anm document

"Organisation politique et administrative des groupes indigènes du Cercle de Mopti avant l'occupation Française" (no date)
in ANM 1 D 49 fonds anciens.

© 1999 by Jim Jones, Ph.D.
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This document describes family structure, village structure, chiefs, taxes and the problems associated with the end of slavery. In essence, free Peuls were herders who held title to all of the land around Mopti. However, they were unaccustomed to agricultural work, which was performed for them by their Rimaïbé slaves.

Before the slaves could be liberated, the French went to great lengths to negotiate an agreement with their Peul owners. The final manumission agreement substituted a land rent equal to 1/6 of the crop of rice for the customary Diamcal payment due to a master from a slave. The manumission agreement also gave the Rimaïbés perpetual right to use the land they farmed, and obligated their former masters to provide more land nearby as needed. Rimaïbé children were required to work for their former Peul masters until they married, but could be liberated along with their parents by an agreement with the Peul masters, who were then entitled to an additional 1/6 of the rice crop in payment.

(NOTE: these details are only some of many in a complicated agreement on the division of the crop.)