Kingdom of Tenkodogo

Origins

Mossi tradition tells that Yennenga, a princess of Mamprugu, rode north and bore a son, Ouedraogo, to a hunter named Riale. Ouedraogo and his descendants founded the Mossi kingdoms, and Tenkodogo, 'the old land', is regarded as the first of them, established around the 15th century in the White Volta basin.

Rule and society

The Naaba of Tenkodogo ruled through chiefs descended from the royal house over farming villages, whose earth-priests (tengsoba) kept rites of the land. The Mossi system combined mounted aristocracies with local religious authority. Tenkodogo later became less powerful than the Kingdom of Ouagadougou and the Kingdom of Yatenga.

Decline and legacy

French forces brought Tenkodogo under colonial control in 1897, and it became part of French West Africa, later French Upper Volta. The Naaba of Tenkodogo remains a recognised traditional ruler in Burkina Faso.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.