page_title: Médine, Mali
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Médine, Mali / History
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Combat et délivrance de Médina (13 Jul 1857) (d'apres tableau de M Chagot)English: The Breaking Siege of Fort du Médine, 1857
context_page_description: Médine is a village and principal settlement of the commune of Hawa Dembaya in the Cercle of Kayes in the Kayes Region of south-western Mali. The village is located 12 km east of Kayes on the left bank of the Sénégal River just downstream of the Félou Falls. The site of the village was historically important as the falls were the furthest point up the Sénégal River from Saint Louis that could be reached by boat. Navigation was only possible after the rainy season when the river was in flood.
context_section_description: In 1855 Louis Faidherbe, the French governor of Sénégal, constructed a fort at Médine to strengthen French control of the Sénégal River and to act a base in the expansion into the interior.
  The Siege of the Fort du Médine took place two years later in 1857 when the Toucouleur forces of al-Hājj Umar Taal unsuccessfully besieged French colonial troops under Faidherbe.
caption: Eugene Mage's view of the lifting of the siege of Fort du Médine, from Voyage dans le Soudan occidental (1868).
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