KANFORI

Domin Konteh Kanfori (14th century), a folk hero, was the leader of the earliest wave of Soso migrants into Sierra Leone. This wave was the first of what ultimately became a group many thousands strong which settled in the northwestern part of the country.

The Soso people, who had once been subjects of the ancient Ghana empire, subsequently came under the rulership of the Fulani (Fula) and Mandinka, both large northerly groups. In the 13th century some of them were incorporated into the Mali empire under Sundiata, but others fled to less hostile territory. Kanfori’s group, which numbered about 200, consisted of five families who were all related to the leader.

The following traditional account gives a good illustration of the group’s movements: The Sosos were nomads and hunters. They went towards the west with their women and children, moving slowly but never stopping, like ants. They stayed a month, a year, two years in a place and then set out again. They lived by hunting and by gathering corn, roots and wild berries.

They were armed with arrows and accompanied by many dogs as fierce as leopards. When they halted they built shelters in the forest near running water and hunted until there was no more game; then they set out once more with their young men and the dogs in front. They also fished in the rivers, drying the fish and eating it on the spot.

“When they rested the Kanfori set up his family round him in huts, and nearby the other heads of families, and fished; the women cooked, gathered wild fruits, prepared skins of wild animals for clothing and protection, made mats and water pots and fetched wood and water”.

Finally Kanfori Domin Konteh and his group settled at Domin-ya, which became the chief town for a considerable time after their arrival.

From time to time the newcomers were almost dislodged from their settlement by fresh waves of migrants, but they held fast to their newly acquired territory. One such invading group, the Baga (who now inhabit the coastal region of the Republic of Guinea), decided after a series of clashes with the Soso that it was best to live amicably with them. They agreed to fix boundaries and soon evolved a working relationship.

By the time of Kanfori’s death the Soso settlement had been established on a firm foundation. Kanfori was succeeded by his son, Manga Kombeh Balla during whose reign the first Portuguese traders came into contact with the Soso.

E. D. AMADU TURAY