Mandinka people explained

Group:Mandinka
Population: 11 million[1]
Region1: Guinea
Pop1:3,786,101 (29.4%)
Ref1:[2]
Region2: Mali
Pop2:1,772,102 (8.8%)
Ref2:[3]
Region3: Senegal
Pop3:900,617 (5.6%)
Ref3:[4]
Pop4:700,568 (34.4%)
Ref4:[5]
Region5: Ghana
Pop5:647,458 (2%)
Region6: Guinea-Bissau
Pop6:212,269 (14.7%)
Ref6:[6]
Region7: Liberia
Pop7:166,849 (3.2%)
Ref7:[7]
Region8: Sierra Leone
Pop8:160,080 (2.3%)
Ref8:[8]
Languages:
    Religions:Sunni Islam (Almost entirely)[9]
    Related:Other Mandé peoples, especially the Bambara, Dioula, Yalunka, and Khassonké

    The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, The Gambia, southern Senegal and eastern Guinea.[10] Numbering about 11 million,[11] [12] they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnic-linguistic groups in Africa. They speak the Manding languages in the Mande language family, which are a lingua franca in much of West Africa. Virtually all of Mandinka people are adherent to Islam, mostly based on the Maliki jurisprudence. They are predominantly subsistence farmers and live in rural villages. Their largest urban center is Bamako, the capital of Mali.[13]

    The Mandinka are the descendants of the Mali Empire, which rose to power in the 13th century under the rule of king Sundiata Keita, who founded an empire that would go on to span a large part of West Africa. They migrated west from the Niger River in search of better agricultural lands and more opportunities for conquest. Nowadays, the Mandinka inhabit the West Sudanian savanna region extending from The Gambia and the Casamance region in Senegal, Mali, Guinea and Guinea Bissau. Although widespread, the Mandinka constitute the largest ethnic group only in the countries of Mali, Guinea and The Gambia.[14] Most Mandinka live in family-related compounds in traditional rural villages. Their traditional society has featured socially stratified castes. Mandinka communities have been fairly autonomous and self-ruled, being led by a chief and group of elders. Mandinka has been an oral society, where mythologies, history and knowledge are verbally transmitted from one generation to the next.[15] Their music and literary traditions are preserved by a caste of griots, known locally as jelis, as well as guilds and brotherhoods like the donso (hunters).[16]

    Between the 16th and 19th centuries, many Muslim and non-Muslim Mandinka people, along with numerous other African ethnic groups, were captured, enslaved and shipped to the Americas. They intermixed with slaves and workers of other ethnicities, creating a Creole culture. The Mandinka people significantly influenced the African heritage of descended peoples now found in Brazil, the Southern United States and, to a lesser extent, the Caribbean.[17]

    History

    Origins

    The history of Mandinka, as with many Mandé peoples, begins with the Ghana Empire, also known as Wagadu. Mande hunters founded communities in Manden, which would become the political and cultural center of the Mandinka,[18] but also in Bambuk and the Senegal river valley. The Mande diaspora from Ghana extended from the Atlantic Ocean to Gao.[19]

    The mythical ancestors of the Malinké and the Bambara people are Kontron and Sanin, the founding "hunter brotherhood". Manden was famous for the large number of animals and game that it sheltered, as well as its dense vegetation, so was a very popular hunting ground. The Camara (or Kamara) are believed to be the oldest family to have lived in Manden, after having left Wagadou, due to drought. They founded the first village of Manding, Kiri, then Kirina, Siby, Kita. A very large number of families that make up the Mandinka community were born in Manden. Manding is the province from which the Mali Empire started, under the leadership of Sundiata Keita. The Manden were initially a part of many fragmented kingdoms that formed after the collapse of Ghana empire in the 11th century.

