Mandé peoples

The Mandé peoples are a linguistic grouping of those African nations who speak Mande languages. They are not a coherent ethnic or cultural group. The various Mandé-speaking nations are concentrated in the western regions of West Africa.

Mandé peoples

Regions with significant populations
Mali	Unknown
Guinea	Unknown
Senegal	Unknown
Côte d'Ivoire	Unknown
Burkina Faso	Unknown
Sierra Leone	Unknown
Liberia	Unknown
Mauritania	Unknown
The Gambia	Unknown
Languages
Mande languages
Religion
Predominantly Islam, traditional African religions
Related ethnic groups
Fula, Songhai, Wolof, Hausa, Gur

The Mandinka 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 and Susu, as well as smaller ones such as the Ligbi, Vai, and Bissa. 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, Macina, 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, Songhai, Wolof, Hausa, and Voltaic peoples share a similar culture with Mandé-speaking peoples.^{[citation needed]}

History

Central Sahara

After the Kel Essuf Period and Round Head Period of the Central Sahara, the Pastoral Period followed. Some of the hunter-gatherers who created the Round Head rock art may have adopted pastoral culture, and others may have not. As a result of increasing aridification of the Green Sahara, Central Saharan hunter-gatherers and cattle herders may have used seasonal waterways as the migratory route taken to the Niger River and Chad Basin of West Africa. In 4000 BCE, the start of sophisticated social structure (e.g., trade of cattle as valued assets) developed among herders amid the Pastoral Period of the Sahara. Saharan pastoral culture was intricate, as evidenced by fields of tumuli, lustrous stone rings, axes, and other remnants. By 1800 BCE, Saharan pastoral culture expanded throughout the Saharan and Sahelian regions. The initial stages of sophisticated social structure among Saharan herders served as the segue for the development of sophisticated hierarchies found in African settlements, such as Dhar Tichitt.

West African sites with archaeobotanical remains from third to first millennium cal bc. The arrows indicate directions of pearl millet diffusion into sub-Saharan West Africa, including 21. Tichitt region sites.

Tichitt culture

After migrating from the Central Sahara, proto-Mande peoples established their civilization in the Tichitt region of the Western Sahara. The Tichitt Tradition of southeastern Mauritania dates from 2200 BCE to 200 BCE. Tichitt culture at Dhar Néma, Dhar Tagant, Dhar Tichitt, and Dhar Walata included a four-tiered hierarchal social structure, farming of cereals, metallurgy, numerous funerary tombs, and a rock art tradition. At Dhar Tichitt and Dhar Walata, pearl millet may have also been independently tamed amid the Neolithic. Dhar Tichitt, which includes Dakhlet el Atrouss, may have served as the primary regional center for the multi-tiered hierarchical social structure of the Tichitt Tradition, and the Malian Lakes Region, which includes Tondidarou, may have served as a second regional center of the Tichitt Tradition. The urban Tichitt Tradition may have been the earliest large-scale, complexly organized society in West Africa, and an early civilization of the Sahara, which may have served as the segue for state formation in West Africa.

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 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 tuyeres 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.

Tichitt Tradition rock art depicting cart, with long platform, framed by two wheels

Djenné-Djenno

The civilization of Djenné-Djenno was located in the Niger River valley in Mali and is considered to be among the oldest urbanized centres and the best-known archaeological sites in Sub-Saharan Africa. The site is located about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) away from the modern town of Djenné and is believed to have been involved in long-distance trade and possibly the domestication of African rice. The site is believed to exceed 33 hectares (82 acres). The city is believed to have been abandoned and moved to its current location due to the spread of Islam and the building of the Great Mosque of Djenné. Towns similar to Djenné-Jeno also developed at the site of Dia, also in Mali along the Niger River, from around 900 BC. Considerable commonalities, absent in modern North African cultures, are present and able to be found between Round Head paintings and modern Sub-Saharan African cultures. Modern Saharan ceramics are viewed as having clear likenesses with the oldest ceramics found in Djenné-Djenno, which have been dated to 250 BCE. The egalitarian civilization of Djenné-Djenno was likely established by the Mande progenitors of the Bozo people, which spanned from 3rd century BCE to 13th century CE.

