FORT GALLIENI

On the road to Doko, some 2 km from the village of Niagassola, on a hill overlooking the village, you will see the ruins of Fort Gallieni, named after the former superior commander of French Sudan. Built in 1885 to maintain French pre-eminence over the Bakoy River and the gold-bearing regions of the Bouré, a detachment of French sailors was based there to deal with the sofas (mercenaries) of Samory Touré. Today, there remain almost complete sections of wall and the first floor of a two-story building. Built in stone but also with earth from the termite mound, these ruins are gradually deteriorating under the combined effect of time and climatic hazards. There are also pieces of the fort's surrounding wall, which must have been about 250 m by 150 m, and those of a guardhouse. Unfortunately, as the site was left abandoned, time slowly but surely accomplished its destructive work. In addition, a cemetery known as the "White Cemetery" (twenty-four concrete graves), located some 500 meters from the fort, as well as a cemetery known as the "Tirailleurs", located between the fort and the village (seven piles of stones), complete this historic site, which would deserve a better fate. In fact, only these two cemeteries are regularly maintained, as evidenced by the mission conducted by the French Embassy in 2017. A way to extend the duty of memory. All these vestiges are like the last witnesses of this period of heroic resistance of the Malinkés to colonial domination. A place for history lovers!