    Mali Empire

    See also: Mali Empire. 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. This expansion was a part of creating a region of conquest, according to the oral tradition of the Mandinka people. This migration began in the later part of the 13th century.[20]

    Another group of Mandinka people, under Faran Kamara – the son of the king of Tabou – expanded southeast of Mali, while a third group expanded with Fakoli Kourouma.[21]

    With the migration, many gold artisans and metal working Mandinka smiths settled along the coast and in the hilly Fouta Djallon and plateau areas of West Africa. Their presence and products attracted Mandika merchants and brought trading caravans from north Africa and the eastern Sahel, states Toby Green – a professor of African History and Culture. It also brought conflicts with other ethnic groups, such as the Wolof people, particularly the Jolof Empire.[20]

    The caravan trade to North Africa and Middle East brought Islamic people into Mandinka people's original and expanded home region.[22] 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 Ghana, for example, the Almoravids had divided its capital into two parts by 1077, one part was Muslim and the other non-Muslim. The Muslim influence from North Africa had arrived in the Mandinka region before this, via Islamic trading diasporas.[22]

    In 1324, Mansa Musa who ruled Mali, went on Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca with a caravan carrying gold. Shihab al-Umari, the Arabic historian, described his visit and stated that Musa built mosques in his kingdom, established Islamic prayers and took back Maliki school of Sunni jurists with him. 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.

    The Mandinka people of Mali converted early, but those who migrated to the west did not convert and retained their traditional religious rites. 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. Another legend gives a contrasting account, and states that Traore himself had converted and married Muhammad's granddaughter. The Traore's marriage with a Muhammad's granddaughter, states Toby Green, is fanciful, but these conflicting oral histories suggest that Islam had arrived well before the 13th century and had a complex interaction with the Mandinka people.[23]

    Through a series of conflicts, primarily with the Fula-led jihads under Imamate of Futa Jallon, many Mandinka converted to Islam.[24] [25] In contemporary West Africa, the Mandinka are predominantly Muslim, with a few regions where significant portions of the population are not Muslim, such as Guinea Bissau, where 35 percent of the Mandinka practice Islam, more than 20 percent are Christian, and 15 percent follow traditional beliefs.[26]

    Slavery

    Slave raiding, capture and trading in the Mandinka regions may have existed in significant numbers before the European colonial era,[20] as is evidenced in the memoirs of the 14th century Moroccan traveller and Islamic historian Ibn Battuta.[27] Slaves were part of the socially stratified Mandinka people, and several Mandinka language words, such as Jong or Jongo refer to slaves.[28] There were fourteen Mandinke kingdoms along the Gambia River in the Senegambia region during the early 19th century, for example, where slaves were a part of the social strata in all these kingdoms.[29]

    Slave shipment between 1501 and 1867, by region[30]
    Region Total embarked Total disembarked
    West central Africa5.69 million
    Bight of Benin2.00 million
    Bight of Biafra1.6 million
    Gold Coast1.21 million
    Windward Coast0.34 million
    Sierra Leone0.39 million
    Senegambia0.76 million
    Mozambique0.54 million
    Brazil (South America)4.7 million
    Rest of South America0.9 million
    Caribbean4.1 million
    North America0.4 million
    Europe0.01 million
    According to Toby Green, selling slaves along with gold was already a significant part of the trans-Saharan caravan trade across the Sahel between West Africa and the Middle East after the 13th century.[31] With the arrival of Portuguese explorers in Africa as they looked for a sea route to India, the European purchase of slaves had begun. The shipment of slaves by the Portuguese, primarily from the Jolof people, along with some Mandinka, started in the 15th century, states Green, but the earliest evidence of a trade involving Mandinka slaves is from and after 1497 CE.[32] In parallel with the start of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the institution of slavery and slave-trading of West Africans into the Mediterranean region and inside Africa continued as a historic normal practice.[32]

    Slavery grew significantly between the 16th and 19th centuries.[25] [33] The Portuguese considered slave sources in Guinea and Senegambia parts of Mandinka territory as belonging to them; their 16th to 18th-century slave trade-related documents refer to "our Guinea" and complain about slave traders from other European nations superseding them in the slave trade. Their slave exports from this region nearly doubled in the second half of the 18th century compared to the first, and most of these slaves disembarked in Brazil.[34]

    Scholars have offered several theories on the source of the transatlantic slave trade of Mandinka people. According to Boubacar Barry, a professor of History and African Studies, chronic violence between ethnic groups such as the Mandinka people and their neighbours, combined with weapons sold by slave traders and lucrative income from slave ships to the slave sellers, fed the practice of groups raiding for captives, conducting manhunts, and taking slaves.[35] The victimised ethnic group felt justified in retaliating. Slavery was already an accepted practice before the 15th century, when most enslaved people were taken on routes to North Africa and western Asia by Arab traders.