13th–15th century female terracotta figure covered with red ochre

Ghana Empire

Since around 1500 BCE, a number of clans of proto-Soninke descent, one of the oldest branches of Mandé-speaking peoples, came together under the leadership of . The nation comprised a confederation of three independent, freely allied, states (Mali, Mema, and Wagadou) and 12 garrisoned provinces. Located midway between the desert, the main source of salt, and the gold fields of the upper Senegal River to the south, the confederation had a good location to take advantage of trade with the surrounding cities. They traded with the north by a coastal route leading to Morocco via Sijilmasa.

Ghanaian society included large pastoral and agricultural communities. Its commercial class was the most prosperous. The Soninke merchants of Ghana 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 Kumbi 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. 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 (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 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.

Mali Empire

Sankore Mosque

The most renowned Emperor of Mali was Sundiata's grandson, Mansa Musa (1307–1332), also known as “Kan Kan Mussa" or "The Lion of Mali". His pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 quite literally put Mali on the European map. He took 60,000 porters with him, each carrying 3 kg of pure gold (180 tons in total, according to the UNESCO General History of Africa). He had so much gold that when he stopped in Egypt, the Egyptian currency lost some of its value. According to Cairo-born historian al-Maqurizi, "the members of his entourage proceeded to buy Turkish and 'Ethiopian' slave girls, singing girls and garments, so that the rate of the gold dinar fell by six dirhams." Consequently, the names of Mali and Timbuktu were shown on the 14th-century world map.

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).^{[citation needed]}

Post-Songhai

Following the fall of the great Empires of the Northern Mandé-speaking people (Mandinka and Soninke ethnic groups), the presence of other Mandé-speaking people came about. These were the Mane, Southern Mandé speakers (Mende, Gbandi, Kpelle, Loma ethnic groups) who invaded the western coast of Africa from the east during the first half of the 16th century. Their origin was apparent in their dress and weapons (which were observed at the time by Europeans), their language, as well as in Mane tradition, recorded about 1625. The Mane advanced parallel to the coastline of modern Liberia, fighting in turn with each tribal group that they came across. They were almost invariably successful. They did not slow until encountering the Susu, another Mande people, in the north-west of what is now Sierra Leone. The Susu had similar weapons, military organization and tactics.^{[citation needed]}

Painted rock art from Manding peoples are found largely in Mali, where Malinke and Bambara 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., saurian) 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Culture

Mandé-speaking ethnic groups typically have patrilineal kinship system and patriarchal society. Several Mandé tribes practice Islam, like the Mandinka and Soninke (though often mixed with indigenous beliefs), and usually observe ritual washing and the daily prayers of Islam. Their women wear veils. The Mandinka in particular practice the social concept of sanankuya or "joking relationship" among clans.

Secret societies

Amongst the Mende, Kpelle, Gbandi and Loma Mandé-speaking ethnic groups of Sierra Leone and Liberia, there exists secret fraternal orders and sororities, known as Poro and Sande, or Bundu, respectively based on ancient traditions believed to have emerged about 1000 CE. These govern the internal order of their society, with important rites of passage and entry into the gender societies as boys and girls come of age in puberty.

Caste system

Amongst specific Mandé-speaking ethnic groups, such as the Mandinka, Soninke and Susu, there traditionally exists a caste-based system. Amongst these Mandé-speaking ethnic groups' societies are hierarchies or "caste"-based systems, with nobility and vassals. There were also serfs (Jonw/Jong(o)), often prisoners or captives taken in warfare, and usually from competitors of their territory. The descendants of former kings and generals had a higher status than both their nomadic and more settled compatriots.

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 blacksmiths, cattle herders, and griots or bards.

Fadenya

Fadenya or “father-childness” is a word used by the Manding, a Mandé-speaking people (e.g., Mandinka), originally to describe the tensions between half-brothers with the same father and different mothers. The concept of fadenya has been stretched and is often used to describe the political and social dynamism of the Mandé world. Fadenya is often discussed in contrast to badenya, or mother-childness.

