All rights reserved. Islam was established in the area many centuries before the arrival of Europeans. The kora is a twenty-one-stringed West-African harp made out of a halved, dried, hollowed-out gourd covered with cow or goat skin. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc. Quinn, C.A., (1972) Mandingo Kingdoms of the Senegambia: Traditionalism, Islam and European Expansion. One Mandinka outside Africa is Kunta Kinte, a main figure in Alex Haley's book Roots and a subsequent TV mini-series. The Mandinka constitute one of the larger groups of the well-known and wide-spread Mande-speaking peoples of ancient western Sudan. . Although the fact is little publicized, the Arab world's second holiest city, Medina, was one of the allegedly "purely Arab" cities that actually was first settled by Jewish tribes. Death and Afterlife. [46] The victimised ethnic group felt justified in retaliating. A Mandinka woman supplementing her income by selling sandwiches. Encyclopedias almanacs transcripts and maps, Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement. Slavery was already an accepted practice before the 15th century. In addition, men are responsible for hunting, herding, leatherwork, blacksmithing for warfare, and the building of houses. All Rights Reserved. Malinke, also called Maninka, Mandinka, Mandingo, or Manding, a West African people occupying parts of Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. Although the Mandinka raise most of their own food, many products are obtained through trade and foodgathering expeditions in the surrounding forests. Mandinka mansas grew rich by raiding neighboring kingdoms and taking captives to be sold as slaves. Vogel, Joseph O., editor (1997). ETHNONYMS: Akosa, Aluunda, Aruund, Eastern Lunda, Imbangala, Ishindi Lunda, Kanongesha Lunda, Kazembe Mutanda Lunda, Luapula Lunda, Lunda-Kazem, Igbo In West Africa, as noted above, indigenous peoples already had religious (insofar as Animism can be called a religion) leaders and teachers. Islam has been blended with indigenous beliefs that involve worshiping the spirits of the land. There are five pillars - or basic tenets - of the Islamic faith. There is one exception to this norm: when a village headman (Alkalo) dies with no male children. His taxes were high, he felt it was his privilege to carry off Mandinka women, and he failed to maintain law and order along the trade routes that once prospered in West Africa. People of the same dyamu claim hospitality and friendship all over the Manding area. 22 Feb. 2023 . Both men are the elders of a sublineage tier of two dominant (royal lineage) families, and their offices are invested with the authority of the legendary charter of the founding of the village. The main language of the Mandinka is a Manding language that is also called Mandinka. This societal norm is established and maintained through a series of youth affiliations. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. The children spent the day driving small wild animals away from the crops. It took the French seven years to defeat Toure's empire; but by 1898 the Second Mandinka Empire had fallen. They could be called upon to work on community projects like repairing the village enclosure wall. Mali had become an important empire. RM2ABK491 - Mandinka man in cap, shawl, skirt and sandals, with amulets and beads, 18th century. Samanguru was hostile to the Mandinka people who lived in that area. Identification and Location. They regard themselves as peoples to whom a revelation has been "sent down" from heaven to comfort them. Categories. [22][53] Mandinkas recite chapters of the Qur'an in Arabic. To some degree, political decentralization is more prevalent in post-colonial West Africa than it was during colonial times. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. It is not uncommon for someone to pray in the village mosque and then sacrifice a chicken to the village spirits. The Mandinka economy is based on subsistence agriculture. Men often take part-time jobs in various businesses to supplement their income. Click/tap an image to begin a high-quality, captioned slideshow and, where available, stock licensing information. Robert W. Nicholls. Before the rise of the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, most Bedouin tribes practiced polytheism in the form of animism . Today, over 90 percent of the people of the Gambia and neighboring Senegal are Muslims. It is played to accompany a griot's singing or simply on its own. Below them were large numbers of poor farming families and landless artisans. The Muslim influence from North Africa had arrived in the Mandinka region before this, via Islamic trading diasporas. As a result of these traditional teachings, in marriage a woman's loyalty remains to her parents and her family; a man's to his. This would have been a Bainuk settlement before becoming Jola. Marabouts, who have Islamic training, write Qur'anic verses on slips of paper and sew them into leather pouches (talisman); these are worn as protective amulets. They have long been known for their drumming and also for their unique musical instrument, the kora. However the traditional religion remained much more practiced, by the majority of the Mandinka, until the XIXe century. They believe in one all-knowing God, known as Ahura Mazda, or the "Wise Lord," and core Zoroastrianism beliefs such as in a heaven and hell have influenced and been copied by . Their roles are symbolic reminders of the strong empires of past centuries. Most Mandinka today are, nominally, Muslims. The third emperor of the 14th century, a descendant of a brother of Sundiata, was (Kankan) Mousa (Mansa), who went to the Islamic-besieged Cairo and Mecca, in 1324, where he was infused with authority to attack more neighbors and abduct more slaves, in the name of Islamic jihads. Others raise goats, sheep, bees, poultry, and