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The Mandé peoples are a linguistic grouping of those African nations who speak Mande languages. The various Mandé-speaking nations are concentrated in the western regions of West Africa.
The Mandinka people or Malinke, a western Mandé nation, are credited with the founding one of the largest West African empires. Other large Mandé-speaking nations include the Soninke people and Susu people, as well as smaller ones such as the Ligbi language, Vai, and Bissa people. Mandé-speaking peoples inhabit various environments, from coastal rainforests to the sparse Sahel, and have a wide range of cuisines, cultures, and beliefs.
After migrating from the Central Sahara, Mandé-speaking peoples established Tichitt culture in the Western Saharan region of Mauritania, which had Dhar Tichitt as its primary regional center and possibly the Malian Lakes Region as its secondary regional center. Subsequently, toward the end of the Mauritanian Tichitt culture, Mandé-speaking peoples began to spread and established Méma, Dia Shoma, and Jenne Jeno in the Middle Niger region as well as the Ghana Empire.
Today, Mandé-speaking peoples are predominantly Muslim and follow a caste system. Islam has played a central role in identifying the Mandé-speaking people who live in the Sahel regions. Influences from Mandé-speaking people have historically spread far beyond immediate areas to other neighboring Muslim West African groups who inhabited the Sahel and Savanna. The Mandé people conducted increased trade along the Niger River or overland, and achieved military conquest with the expansion of the Ghana Empire, Mali Empire, Kaabu and Wassoulou states.
The non-Mandé-speaking Fula people, Songhai people, Wolof people, Hausa people, and Gur people peoples share a similar culture with Mandé-speaking peoples.
As areas where the Tichitt cultural tradition were present, Dhar Tichitt and Dhar Walata were occupied more frequently than Dhar Néma. Farming of crops (e.g., millet) may have been a feature of the Tichitt cultural tradition as early as 3rd millennium BCE in Dhar Tichitt.
As part of a broader trend of iron metallurgy in the West African Sahel in 1st millennium BCE, iron items (350 BCE – 100 CE) were found at Dhar Tagant, iron metalworking and/or items (800 BCE – 400 BCE) were found at Dia Shoma and Walaldé, and iron remnants (760 BCE – 400 BCE) were found at Bou Khzama and Djiganyai. The iron materials found are evidence of metalworking at Dhar Tagant. In the late period of the Tichitt Tradition at Dhar Néma, tamed pearl millet was used to temper the of an oval-shaped low shaft iron furnace, one of 16 located on elevated ground. Iron metallurgy may have developed before the second half of 1st millennium BCE, as indicated by pottery dated between 800 BCE and 200 BCE. At Dhar Walata and Dhar Tichitt, copper was also utilized.
After its decline in Mauritania, the Tichitt Tradition spread to the Middle Niger region of Mali (e.g., at Méma, Macina, Dia Shoma, and Jenne Jeno), where it developed into and persisted as Faïta Facies ceramics between 1300 BCE and 400 BCE among rammed earth architecture and iron metallurgy (which developed after 900 BCE). Thereafter, the Ghana Empire developed in the 1st millennium CE.
Ghanaian society included large pastoral and agricultural communities. Its commercial class was the most prosperous. The Soninke merchants of Ghana Empire came to dominate the trade, having had Saharan trade routes connecting their great cities of the Sahara and to the northern coast of Africa. They enslaved neighboring Africans, either to sell them or to use them for domestic purposes; those who were not sold were usually assimilated into the Soninke community. Leather goods, ivory, salt, gold, and copper were also sold in exchange for various finished goods. By the 10th century, Ghana was an immensely rich and prosperous empire, controlling an area the size of Texas, stretching across Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania. When visiting the capital city of Koumbi Saleh in 950 AD, Arab traveler Ibn Hawqal described the Ghanaian ruler as the "richest king in the world because of his gold."
In the 11th century, the kingdom began to weaken and decline for numerous reasons. The king lost his trading monopoly, a devastating drought damaged the cattle and cultivation industries, the clans were fractured, and the vassal states were rebelling. According to Arab tradition, Almoravid Muslims came from the North and invaded Ghana.