Oral tradition

Amongst the Mandinka, Soninke and Susu Mandé-speaking ethnic groups' cultures, history is passed orally, one famous instance being the Epic of Sundiata of the Mandinka. Among the Mandinka, and some closely related groups, teaching centers known as kumayoro teach the oral histories and techniques under keepers of tradition known as nyamankala. These nyamankala form an important part of Mandinka culture due to their role in preserving oral tradition. Kela school, the most notable, is vital in perpetuating oral tradition. Because of their strong work, the versions of the Sundiata epic tend to be fairly similar. The Kela version is considered the official one, and the epic is performed every seven years. The Kela version includes a written document called a tariku. This intersection of written and oral history is unique to Mandinka culture.

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.

Literature

Mandé literature includes the Epic of Sundiata, an epic poem of the Manding peoples (a branch of Mande family) recounting the rise of Sundiata Keita, the founder of the Mali Empire.Ethnomusicologist Eric Charry notes that these tales "form a vast body of oral 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. 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, Soninke and Susu, griots are a group, traditionally a specialized caste who are bards, storytellers, and oral historians.

Religion

A 13th-century mosque in northern Ghana attributed to the Wangara.

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, 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 , and beliefs in the power of nyama (a spiritual power existing in nature). Many smaller Mandé-speaking ethnic groups, such as the Bobo, 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.

According to oral histories, Mandé-speaking people, in particular the Soninke ethnic group, contributed through trade and settlement to the Islamization of non-Mandé Gur groups at the edge of the Sahel in West Africa.

Arts

Much Mandé art is in the form of jewelry and carvings. The masks associated with the fraternal and sorority associations of the Marka 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

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 griots. The kora is a unique harp-lute with a notched wooden bridge. It is arguably the most complex chordophone of Africa.^{[citation needed]}

The N'goni is the ancestor of the modern banjo, and is also played by jelis.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Griot
• Djembe
• N'goni
• Kora (instrument)
• List of Mandé peoples of Africa
• Mande Studies Association
• Mande languages
• Tichitt Culture
• Ghana Empire
• Djenne-Djenno
• Mali Empire
• Sosso Empire
• Bambara Kingdom
• Kaabu Empire
• Wassoulou Empire
• Kong Empire
• Borgu Emirate
• Gwiriko
• Manneh Warriors
• Nyamakala
• Fadenya
• Sofa Soldiers

