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Kissi people

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  • 4 chapters

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The Kissi people are also called Assi, Bakoa, Den, Gihi, Gisi, Gissi, Gizi, Kisi, Kisia, Kisie, Kisiye, Kizi, or Kalen

History

According to The Peoples of Africa, Kissi tradition considers that before the seventeenth century, they inhabited the Upper Niger region. Supposedly, they lived south of the Futa Jallon until the Yalunka people expelled them. After 1600, they migrated westward, expelling the Limbas in their march, but were under constant threat from the Kurankos.

Resistance to French conquest by Kissi Kaba Keita

In Guinea, the Kissi warrior Kissi Kaba Keita managed to unite many Kissi chiefdoms under his reign and resist French conquest for many years. Before French attacks, he had rallied the Kurankos of Morige and the Leles of Yombiro. When the French arrived in 1892, he had to let the relatively autonomous chiefs of the respective areas defend themselves. Due to the French's technological superiority, Kissi Kaba resorted mainly to guerilla tactics, thus delaying their conquest of his kingdom. Still, by 1893, he realized that his resistance would fail and subjected himself to the French, who recognized him as chief of the northern Kissi territory. However, his relationship with the French gradually worsened, leading to them appointing his rivals in several of his chiefdoms and eventually to his execution in Siguiri.

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