dogs to earn additional income. Even larger kinship groups that unite the Mandinka with other Manding people are called "dyamu." When they are, it is mainly their craft products that form the bulk of the merchandise. The strings are made of fishing line (these were traditionally made from a cow's tendons). A girl was often betrothed to a man at birth. In any case, the spread of ideas (not just religious ones) among societies is already a complex topic to study. These included, but were not limited to, slaves' African region of origin, the section of the United States slaves lived in, the predominant local plantation labor system, the European American and Native American religious cultures slaves were exposed to . The beginnings of Mandinka Beside their continued location in small, traditional villages, most Mandinkas still rely on subsistence farming and fishing for their livelihood. For a while, they even successfully resisted European colonial forces. [45], Scholars have offered several theories on the source of the transatlantic slave trade of Mandinka people. Many African-Americans today are descended from Mandinkas. The first patrilineal family thought to have settled in the area usually is granted the ritual chieftancy. PRONUNCIATION: MOH-say our website does not use cookies or any other kind of tracking technology. [2] According to Richard Turner a professor of African American Religious History, Musa was highly influential in attracting North African and Middle Eastern Muslims to West Africa. They scare off birds and small rodents from the farms. The village headman is almost always a member of this group. Samori's Mandinka was an Islamic stronghold, hence a target for destruction and not Assistance. Senegambia and the Atlantic Slave Trade. The Manden were initially a part of many fragmented kingdoms that formed after the collapse of Ghana empire in the 11th century. Tako Taal is the head of the Mandinka Jufureh village in The Gambia. PRONUNCIATION: song-HIGH In In Searach of Sunjata: The Mande Oral Epic as History, Literature, and Performance, pages 10-23, Ralph A. Austen, editor. Much of their time is spent in the fields, particularly during the planting and harvesting seasons. The power of the marabouts has caused criticism among the educated classes, because the marabouts generally speak only on behalf of the downtrodden. The Peoples of the World Foundation. A farmer who had lots of new land to clear could call upon the young mens age group to spend a day helping him. The Empire of Mali emerged after the decline of Ghana [i]. [28], The history of Mandinka people started in the Manden (or Manding or Mand) region, what is now southern Mali. The Mandinka kinship vocabulary favors this preference, because the Mandinka word for mother's brother, mbaring, is also the word for father-in-law, so that the father of every bride in effect also becomes the husband's mother's brother, even if the preferred kinship did not exist before the marriage. Putting the History Back into Ethnicity: Enslavement, Religion, and Cultural Brokerage in the Construction of Mandinka/Jola and Ewe/Agotime Identities in West Africa, c. 1650-1930 - Volume 50 Issue 4 . At about the same time that Americans were embroiled in a civil war that forever changed our country, the people along the Gambia also experienced their own fateful civil war. Certain tasks are assigned specifically to men, women, or children. New York: Hill and Wang. Text copyright 1999 -
The second division is made up of the caste members of society. [42] With the arrival of Portuguese explorers in Africa as they looked for a sea route to India, the European purchase of slaves had begun. One of the most famous dyamu names is Toure', which has been the name of leaders in many states, including ancient Ghana, ancient Mali, Songhai, and modern Guinea. The most important change coming out of this war was the permanent establishment of Islam. Religion Practiced by Slaves. The Mandinka concept of land ownership was quite different from that of western societies. Men, however, usually did not marry until their mid or even late 20s. She studied dance among the Mandinka extensively and found that, like the Griot tradition, it captures, preserves and communicates Mandinka indigenous knowledge. They were taken to the mines of Mexico and the sugar plantations of the Caribbean. They speak the Manding languages in the Mande language family and a lingua franca in much of West Africa. Retrieved February 22, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mandinka. The Mandinko recognized three castes. "Strangers," those families who came afterward, received progressively poorer land to farm. The Muslim traders sought presence in the host Mandinka community, and this likely initiated proselytizing efforts to convert the Mandinka from their traditional religious beliefs into Islam. In writing the history of Islam, it is customary to begin with a survey of the political, economic, social and religious conditions of Arabia on the eve of the Proclamation by Muhammad (may God bless him and his Ahlul-Bait) of his mission as Messenger of God. [33], In 1324, Mansa Musa who ruled Mali, went on Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca with a caravan carrying gold. They inadvertently set off a holy war (jihad) that swept all the Mandinka kingdoms and beyond. [62] In 2010, after community efforts of UNICEF and the local government bodies, several Mandinka women's organization pledged to abandon the female genital mutilation practices.