References

1. Soukopova, Jitka (August 2017). "Central Saharan rock art: Considering the kettles and cupules". Journal of Arid Environments. 143: 10–14. Bibcode:2017JArEn.143...10S. doi:10.1016/J.JARIDENV.2016.12.011. ISSN 0140-1963. OCLC 7044514678. S2CID 132225521.
2. Soukopova, Jitka (September 2015). "Tassili Paintings: Ancient roots of current African beliefs?". Expression: 116–120. ISSN 2499-1341.
3. Soukopova, Jitka (2020). "Rain and rock art in the Sahara: a possible interpretation". Expression: 79–90. ISSN 2499-1341.
4. Brass, Michael (June 2019). "The Emergence of Mobile Pastoral Elites during the Middle to Late Holocene in the Sahara". Journal of African Archaeology. 17 (1): 3. doi:10.1163/21915784-20190003. OCLC 8197260980. S2CID 198759644.
5. Brass, Michael (2007). "Reconsidering the emergence of social complexity in early Saharan pastoral societies, 5000 – 2500 B.C." Sahara (Segrate, Italy). 18. Sahara (Segrate): 7–22. ISSN 1120-5679. OCLC 6923202386. PMC 3786551. PMID 24089595. S2CID 13912749.
6. Abd-El-Moniem, Hamdi Abbas Ahmed (May 2005). A New Recording Of Mauritanian Rock Art (PDF). University of London. p. 221. OCLC 500051500. S2CID 130112115.
7. Kea, Ray (26 November 2004). "Expansions and Contractions: World-Historical Change And The Western Sudan World-System (1200/1000 B.C. – 1200/1250 A.D.)". Journal of World-Systems Research. X (3): 738–740. doi:10.5195/JWSR.2004.286. ISSN 1076-156X. S2CID 147397386.
8. McDougall, E. Ann (2019). "Saharan Peoples and Societies". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. Oxford Research Encyclopedias. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.285. ISBN 978-0-19-027773-4. S2CID 159184437.
9. Holl, Augustin F.C. (2009). "Coping with uncertainty: Neolithic life in the Dhar Tichitt-Walata, Mauritania, (ca. 4000–2300 BP)". Comptes Rendus Geoscience. 341 (8–9): 703. Bibcode:2009CRGeo.341..703H. doi:10.1016/j.crte.2009.04.005. ISSN 1631-0713. OCLC 5900121710. S2CID 128545688.
10. MacDonald, K.; Vernet, R. (2007). "Early domesticated pearl millet in Dhar Nema (Mauritania): evidence of crop processing waste as ceramic temper". Fields of Change: Progress in African Archaeobotany. Barkhuis. pp. 71–72. ISBN 9789077922309. OCLC 309688961. S2CID 130234059.
11. Kay, Andrea U. (2019). "Diversification, Intensification and Specialization: Changing Land Use in Western Africa from 1800 BC to AD 1500". Journal of World Prehistory. 32 (2): 179–228. doi:10.1007/s10963-019-09131-2. hdl:10261/181848. ISSN 0892-7537. OCLC 8112065264. S2CID 134223231.
12. Sterry, Martin; Mattingly, David J. (26 March 2020). "Pre-Islamic Oasis Settlements in the Southern Sahara". Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond. Cambridge University Press. p. 318. doi:10.1017/9781108637978.008. ISBN 9781108494441. OCLC 1128066278. S2CID 243375056.
13. Champion, Louis; et al. (2021). "Agricultural diversification in West Africa: an archaeobotanical study of the site of Sadia (Dogon Country, Mali)". Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. 13 (4): 60. doi:10.1007/s12520-021-01293-5. PMC 7937602. PMID 33758626.
14. Linares-Matás, Gonzalo J. (13 April 2022). "Spatial Organization and Socio-Economic Differentiation at the Dhar Tichitt Center of Dakhlet el Atrouss I (Southeastern Mauritania)". African Archaeological Review. 39 (2): 167–188. doi:10.1007/s10437-022-09479-5. ISSN 1572-9842. OCLC 9530792981. S2CID 248132575.
15. Vernet, Robert; Gestrich, Nikolas; Coutros, Peter R. (27 September 2023). "The Tichitt Culture and the Malian Lakes Region". African Archaeological Review. doi:10.1007/s10437-023-09554-5.
16. MacDonald, Kevin C.; Vernet, Robert; Martinon-Torres, Marcos; Fuller, Dorian Q (April 2009). "Dhar Néma: From early agriculture to metallurgy in southeastern Mauritania". Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 44 (1): 3–4, 42. doi:10.1080/00671990902811330. ISSN 0067-270X. OCLC 4901241515. S2CID 111618144.
17. MacDonald, K.C. (April 2011). "Betwixt Tichitt and the IND: the pottery of the Faita Facies, Tichitt Tradition". Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 46: 49, 51, 54, 56–57, 59–60. doi:10.1080/0067270X.2011.553485. ISSN 0067-270X. OCLC 4839360348. S2CID 161938622.
