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The Bambara ( or ߓߊ߲ߡߊߣߊ߲ Banmana) are a Mandé ethnic group native to much of West Africa, primarily southern Mali, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal. They have been associated with the historic Bambara Empire. Today, they make up the largest Mande peoples ethnic group in Mali, with 80% of the population speaking the Bambara language, regardless of ethnicity.
While there is little consensus among modern historians and ethnologists as to the origins or meaning of the ethno-linguistic term, references to the name Bambara can be found from the early 18th century. In addition to its general use as a reference to an ethno-linguistic group, Bambara was also used to identify captive Africans who originated in the interior of Africa perhaps from the upper Senegal-Niger region and transported to the Americas via ports on the coast. As early as 1730 at the slave-trading post of Gorée, the term Bambara referred simply to slaves who were already in the service of the local elites or French.
Growing from farming communities in Ouassoulou, between Sikasso and Ivory Coast, Bamana-age co-fraternities (called Tons) began to develop a state structure which became the Bambara Empire and later Mali Empire. In stark contrast to their Muslim neighbors, the Bamana state practised and formalised traditional polytheistic religion, though Muslim communities remained locally powerful, if excluded from the central state at Ségou.
The Bamana became the dominant cultural community in western Mali. The Bambara language, mutually intelligible with the Manding and Dyula language languages, has become the principal inter-ethnic language in Mali and one of the official languages of the state alongside French language.
The Maraka merchants developed towns focused first on desert side trade, and latter on large-scale agricultural production using captured slaves. The Dyula people specialised in long-distance trade, as did Fula people communities within the state, who added this to cattle herding. The Bozo people ethnicity were created largely out of war captives, and turned by the state to fishing and ferrying communities.
In addition to this, the Bamana maintained internal castes, like other Mandé peoples, with , priests, metalworkers, and other specialist vocations remaining endogamous and living in designated areas.
Formerly, like most other African societies, they also held slaves (called "Jonw"/"Jong(o)"), often war prisoners from lands surrounding their territory. With time, and the collapse of the Bamana state, these caste differences have eroded, though vocations have strong family and ethnic correlations.
As conquests of their neighbors were successful, the state created the Jonton ( Jon = slave/kjell-slave), or slave warrior caste, replenished by warriors captured in battle. While slaves were excluded from inheritance, the Jonton leaders forged a strong corporate identity. Their raids fed the Segu economy with goods and slaves for trade, and bonded agricultural laborers who were resettled by the state.
Bamana forms of art include the n’tomo mask and the Chiwara. The n’tomo mask was used by dancers at male initiation ceremonies. The Chiwara (or ciwara) headdress was used at harvest time by young men chosen from the farmers association. Other Bamana statues include fertility statues, meant to be kept with the wife at all times to ensure fertility, and statues created for vocational groups such as hunters and farmers, often used as offering places by other groups after prosperous farming seasons or successful hunting parties.
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