[62]. However, there is a conventional emphasis on indigenous forms of life, dress, and celebrations, which remain an integral part of everyday life. A "major lineage" consists of a household of relatives and their families, a group that ultimately creates a "clan." Children are cared for primarily by their mother, who often is assisted by other female family members. It was the French who colonized the largest number of the Mandinka in Guinea, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, and Mali. The Mandinka officially observe the holidays of both major religions (Islam and Christianity) and practice tolerance. Two Mandinka societies existed. Mandinkas continue a long oral history tradition through stories, songs, and proverbs. The empire spread in several directions and implanted colonies of traders and settlers through a considerable portion of West Africa, including Senegambia. It is practiced faithfully among the Mandinka, although there are existing variations of the religion. Another change was the destruction of the old Mandinka ruling family system. The couple would then be considered married, although the wife continued to spend most of her time working in her fathers household. They also established new trading routes as they expanded their territory. One of the legends among the Mandingo of western Africa is that the general Tiramakhan Traore led the migration, because people in Mali had converted to Islam and he did not want to. Quinn, Charolette A. Gellar, Sheldon (1995). The Mandinka are a very large ethnic group indigenous to West Africa, where they have lived for many centuries. The Mandinka believe that the eldest male among the original settlers of a village or area would have had unique powers to mediate with the spirits of that land. Here are 6 popular African lesser gods, popularly known as deities who have been worshipped before Christianity found its way to the continent. So the conversion of the Mandinka to Islam would have occurred at different times in different areas. In years past, the children spent up to a year in the bush, but that has been reduced now to coincide with their physical healing time, between three and four weeks. They, too, helped to undermine the old Mandinka order. The production of artistic and craft products is very important. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ." They are predominantly subsistence farmers and live in rural villages. Osae, T. A., S. N. Nwabara, and A. T. O. Odunsi (1973). The most significant religious authority in Mandinka society is the marabout, the Muslim holy man. Introduction The Mandinka are West African people that live by both the Islamic teaching and traditional practices. The women among the Mandinka people, like other ethnic groups near them, have traditionally practiced female genital mutilation (FGM), traditionally referred to as "female circumcision." The Mandinka language is in the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo language family and is spoken in Guinea, Mali, Burkina-Faso, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, the Senegambia region, and parts of Nigeria. [30] During the rule of Sundiata Keita, these kingdoms were consolidated, and the Mandinka expanded west from the Niger River basin under Sundiata's general Tiramakhan Traore. For the Mandinka, this means that political organization today, at least at the village level, can be closer to the traditional norm. They had to share the taxes they collected with the village leaders. In the societies of Mand peoples such as the Mandinka, we see many examples of this. In the Gambia, we have found missionary translations from Biblical passages and sermons in Mandinka Ajami. What was the one artistic form that both west Africans and Muslims valued even before their cultures met? Weil, Peter M. (1976). The Mandingo are over 99% Muslim, adherents to the Sunni tradition of Islam. Yet, Abiola (2019), has argued that this is exactly the case. A young Mandinka girl on her way home from school. Handcoloured stipple copperplate engraving from Frederic Shoberl's The World in Miniature: Africa, A description of the manners and customs Moors of the Sahara and . They provide for much of the entertainment in the area and participate in collective charitable work. This slave trade volume excludes the slave trade by Swahili-Arabs in East Africa and North African ethnic groups to the Middle East and elsewhere. Although all Mandinka are Muslims, they also celebrate the Christian holidays of Easter and Christmas. ancient Iran religions and . They intermixed with slaves and workers of other ethnicities, creating a Creole culture. Hamilyn, W. T. (1938). Based on recent statistics, the Mandinka population is nearly two million. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Its linguistic identity is connected with its ethnic identity. While social divisions are quite complex, a great deal of social behavior is influenced by this philosophy. "Djinns, Stars and Warriors: Mandinka Legends from Pakao, Senegal" (, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 13:46. Eventually they are initiated into the responsibilities of manhood. In times past the Mandinka were among the main traders in the region, but very few are concerned exclusively with trade these days. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. However this is only a back-drop to the struggle for social and political control based on social divisions. Marriages are traditionally arranged by family members rather than either the bride or groom. In his book Roots, Alex Haley traced his familys origins back to Africa. This art form is passed down in Mandinka tradition through the male lineage. Given the prescriptive nature of orthodoxy and doctrine in most religions, we can only understand religious conversion in context. The Mandinka are said to be almost 100% Muslims today. Mandinka culture is rich in tradition, music, and spiritual ritual. Although this term refers to people who have the same name, those people are all believed to be descended from the same ancestor. Further migrations of the Mandinko into the Gambia area resulted in a stable population of about 90,000 people, who lived in large enclosed farming villages.