The Mossi Kingdom: History, Culture, and Society

Introduction and Identification

This paper examines the Mossi Kingdom, an ancient African empire located in the Upper Volta region of present-day Burkina Faso. The political, social, linguistic, cultural, and historical characteristics of the kingdom are discussed in detail.

Ethnonyms: Mosi, Moshi, Moose, Mossi

Identification: The ancient Kingdom of Mossi was composed of the Mossi people, who still form the majority of the population in the Upper Volta region — particularly in Burkina Faso. They are well regarded in anthropological literature as one of the most industrious peoples in the whole of the West African region. Historically, the Mossi have been noted for their resistance to Christian missionaries and Islamic states, even though their culture shows several correlations with Islam.

Location: The Mossi people have traditionally occupied what is now known as the Mossi Plateau in the Upper Volta region. During the French conquest of these parts of West Africa, the Mossi spread throughout the region and into parts of present-day Ivory Coast, where they now form the second most populous ethnic group. The Mossi are also found in Ghana. The core area of the kingdom was located at approximately 0°00′ to 3°00′ E and 11°30′ to 14°00′ N.

Demography: The Mossi people currently make up about 50% of the population of Burkina Faso. The 1961 census found that 49% of the population of the Upper Volta area was Mossi. More recent national censuses do not provide population figures broken down by ethnicity. If the 49% proportion is assumed to have held until 1985 — when the census reported a total population of 7,964,705 — the Mossi numbered approximately 3.9 million individuals at that time.

History and Cultural Relations

Linguistic Affiliation: The Mossi language is often written as More, although the country's national standards refer to it as Moore. Other writings also use the spellings Moore and Mole. In Greenberg's 1963 classification, the language is identified as Mossi and defined as a member of the Voltaic branch of the Niger-Congo family.

The Mossi are known to have existed as an organized society for over five hundred years, though the exact origins of the kingdom and its ruling clans remain a subject of debate among historians. Several sources record that the Mossi were in conflict with the Songhai Empire — a neighboring power in the region — during the years 1328 to 1333, and again approximately 150 years later in 1477 and 1498. Compared to other West African kingdoms, the Mossi were powerful enough that they were never conquered by another African people until the arrival of the French in 1896. However, despite their strength, the Mossi kingdom was not able to conquer its neighboring empires either.

The expansion of the Mossi Empire occurred largely through the annexation of small, stateless communities and villages along the kingdom's edges — peoples whose languages and cultures were closely related to those of the Mossi. Within the first few years after the French conquest, French scholars began using the term mossification to describe the assimilationist expansion that characterized the Mossi Empire (Finnegan, 1998).

During the height of the Mossi Empire, most of the surrounding countryside was sparsely populated. Households were composed of extended families, and each family compound was surrounded by farmland. Several households together formed a village, with family compounds located no more than 100 meters apart. The houses were so low that when millet — the Mossi staple crop — was fully grown (reaching about 4 meters in height), a neighbor's house would be completely hidden from view. Boundaries between communities were likely defined by natural features such as rock formations, streams, and valleys. The dispersed settlement pattern suggests that villages functioned as political and social units rather than strictly geographic ones. During the colonial period and into the latter half of the twentieth century, there was increased movement into surrounding towns, along with greater opening of rural areas and increased capital available to rural households.

Subsistence: The primary livelihood throughout the Upper Volta region was the cultivation of sorghum and millet. Millet was the kingdom's staple food; families ground it into flour for porridge or prepared it as a paste-like dish to be eaten with vegetables or meat. Sorghum was used to produce alcohol. Nearly everyone in the kingdom was a farmer, reflecting the cultural expectation that every man was responsible for providing millet for his household.

Settlements and Economy

Industry: As in other societies across the wider West African region, Mossi blacksmiths and craftsmen occupied a unique social position, living in separate villages or settlements distinct from the general population.

Trade: Markets were spread throughout the Mossi Kingdom. Beyond local commerce, the Yarse clan engaged in long-distance trade. The Yarse originated from the Mande region of present-day Mali and were assimilated by the Mossi; though they adopted the Mossi language and culture, they retained their Muslim identity. Goods exported by the Mossi Empire included kola nuts, salt, cotton cloth, cattle, donkeys, and iron tools.

Division of Labor: All family members were expected to work in household fields, with farming supervised by male elders. When extended families gathered for major farming events, female members were expected to prepare porridge and beer for participants. Women were also responsible for collecting firewood and fetching water. Pre-colonial blacksmithing was the exclusive domain of specific, largely endogamous clans.

Land Tenure: Land was held and transmitted along the male family line, though in cases where land was plentiful, it could be passed to other family members or even to outsiders. As part of ancestral heritage, land was not alienable; it was held in trust for the tribe's future descendants.

Mossi society was formally organized along patrilineal descent units, which were grouped into clans. In addition to sharing a common patrilineal ancestor, members of each clan shared a common totemic animal, which was avoided as food.

In the Mossi language, there is only one term that refers to lineage or clan: buudu. Members of each clan share a common surname (Finnegan, 1998).

Marriages were arranged by clan heads. Polygamy was widely practiced but was permitted only for those who had the economic means to pay bride wealth and to sustain multiple wives. Mossi marriage practices included both the sororate and the levirate.

A Mossi household consisted of a man, his wives, his younger brothers, his married sons, and their children.

Conclusion

Greenberg, J. H. (1963). The languages of Africa. Indiana University Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore, and Linguistics, Publication no. 25. Mouton.

Obeng, P. (2015, July 30). Asante and the Akan and Mossi states. In Oxford Bibliographies Online. Oxford University Press.