagadougou in 1891, hoping Wobogo would agree to a French protectorate, Wogobo refused to receive him. Monteil was forced to make a hurried departure.
In 1894, Wobogo signed a treaty of friendship with George Ekem Ferguson, a Fante representative of the British in the Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
(now Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
).
In 1896, the French invaded Ouagadougou, and when he attempted to resist his town was burned down.
The French commander Voulet deposed Wobogo in 1897, replacing him with his brother Sighiri.
Wobogo appealed to the British without success.
After further fighting, he fled to Zongoiri
Zongoiri
Zongoiri Natinga is a community in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region of Ghana, to the northwest of a bend in the White Volta River....
just across the border in the northeast of the Gold Coast, where he died in 1904.