page_title: Amadu II of Masina
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Amadu II of Masina / Background
caption_attribution_description: General outline (green) of ʿUmar Tal's Toucouleur Empire around 1864, near the empire's greatest extent, covering much of modern Mali, as well as parts of Guinea and Mauritania. Major capitals conquered in green, Major French forts in blue.Note: this is based on the outlines of previous (conquered) states supplied in the 1861 map, which displays information from the late 1850s.
context_page_description: Amadu II of Massina, also called Amadu Seku, was the second Almami, or ruler, of the theocratic Massina Empire or Diina of Hamdullahi in what is now Mali. He held this position from 1845 until his death in 1853. His rule was a short period of relative peace and prosperity between the violent reigns of his father and his son.
context_section_description: Masina is the Inner Niger Delta, a large area where the Niger River divides into separate channels that overflow and flood the land annually. Some time between 1810 and 1818 Seku Amadu Lobbo of the Bari family launched a jihad against the Fulbe chiefs in Masina, tributaries of the pagan Bambara of Segu, whom he accused of idolatry. The goals of the jihad soon expanded to that of conquest of the Bambara and others in the region. Seku Amadu established a large empire based on Hamdallahi, which he had founded as the capital. The empire stretched from just downstream of Segu almost all the way to Timbuktu.
  Seku Amadu Lobbo received support from Tukolor and Fula people who were seeking independence from the Bambara, but met resistance when he imposed a rigorous Islamic theocracy based on the Maliki interpretation of Sharia law. The new theocratic state was ruled by a council of forty elders, who gave directions to provincial governors. Most of the governors were related to Seku Amadu.
caption: German map of the region c. 1861 (Massina to the east)
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