    As the demand grew, states Barry, Futa Jallon, led by an Islamic military theocracy, became one of the centers of this slavery-perpetuating violence. Farim of Kaabu (the commander of Mandinka people in Kaabu) energetically hunted for slaves on a large scale.[36] Martin Klein (a professor of African Studies) states that Kaabu was one of the early suppliers of African slaves to European merchants.[37]

    The historian Walter Rodney states that Mandinka and other ethnic groups already held slaves who had inherited slavery by birth, and who could be sold. The Islamic armies from Sudan had long established the practice of slave raids and trade. Fula jihad from Futa Jallon plateau perpetuated and expanded this practice.[38]

    These jihads captured the highest number of slaves to sell to Portuguese traders at the ports controlled by Mandinka people.[34] The insecure ethnic groups, states Rodney, stopped working productively and tried to withdraw for security, which made their social and economic conditions more desperate. Though less powerful, such groups also joined the retaliatory cycle of slave raids and violence.[39]

    Walter Hawthorne (a professor of African History) states that the Barry and Rodney explanation was not universally true for all of Senegambia and Guinea, where high concentrations of Mandinka people have traditionally lived.[34] Hawthorne says that numerous Mandinka were not exported to the various European colonies in North America, South America and the Caribbean until the period between the mid-18th through to the 19th century. During these years, slave trade records show that nearly 33% of the slaves from Senegambia and Guinea-Bissau coasts were Mandinka people.[34] Hawthorne suggests three causes of Mandinka people being taken captive as slaves during this era: small-scale jihads by Muslims against non-Muslim Mandinka, non-religious reasons such as the economic greed of Islamic elites who wanted imports of goods and tools from the coast, and attacks by the Fula people on the Mandinka's Kaabu, with consequent cycle of violence.[40]

    Wassoulou Empire

    See main article: Wassoulou Empire.

    Economy

    In the 21st century, the Mandinka continue as rural subsistence farmers who rely on peanuts, rice, millet, maize, and small-scale husbandry for their livelihood. During the wet season, men plant peanuts as their main cash crop. Men also grow millet. The women grow rice (traditionally, African rice), tending the plants by hand.[41] This is extremely labour-intensive and physically demanding work. Only about 50% of the rice consumption needs are met by local planting; the rest is imported from Asia and the United States.[41]

    The oldest male is the head of the family, and marriages are commonly arranged. Small mud houses with conical thatch or tin roofs make up their villages, which are organised on the basis of clan groups. While farming is the predominant profession among the Mandinka, men also work as tailors, butchers, taxi drivers, woodworkers, metalworkers, soldiers, nurses, and extension workers for aid agencies.

    Religion

    Today, most Mandinka people practice Islam.[42] [43]

    Some Mandinka syncretise Islam and traditional African religions. Among these syncretists, it is believed that spirits can be controlled mainly through the power of a marabout, who knows the protective formulas. In most cases, the people do not make important decisions without first consulting a marabout. 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.

    The conversion of the Mandinka to Islam took place over many centuries. According to Robert Wyndham Nicholls, Mandinka in Senegambia started converting to Islam as early as the 17th century, and most of Mandinka leatherworkers there converted to Islam before the 19th century. Mandinka musicians, however, were last, converting to Islam mostly in the first half of the 20th century. As in other locales, these Muslims have continued some of their pre-Islamic religious practices as well, such as their annual rain ceremony and "sacrifice of the black bull" to their past deities.[44]

    Society and culture

    Most Mandinka live in family-related compounds in traditional rural villages. Mandinka villages are fairly autonomous and self-ruled, being led by a council of upper-class elders and a chief who functions as a first among equals.