The western Sanhaja was converted to Islam sometime in the 9th century. They were subsequently united in the 10th century. With the zeal of converts, they launched several campaigns against the "Sudanese", idolatrous Black peoples of West Africa and the Sahel.Lewicki (1988:p.160-61; 1992: p.308-09) Under their king Tinbarutan ibn Usfayshar, the Sanhaja Lamtuna erected or captured the citadel of Awdaghust, a critical stop on the trans-Saharan trade route. After the collapse of the Sanhaja union, Awdagust was taken by the Ghana empire. The trans-Saharan routes were taken over by the Zenata Maghrawa of Sijilmassa
Before the Almoravids, the Islamic influence was gradual and did not involve any form of military takeover. In any event, following their subsequent withdrawal, new gold fields were mined further south and new trade routes were opening further east. Just as it appeared that Ghana would reemerge, it became the target of attacks by the Susu people who were Mandinka people (another Mandé-speaking people) and their leader Sumanguru. From this conflict in 1235, the Malinké (also known as Mandinka people) emerged under a new dynamic ruler, Sundiata Keita Kéita. By the mid-13th century, the once great empire of Ghana had utterly disintegrated. It soon became eclipsed by the Mali Empire of Sundiata.
In the 12th century CE, the University of Sankore, which began as the Mosque of Sankore, served as an organization of higher learning in Timbuktu. The Mosque of Sankore, the Mosque of Sidi Yahya, and the Mosque of Djinguereber constitute what is referred to as the University of Timbuktu.
In a number of generations, Mali was eclipsed by the Songhai empire of Askia Muhammad I (Askia the Great).
Painted rock art from Manding peoples are found largely in Mali, where Mandinka people and Bambara people peoples reside. The Manding rock art, developed using black, white, or red paint, is primarily composed of geometric artforms, as well as animal (e.g., ) and human artforms. Some of the Manding rock art may relate to circumcision rituals for initiates. During the 15th century CE, migrations from the northern area of Guinea and southern area of Mali may have resulted in the creation of Manding rock art in the northern area of Mali (e.g., Yobri, Nabruk), southeastern area of Burkina Faso (e.g., Takoutala, Sourkoundingueye), and Dogon country.
French colonisation of West Africa greatly affected the life of Mandé-speaking people. Constant wars with the French cost the lives of thousands of their soldiers. They relied increasingly on the Atlantic slave trade for revenues. The later creation of colonial boundaries by European powers divided the population. The Mandé-speaking people are still active in West African politics; Many individuals from Mandé-speaking ethnic groups have been elected as presidents in several states.
Existence amongst the Mandé-speaking peoples concerning conflict with other African ethnic groups has been exacerbated since the start of the 20th century. Because of desertification, they have been forced steadily southward in search of work and other resources. Frequently, the competition has resulted in fighting between them and other indigenous populations along the coast.
Many Mandé-speaking ethnic groups' cultures traditionally have castes of crafts people (including as blacksmiths, leatherworkers, potters, and woodworkers/woodcarvers) and bards (the latter being known in several European languages as griots). These craft and bardic castes are collectively called "nyamakala" among peoples of Manding branch of the Mandé-speaking family (Mandinka people), and "Nyaxamalo" among the Soninke people,
Mandé-influenced caste systems, and elements thereof, sometimes spread, due to Mande influences, to non-Mandé-speaking ethnic groups (in and near regions where Mande cultures settled) and were adopted by certain non-Mande peoples of Senegal, parts of Burkina Faso, northern Ghana, and elsewhere the Western Sudan and Western Sahel regions of West Africa. Among the non-Mande Wolof people, craft and bardic castes were collectively termed "nyeno".
With time, in many cases, status differences have eroded, corresponding to the economic fortunes of the groups. Although the Mandé arrived in many of their present locations as raiders or traders, they gradually adapted to their regions. In the 21st century, most work either as settled agriculturalists or nomadic fishermen. Some are skilled as , cattle herders, and or bards.
The epic is typically performed in two ways: one is intended for teaching or rehearsing, and the other is more official, intended to convey the important information to a large audience. Part of the teaching performance involves the presentation of gifts from clans involved in the epic. The official version can use a musical instrument; it does not allow audience interruptions. Different Mandé clans play different instruments in their performances of the epic.
The Kandasi also started a school for oral history.
