AMARIA

Amaria (early 1850s-19?) was a Builsa who held high rank in the Zabarima state, which stretched from Ouagadougou, now the capital of Burkina Faso, to what is now North of Ghana. He later became the acknowledged leader of the Grunshi rebellion of 1894-96 against Zabarima domination.

The Zabarima, having arrived in Dagomba in the late 1850’s from the region of Niamey, now the capital of the Republic of Niger, were sent by the Ya Na (paramount chief) Abdulai V (ruled 1862-76) to Grunshi — as the territories of the Builsa, Sisala, and Awuna, in the extreme north of what is now Ghana, were collectively known to raid for slaves. At the conclusion of their assignment, they remained in Grunshi at the invitations of the chiefs of Dolbizan, 75 mi (120 km) west of Bolgatanga, in what is now the Upper Region of Ghana, and of Nibiewale, who required their assistance in local disputes.

By means of well-educated and well-timed alliances, which they did not hesitate to denounce when it suited their purposes, the Zabarima soldiers of fortune crushed an army sent from Dagomba to recall them from Grunshi, and then attacked their local allies. Thereafter, for nearly three decades, they campaigned independently. Thanks to the political and military disunity of the Grunshi, to their own ability to enlist and maintain local support, and to the abilities of their leaders, Alfa Hano, Alfa Gazare, and Babatu, they established asalin Zambamawa, the state of the Zabarima, about 200 mi (320 km) in extent.

Amaria’s contribution to the growth of the Zabarima state was incalculable, and his career well illustrates the co-operation and loyalty which the Zabarima had to secure before they could establish suzerainty over parts of Grunshi territory.

He was born in the early 1850s, not near Leo, in Upper Volta, as has at times been claimed, but at Santijan, on the Sisala-Builsa border, 50 mi (80 km) southwest of Bolgatanga. When he was seven, Alfa Hano took him into his household, converted him to Islam, and taught him Arabic. His conversion and education enabled him to advance rapidly in the Zabarima hierarchy.

By the early 1870s he was second in command to the wing of the Zabarima army which came directly under Alfa Gazare. This was an important military command because Alfa Gazare had by that time succeeded to the Zabarima leadership following Alfa Hano’s death in 1870. Between 1870 and 1880, when the military and organisational foundations of asalin Zambamawa were firmly laid, Amaria paid frequent visits to the Awuna, Sisala, and Builsa, and won them over to the Zabarima.

In recognition of his services and his large following, he was entrusted with high military and civil command at Seti. At the time of the rebellion, he was also in charge of the arsenal of Babatu, who had succeeded Alfa Gazare in 1880. The rebellion of 1894-96 was the direct product of Zabarima insensitiveness and arrogance, born of three decades of continuous success. Zabarima control over their state varied from place to place, but from the late 1880s onwards they began to systematise and tighten it. Certain parts of Grunshi which had enjoyed exemption from tax began to lose this exemption. The resentment caused by the tightening of administrative control over their allies and tributaries, as well as the high-handed actions of the Zabarima in selling Grunshi women who followed their columns, provoked the large-scale rebellion led by Amaria. Seen in this light, Amaria’s defection was to the cause of Grunshi nationalism against an alien tyranny.

A number of bitter but indecisive engagements in which Amaria came out the worse were fought. It was during the period of stalemate, late in 1896, that the French and British first appeared in Grunshi territory. Styling himself “king of the Grunshi,” Amaria allied himself first with the French and then with the British in a desperate attempt to turn the tables upon the Zabarima. Although his alliances with the two imperial powers were short-lived, he escaped the full brunt of Zabarima wrath, because asalin Zambamawa was dismantled within a few months after the arrival of the French and the British in Grunshi territory.

A. A. ILIASU