Du Wagadu au Kaabu: le puits, symbole de la fondation, légitimation et destitution du pouvoir au Sahel du VIIIe au XIXe siècles.

We analyze representations of water in relation to wells among certain groups in the Mande area who are struggling with desertification. These representations span the period dating from the formation of the Wagadu-Ghana kingdom to its decline (eighth to thirteenth centuries), the settlement of Mande populations in the Senegambian area from the thirteenth century (under the domination of the Mali Empire), and the fall of the Kaabu kingdom in the nineteenth century. We demonstrate that during the migrations of Soninke and Manding populations from the Sahel the well as a symbol played as much a role in the constitution of power as in its destruction. Our historical and anthropological approach captures the multiple symbolic dimensions of the well, including those associated with the cult of the serpent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]