    Family and political organisation

    In Mandinka society the lu (extended family) is the basic unit, and is led by a fa (family head) who manages relations with other fa. A dugu (village) is formed by a collection of lu, and the dugu is led by the fa of the most important lu, aided by the dugu-tigi (village head or fa of the first lu that settled there). A group of dugu-tigi form a kafu (confederation) headed by a kafu-tigi. The Keita clan initially held the status of kafu-tigi before Sundiata's expansion and the creation of the mansa (king/emperor).[45]

    Social stratification

    The Mandinka people have traditionally been a socially stratified society, as are many West African ethnic groups with castes.[46] [47] The Mandinka society, states Arnold Hughes, a professor of West African Studies and African Politics, has been "divided into three endogamous castes – the freeborn (foro), slaves (jongo), and artisans and praise singers (nyamolo).[48] The freeborn castes are primarily farmers. The enslaved strata included labor providers to the farmers, as well as leather workers, pottery makers, metal smiths, griots, and others.[14]

    The Mandinka Muslim clerics and scribes have traditionally been considered a separate occupational caste called Jakhanke, with their Islamic roots traceable to about the 13th century.[49] [50]

    The Mandinka castes are hereditary, and marriages outside the caste was forbidden.[14] Their caste system is similar to those of other ethnic groups of the African Sahel region.[51] These castes are also common across Mandinka communities such as those in The Gambia,[52] Mali, Guinea, and other countries.[53] [54]

    Rites of passage

    The Mandinka practice a rite of passage, kuyangwoo, which marks the beginning of adulthood for their children. At an age between four and fourteen, the youngsters have their genitalia ritually cut (see articles on male and female genital cutting), in separate groups according to their sex. 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.

    During this time, they learn about their adult social responsibilities and rules of behaviour. Preparation is made in the village or compound for the return of the children. A celebration marks the return of these new adults to their families. 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.

    Female genital mutilation

    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." According to UNICEF, the female genital mutilation prevalence rates among the Mandinka of The Gambia is the highest at over 96%, followed by FGM among the women of the Jola people at 91%, and Fula people at 88%.[55]

    Among the Mandinka women of some other countries of West Africa, the FGM prevalence rates are lower, but still range between 40% and 90%.[56] [57] This cultural practice, locally called Niaka or Kuyungo or Musolula Karoola or Bondo,[58] involves the partial or total removal of the clitoris, or alternatively, the partial or total removal of the labia minora with the clitoris.[55]

    Some surveys, such as those by the Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices (GAMCOTRAP), estimate FGM is prevalent among 100% of the Mandinka in Gambia.[55] 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.[55]

    Marriage

    Marriages are traditionally arranged by family members rather than by either the bride or groom. This practice is particularly prevalent in the rural areas. The suitor's family formally sends Kola nuts, a bitter nut from a tree, to the male elders of the bride-to-be. If they accept the nuts, the courtship may begin.

    Polygamy has been practiced among the Mandinka since pre-Islamic days. A Mandinka man is legally allowed to have up to four wives, as long as he is able to care for each of them equally. Mandinka believe the crowning glory of any woman is the ability to produce children, especially sons. The first wife has authority over any subsequent wives. The husband has complete control over his wives and is responsible for feeding and clothing them. He also helps the wives' parents when necessary. Wives are expected to live together in harmony, at least superficially. They share work responsibilities of the compound, such as cooking, laundry, and other tasks.

    Music

    Mandinka culture is rich in tradition, music, and spiritual ritual. The Mandinka continue a long oral history tradition through stories, songs, and proverbs. In rural areas, the influence of western education is minimal; the literacy rate in Latin script among these Mandinka is quite low. But, more than half the adult population can read the local Arabic script (including Mandinka Ajami). Small Qur'anic schools for children where this is taught are quite common. Mandinka children are given their name on the eighth day after their birth. The children are almost always named after a very important person in their family.

    The Mandinka have a rich oral history that is passed down through sung versions by griots . This passing down of oral history through music has made the practice of music one of the most distinctive traits of the Mandinka. They have long been known for their drumming and also for their unique musical instrument, the kora. The kora is a twenty-one-stringed West African harp made from a halved, dried, hollowed-out gourd covered with cow or goat skin. The strings are made of fishing line (these were traditionally made from a cow's tendons). It is played to accompany a griot's singing or simply on its own.

