Samori Toure was born in a village in the Milo river valley in present day Guinea. When Samori was in his early 20’s his mother was captured in a slave raid, which is a military process, which purpose is to capture as much people as possible to then use as slaves. In exchange for his mother's freedom he served in the general’s army who took his mother, Sori Birama, the chief of Bissandugu a village in present day Guinea. This is where Samori Toure learned most of his military tactics and skills, which he would use later on. The land all around Guinea and the Ivory Coast had many villages but they weren’t united so Toure had the idea to unite the Empire. Samori organized the chiefs all under his rule. His empire became known as the Mandinka Empire. Samori Toure’s army was very powerful because they were nearly the only African empire that had the asset of European guns. In the early 1880s Samori’s empire reached its height spanning from present day Mali to present day Guinea. In the late 1800s the Europeans began colonizing the African continent. The Europeans saw strong empires like the Mandinka as threats to their colonization. In 1882 the French accuse Samori Toure and his army of invading an important market, thus the French declared war on the Mandinka empire. From 1882 to 1889 they was between the two went back and forth and eventually in 1889 he ended the war and signed treaties with France. However in 1890 Samori Toure reorganized his army and obtained modern weapons and reengaged wear on France. In 1891 the French fought back and invaded the Empire and burned the conquered cities, thus Toure moved his empire to the east. In 1898 the French eventually caught up with him and his army and was capture on September 29, 1898. He was exiled and died in 1900.