18. Arazi, Noemie. "Tracing History in Dia, in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali -Archaeology, Oral Traditions and Written Sources" (PDF). University College London. Institute of Archaeology.
19. Soukopova, Jitka (Jan 16, 2013). Round Heads: The Earliest Rock Paintings in the Sahara. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443845793.
20. Vydrin, Valentin (2018). "Mande Languages". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.397. ISBN 978-0-19-938465-5.
21. Lewicki (1988:p.160-61; 1992: p.308-09)
22. UNESCO General History of Africa, Volume IV, pp. 197–200
23. Peters, Michael A. (2019). "Ancient centers of higher learning: A bias in the comparative history of the university?". Educational Philosophy and Theory. 51 (11): 1063–1072. doi:10.1080/00131857.2018.1553490. S2CID 149851763.
24. Alemu, Sintayehu Kassaye. "The Meaning, Idea And History Of University/Higher Education In Africa: A Brief Literature Review" (PDF). Institution of Education Sciences. FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education.
25. Huysecom, Eric; Marchi, Séverine. "Western African Rock Art". ResearchGate. Altamira Press, Sage Publications Inc.
26. Leslie M Alexander; Walter C. Rucker Jr. (2010). Encyclopedia of African American History. ABC-CLIO. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-1-85109-774-6.
27. Anthony Appiah; Henry Louis Gates (2010). Encyclopedia of Africa. Oxford University Press. p. 532. ISBN 978-0-19-533770-9.
28. Tamari, Tal (1991). "The Development of Caste Systems in West Africa". The Journal of African History. 32 (2). Cambridge University Press (CUP): 221–250. doi:10.1017/s0021853700025718. S2CID 162509491.
29. Charles Bird; Martha Kendall; Kalilou Tera (1995). David C. Conrad and Barbara E. Frank (ed.). Status and Identity in West Africa: Nyamakalaw of Mande. Indiana University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0253209290.
30. Jansen, Jan (1995). "Kinship as Political Discourse: The Representation of Harmony and Change in Mande". Younger Brother in Mande: Kinship and Politics in West Africa (1-7)
31. Bird, Charles S.; Martha B. Kendell (1980). "The Mande Hero: Text and Context". In Ivan Karp; Charles S. Bird (eds.). Explorations in African Systems of Thought. Indiana University Press. pp. 13–26. Reprinted as Ivan Karp; Charles S. Bird, eds. (1987). Explorations in African Systems of Thought. Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 978-0-87474-591-7.
32. Camara, Seydou. The Epic of Sunjata: Structure, Preservation, and Transmission, pp. 59-67
33. Eric Charry, Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa (University of Chicago Press, 2000), pp. 40-41.
34. Christopher Wise, Sorcery, Totem, and Jihad in African Philosophy (2017), pp. 44-45.
35. Barbara G. Hoffman, Griots at War: Conflict, Conciliation, and Caste in Mande (Indiana University Press, 2001).
36. "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.
37. Osita Okagbue, African Theatres and Performances (Taylor & Francis, 2013), p. 100.
38. Cotter, Holland (2 Aug 2012). "Imperiled Legacy for African Art". New York Times. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
39. Mcintosh, Susan Keech; Mcintosh, Roderick J. (February 1980). "Jenne-Jeno: An Ancient African City". Archaeology. 33 (1): 8–14.

Bibliography

• Gillow, John. (2003), African Textiles. 29 p.
• McIntosh, Roderick J.; McIntosh, Susan Keech (2003). "Early urban configurations on the Middle Niger: Clustered cities and landscapes of power". In Smith, Monica L. (ed.). The Social Construction of Ancient Cities. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books. pp. 103–120. ISBN 9781588340986.
• Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.
• UNESCO General History of Africa, Volume IV, pp. 197–200.
• Mauny, R. (1971), “The Western Sudan” in Shinnie: 66-87.
• Monteil, Charles (1953), “La Légende du Ouagadou et l’Origine des Soninke” in Mélanges Ethnologiques (Dakar: Bulletin del’Institut Francais del’Afrique Noir).
• Fage, John D. (2001), History of Africa. Routledge; 4th edition.
• Boone, Sylvia Ardyn. (1986), Radiance from the Waters.
• Kouyaté, Dani (Director). (1995). Keïta: Heritage of a Griot [Motion picture]. Burkina Faso.
• Kevin C. MacDonald, Robert Vernet, Marcos Martinón-Torres & Dorian Q. Fuller. "Dhar Néma: from early agriculture to metallurgy in southeastern Mauritania"