    A Mandinka religious and cultural site under consideration for World Heritage status is located in Guinea at Gberedou/Hamana.[59]

    The kora

    The kora has become the hallmark of traditional Mandinka musicians". The kora with its 21 strings is made from half a calabash, covered with cow's hide fastened on by decorative tacks. The kora has sound holes in the side which are used to store coins offered to the praise singers, in appreciation of their performance. The praise singers are called jalibaas or jalis in Mandinka.[60]

    In literature and other media

    Notable people

    Burkina Faso

    The Gambia

    Guinea

    Guinea Bissau

    Ivory Coast

    Liberia

    Mali

    Senegal

    Sierra Leone

    Togo

    United States

    See also

    Further reading

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: PGGPopulation . www.pggpopulation.org . Partner Institute for Computational Biology (PICB) . 22 December 2019 . 2017.
    2. Web site: Africa: Guinea The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency . www.cia.gov . 22 December 2019 . 2019.
    3. Web site: Africa: Mali - The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency . www.cia.gov . 1 May 2021 . 27 April 2021.
    4. Web site: Africa: Senegal The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency . www.cia.gov . 22 December 2019 . 2019.
    5. Web site: 2013 Population and Housing Census: Spatial Distribution . The Republic of The Gambia . National Population Commission Secretariat . April 30, 2005 . Gambia Bureau of Statistics . December 29, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180103134831/https://www.gbos.gov.gm/uploads/census/2013/Spatial-distribution-report_%20Final.pdf . 3 January 2018 . live . dmy-all.
    6. Web site: Recenseamento Geral da População e Habitação 2009 Características Socioculturais . 28 March 2020 . Instituto Nacional de Estatística Guiné-Bissau. dmy .
    7. Web site: Africa: Liberia The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency . www.cia.gov . 22 December 2019 . 2019.
    8. Web site: Sierra Leone 2015 Population and Housing Census National Analytical Report . 28 March 2020 . Statistics Sierra Leone. dmy.
    9. Web site: Mandinka Tribe- 10 Interesting Details About This West African ethnic Group . 10 June 2021 .
    10. Book: Olson. James Stuart. The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. Meur. Charles. 1996. Greenwood Publishing Group. 978-0-313-27918-8. en.
    11. Book: Nicholls, Robert Wyndham. The Jumbies' Playing Ground: Old World Influences on Afro-Creole Masquerades in the Eastern Caribbean. 2012-09-14. Univ. Press of Mississippi. 978-1-4968-0118-0. en.
    12. Book: Mendy, Peter Michael Karibe . Historical dictionary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau . 2013 . Richard A. Lobban Jr . Scarecrow Press . 978-0-8108-8027-6 . Fourth . Lanham . 861559444.
    13. Book: James Stuart Olson. The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. 1996. Greenwood . 978-0-313-27918-8. 366–367.
    14. Book: Anthony Appiah. Henry Louis Gates. Encyclopedia of Africa. 2010. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-533770-9. 135–136.
    15. History in Africa. 5. 1978. 257–271. Koli Tengela in Sonko Traditions of Origin: an Example of the Process of Change in Mandinka Oral Tradition. Donald Wright. Cambridge University Press. 10.2307/3171489. 3171489. 162959732.
    16. Book: Pettersson . Anders . Lindberg-Wada . Gunilla . Petersson . Margareta . Helgesson . Stefan . Literary History: Towards a Global Perspective . 2006 . Walter de Gruyter . 978-3-11-018932-2 . 271 . en.
    17. Matt Schaffer. Bound to Africa: The Mandingo Legacy in the New World . History in Africa . 32 . 2005. 321–369 . June 1, 2016 . 10.1353/hia.2005.0021. 52045769 ., Quote: "The identification of Mande influence in the South [United States], the Caribbean and Brazil, must also be conditioned with a huge reality—ethnic diversity. Slaves from hundreds of ethnic groups from all over Africa came into the South and the rest of the Americas along with the Mandinka/Mande."
    18. Web site: Mandingue. 2021-06-16. Cultures d'Afrique de l'Ouest. fr-FR.