According to oral histories, Mandé-speaking people, in particular the Soninke people ethnic group, contributed through trade and settlement to the Islamization of non-Mandé Gur languages groups at the edge of the Sahel in West Africa.
The bells on the necklaces are of the type believed to be heard by spirits, ringing in both worlds, that of the ancestors and the living. Mandé hunters often wear a single bell, which can be easily silenced when stealth is necessary. Women, on the other hand, often wear multiple bells, representative of concepts of community, since the bells ring harmoniously together.
Djenné-Djenno, an ancient city on the Niger River in central Mali built by Soninke-related peoples, is famous for its terracotta figurines which depict humans and animals including snakes and horses, some dating to the first millennium and early second millennium AD. It is believed that these statuettes served a ritual function and hypothesized that some are the representations of household or ancestral spirits, as ancestral cults are known to have flourished in the area as late as the 20th century.
The N'goni is the ancestor of the modern banjo, and is also played by jelis.
Griots are professional bards in northern West Africa, keepers of their great oral epic traditions and history. They are trusted and powerful advisors of Mandinka leaders. Among the most celebrated of these today are Toumani Diabate, Mamadou Diabate, and Kandia Kouyaté.
Literature
Mandé literature includes the Epic of Sundiata, an epic poem of the Mandinka people peoples (a branch of Mande family) recounting the rise of Sundiata Keita, the founder of the Mali Empire.Eric Charry, Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa (University of Chicago Press, 2000), pp. 40-41. Ethnomusicologist Eric Charry notes that these tales "form a vast body of Oral literature and written literature" ranging from Ibn Khaldun's 14th-century Arabic-language account to French colonial anthologies collecting local oral histories to modern recordings, transcriptions, translations, and performance. Tarikh al-Fattash and Tarikh al-Sudan are two important Timbuktu chronicles.Christopher Wise, Sorcery, Totem, and Jihad in African Philosophy (2017), pp. 44-45. By the late 1990s, there were reportedly 64 published versions of the Epic of Sunjata. Although traditionally attributed to Mahmud Kati, Tarikh al-Fattash was written by at least three different authors. Among the Mandé-speaking ethnic groups, such as the Mandinka people, Soninke people and Susu people, griots are a group, traditionally a specialized casteBarbara G. Hoffman, Griots at War: Conflict, Conciliation, and Caste in Mande (Indiana University Press, 2001)."Griot" in Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience (2d ed.; eds. Anthony Appiah & Henry Louis Gates: Vol. 3: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 78-79. who are , storytellers, and oral historians.Osita Okagbue, African Theatres and Performances'' (Taylor & Francis, 2013), p. 100.
Religion
Many of the Mandé-speaking ethnic groups in the westernmost part of West Africa have been predominantly Muslim since the 13th century. Others, such as the Bambara people, a Mandinka group, converted to Islam as late as the 19th century with some retaining their traditional beliefs. Muslim Mandinka also hold traditional beliefs, such as in the rituals of initiation groups like Chiwara, and Dwo, and beliefs in the power of nyama (a spiritual power existing in nature). Many smaller Mandé-speaking ethnic groups, such as the Bobo people, retain pre-Islamic belief systems in their entirety. Many Mandé-speaking groups in Sierra Leone and Liberia were also, for the most part, not islamized.
Arts
Much Mandé art is in the form of Jewellery and Carving. The masks associated with the fraternal and sorority associations of the Marka people and the Mendé are probably the best-known, and finely crafted in the region. The Mandé also produce beautifully woven fabrics which are popular throughout western Africa. They also create gold and silver necklaces, bracelets, armlets, and earrings. The Bambara people and related groups also traditionally produce wooden sculpture. And sculpture in wood, metal, and terra-cotta, have been found, associated with ancient peoples related to the Soninke in Mali.
Music
The best known type of traditional music amongst the Mandé-speaking people is played on the kora, a stringed instrument with 21 or more strings mainly associated by the Mandinka people. It is performed by families of musicians known in Mandinka as Jeliw (sing. Jeli), or in French as . The kora is a unique harp-lute with a notched wooden bridge. It is arguably the most complex chordophone of Africa.
See also
Bibliography
(2025). 9781588340986, Smithsonian Books. ISBN 9781588340986
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