    19. Book: Fall . Mamadou . Fall . Mamadou . Fall . Rokhaya . Mane . Mamadou . Bipolarisation du Senegal du XVIe - XVIIe siécle . 2021 . HGS Editions . Dakar . 14–39 . French . Les Terroirs Historiques et la Poussée Soninké.
    20. Book: Toby Green. The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300–1589. 2011. Cambridge University Press. 978-1-139-50358-7. 35–38.
    21. Book: Michelle Apotsos. Architecture, Islam, and Identity in West Africa: Lessons from Larabanga. 2016. Routledge. 978-1-317-27555-8. 52–53, 63–64, 91–94, 112–113.
    22. Book: Green. The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300–1589. 2011. 9781139503587. 38–39. Cambridge University Press .
    23. Book: Green. The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300–1589. 2011. 9781139503587. 41–42. Cambridge University Press .
    24. Book: Matt Schaffer. Djinns, Stars, and Warriors: Mandinka Legends from Pakao, Senegal. 2003. BRILL Academic. 90-04-13124-8. 3–6, 17.
    25. Book: Walter Hawthorne. From Africa to Brazil: Culture, Identity and an Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600–1830. 2010. Cambridge University Press. 978-1-139-78876-2. 65–72.
    26. Book: Peter Karibe Mendy. Richard A. Lobban Jr.. Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau. 17 October 2013. Scarecrow Press. 978-0-8108-8027-6. 234. Islam is the predominant religion in Guinea-Bissau practiced by 35.1 percent of the population, compared to 22.1 percent of the population who adhere to the faith of Christianity and 14.9 percent who follow traditional beliefs..
    27. Book: Michael Brett. Approaching African History. 2013. Wiley. 978-1-84701-063-6. 185–187.
    28. Book: Donald R. Wright. Oral Traditions from the Gambia: Mandinka griots. 1979. Ohio University Center for International Studies, Africa Program. 978-0-89680-083-0. 59 with note 17.
    29. Book: David Perfect. Historical Dictionary of The Gambia. 2016. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 978-1-4422-6526-4. 5.
    30. David Eltis and David Richardson (2015), Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 2nd Edition, Yale University Press, ; Archive: Slave Route Maps, see Map 9; The transatlantic slave trade volume over the 350+ years involved an estimated 12.5 million Africans, almost every country that bordered the Atlantic ocean, as well as Mozambique and the Swahili coast.
    31. Book: Toby Green. The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300–1589. 2011. Cambridge University Press. 978-1-139-50358-7. 37–39, 70.
    32. Book: Green. The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300–1589. 2011. 9781139503587. 81–83 with footnotes.
    33. Book: Green. The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300–1589. 2011. 9781139503587. 106–108, 226–234.
    34. Book: Walter Hawthorne. From Africa to Brazil: Culture, Identity, and an Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600–1830. 2010. Cambridge University Press. 978-1-139-78876-2. 61–64.
    35. Book: Boubacar Barry. Senegambia and the Atlantic Slave Trade. 1998. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-59226-0. 81–83.
    36. Book: Barry. Senegambia and the Atlantic Slave Trade. 1998. 9780521597609. 16–21, 36, 42–45, 92, 114–117, 148–149.
    37. Book: Martin A. Klein. Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa. 1998. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-59678-7. 37–50.
      Quote: "Kaabu, for example, began as a Malian colony that provided sea salt and other coastal products to the Mandinka heartland, but it moved early into supplying slaves to European merchants". (p. 39)
    38. Walter Rodney (1968), "Jihad and Social Revolution in Futa Djalon in the Eighteenth Century", Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, Volume 4, Number 2, pp. 269–284.
    39. Rodney . Walter . African Slavery and other Forms of Social Oppression on the Upper Guinea Coast in the Context of the Atlantic Slave-Trade . The Journal of African History . Cambridge University Press . 7 . 3 . 1966 . 431–443 . 10.1017/s0021853700006514 . 162649628 . Accessed 2016-11-04.
    40. Book: Walter Hawthorne. From Africa to Brazil: Culture, Identity, and an Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600–1830. 2010. Cambridge University Press. 978-1-139-78876-2. 67–73.
    41. Schaffer, Matt (2003). Djinns, Stars, and Warriors: Mandinka Legends from Pakao, Senegal. Leiden: Springer-Brill. p. 6.
    42. Sundiata of Mali . Logon . Roberta A. . Calliope . 17 . 9 . 34–38 . May 2007.
    43. Mandingo Kingdoms of the Senegambia: Traditionalism, Islam and European Expansion . Quinn . Charlotte A. . The American Historical Review . 78 . 5 . 1506–1507 . December 1973 . 10.2307/1854194 . 1854194.
    44. Book: Robert Wyndham Nicholls. The Jumbies' Playing Ground: Old World Influences on Afro-Creole Masquerades in the Eastern Caribbean . 2012. University Press of Mississippi. 978-1-4968-0118-0. 168.
    45. Book: Cannos-Donnay, Sirio . Oxford Research Encyclopedia: African History . Mali Empire . 2019 .
    46. Tal Tamari. 1991. The Development of Caste Systems in West Africa. The Journal of African History. 32. 2. 221–250. Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/s0021853700025718. 182616. 162509491. "[Castes] are found among the Soninke, the various Manding-speaking populations, the Wolof, Tukulor, Senufo, Minianka, Dogon, Songhay and most Fulani, Moorish and Tuareg populations"..
    47. Book: Patricia McKissack. Fredrick McKissack. The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa . March 2016. Macmillan. 978-1-250-11351-1. 66–68, 22–23.
    48. Book: Arnold Hughes. Harry Gailey. Historical Dictionary of The Gambia, 3rd Edition. 1999. Scarecrow. 978-0-8108-3660-0. 141.
    49. Book: Zachary Valentine Wright. Living Knowledge in West African Islam . 2015. BRILL Academic. 978-90-04-28946-8. 63–68.
    50. Book: Elisabeth Boesen. Laurence Marfaing. Les nouveaux urbains dans l'espace Sahara-Sahel: un cosmopolitisme par le bas. 2007. Paris: KARTHALA. 978-2-84586-951-6. 243 with footnote 7., Quote: "The Jakhanke, who now primarily speak Mandinka, have formed a specialized caste of Muslim clerics and educators since approximately the 13th century".
    51. John Shoup . The Griot Tradition in Ḥassāniyya Music: The "Īggāwen". 2007. Quaderni di Studi Arabi . 95–102. 2. 25803021., Quote: "The general organization of the society into castes is shared with Sahelian peoples such as the Mandinka, Wolof, (...)"
    52. Social organization and political factionalism: PHC in The Gambia. KABBIR CHAM. CAROL MACCORMACK. ABDOULAI TOURAY . SUSAN BALDEH. Health Policy and Planning. 2. 3. 1987. 214–226. 10.1093/heapol/2.3.214.
    53. Book: Barbara G. Hoffman. Griots at War: Conflict, Conciliation, and Caste in Mande. 2001. Indiana University Press. 0-253-10893-4. 9–11.
    54. Book: Nicholas S. Hopkins. 1971. Mandinka Social Organization. Papers on the Manding, African Series. 3. C. T. Hodge. 99–128. Indiana University Press.
    55. http://www.unicef.org/wcaro/wcaro_GAM_brief_FGM_feb2010.pdf Accelerating the Abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) in The Gambia
    56. Book: US State Department. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009. Government Printing Office. 554–555.
    57. [Berhane Ras-Work]
    58. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/513205/MultiAgencyPracticeGuidelinesNov14.pdf Multi-Agency Practice Guidelines: Female Genital Mutilation
    59. Web site: Architecture vernaculaire et paysage culturel mandingue du Gberedou/Hamana - UNESCO World Heritage Centre . whc.unesco.org . 2009-04-12.
    60. Web site: Traditional music in Gambia. 2015-05-29. Music In Africa. en. 2019-01-25.
    61. Web site: The Real Meaning Behind Mandinka by Sinéad O'Connor . 10 August 2023 .
    62. Mentioned in a number of interviews, including Mr. T: Pity The Fool, allhiphop.com, Published 9 November 2006. Mr. T gives a 1977 date, for an article with photos on the Mandinka in Mali. National Geographic Magazines index has no record of such an article. http://publicationsindex.nationalgeographic.com/ .
    63. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv0m1YzRu4M Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool!
    64. http://allhiphop.com/2006/11/09/mr-t-pity-the-fool/ Mr. T: Pity The Fool

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