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MANDINGO

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 565 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MANDINGO , the name currently given to a very important See also:

division of See also:negro peoples in See also:West See also:Africa. It is seemingly a corruption of a See also:term applied to an important See also:section of this See also:group, the Mande-nka or Mande-nga. The See also:present writer has usually heard this word pronounced by the Mandingo themselves " Mandina," or even " Madina." It seems to be derived from the racial name Mande, coupled with the suffix nka or nke, meaning " See also:people," the people of Mande. Then again this word Mande seems to take the varying forms of Male, Meli, Mane, See also:Madi, and, according to such authorities as Binger, Delafosse and Desplagnes, it is connected with a word Mali, which means " See also:hippopotamus " or else "See also:manati "—probably the latter. According to Desplagnes, the word is further divisible into ma, which would have meant " See also:fish," and nde, a syllable to which he ascribes the meaning of " See also:father." In no Mandingo See also:dialect known to the present writer (or in any other known See also:African See also:language) does the vocable ma apply to " fish," and in only one very doubtful far eastern Mandingo dialect is the See also:root nde or any other similar See also:sound applied to " father." This See also:etymology must be abandoned, probably in favour of Mani, Mali, Madi, Mande, meaning "hippopotamus," and in some cases the other big See also:water mammal, the manati.2 1 Respecting this, see See also:David See also:Murray, The See also:Black See also:Book of See also:Paisley, &c. (1885), and See also:John de Burdeus, &c. (1891). 2 Indeed it is possible that the See also:European name for this Sirenian —manati—derived from the West Indies, is the corruption of a West MANDINGO The West African tribes speaking Mandingo See also:languages vary very much in outward See also:appearance. Some of them may be West African negroes of the See also:forest type with little or no intermixture with the Caucasian; others, such as the typical Mandingos or the Susus, obviously contain a non-negro See also:element in their physique. This last type resembles very strongly the Swahilis of the See also:Zanzibar littoral or other crosses between the Arab and the negro; and though nearly always black-skinned, often has a well-shaped See also:nose and a fairly full See also:beard. The tribes dwelling in the West African forest, but speaking languages of Mandingo type, do not perhaps exhibit the very prognathous, See also:short-limbed, " ugly " development of West African negro, but are of rather a refined type, and some of them are lighter in skin See also:colour than the more Arab-looking Mandingos of the See also:north. But in these forest Mandingos the beard is scanty.

Occasionally the Mandingo See also:

physical type appears in eastern See also:Liberia and on the See also:Ivory See also:Coast amongst people speaking Kru languages. In other cases it is associated with the Senufo speech-See also:family. Delafosse divides the Mandingo group linguistically into three See also:main sections: (1) the Mande-tamu, (2) the Mande fu, and (3) the Mande-td, according as they use for the See also:numeral ro the root tamu, td or fu. Of the first group are the important tribes of the Soni-nke (called Sarakulle by the See also:Fula, and Sarakole by the See also:French); the Swaninki people of Azer, and the oases of Tishitt, Wadan and Walata in the See also:south-west See also:Sahara; and the Bozo, who are the fishermen along the See also:banks of the Upper See also:Niger and the Bani from See also:Jenne to See also:Timbuktu. The Soni-nke are also known as Marka, and they include (according to Binger) the Samogho and even the Kurtei along the banks of the Niger See also:east of Timbuktu as far as Say. The group of Mande-0", would include the Bamana (incorrectly called Bambara) of the upper See also:Senegal and of Segu on the Upper Niger, the Toronke, the Mandenga, the Numu of the See also:district west of the Black See also:Volta, the Vai of south-western Liberia, and the Dyula or Gyula of the region at the back of the Ivory Coast. The group of the Mande-fu includes a See also:great many different languages and dialects, chiefly in the forest region of Sierra Leone and Liberia, and also the dialects of the celebrated Susu or Soso tribe, and the Mandingo tribes of Futa Jallon, of the See also:Grand Scarcies See also:River and of the interior of the Ivory Coast, and of the regions between the eastern affluents of the Upper Niger and the Black Volta. To this group Delafosse joins the Boko dialect spoken by people dwelling to the west of the See also:Lower Niger at See also:Bussa—between Bussa and See also:Borgu. If this See also:hypothesis be correct it gives a curious eastern See also:extension to the range of the Mandingo family at the present See also:day; or it may be a vestige See also:left by the See also:Man-See also:dingo invasion which, according to See also:legend, came in prehistoric times from the See also:Hausa countries across the Niger to See also:Senegambia. It is remarkable that this Boko dialect as recorded by the missionary Koelle most resembles certain dialects in central Liberia and in the Ivory Coast See also:hinterland. The Mandingos, coming from the East and See also:riding on horses (according to tradition), seem to have invaded western See also:Nigeria about A.D. r000 (if not earlier), and to have gradually displaced and absorbed the Songhai or Fula (in other words, See also:Negroid, " See also:White ") rulers of the countries in the See also:basin of the Upper Niger or along its navigable course as far as the Bussa Rapids and the forest region. On the ruins of these Songhai, See also:Berber, or Fula kingdoms See also:rose the See also:empire of Mali (See also:Melle).

Considerable sections of the Mandingo invaders had adopted Mahommedanism, and extended a great See also:

Mahommedan empire of western Nigeria far northwards into the Sahara See also:Desert. In the 16th See also:century the Songhai regained supreme See also:power. See infra, § The Melle Empire. Although the Mandingos, and especially the Susu section, may have come as conquerors, they devoted themselves through the succeeding centuries more and more to See also:commerce. They became to the extreme west of Africa what the Hausa are in the west-central regions. Some of the Mandingo invasions, especially in African word manti, applied very naturally to the See also:animal by the West African slaves, who at once recognized it as similar to the creature found on the West African coast in their own See also:rivers, and also on the Upper Niger. the forest region, left little more than the See also:imposition of their language; but where there was any element of Caucasian See also:blood (for the See also:original Mandingo invaders were evidently dashed with the Caucasian by intermingling with some of the negroid races of north-central Africa), they imposed a degree of See also:civilization which excluded See also:cannibalism (still rampant in much of the forest region of West Africa), introduced working in See also:leather and in metals, and was everywhere signalized by a passionate love of See also:music, a characteristic of all true Mandingo tribes at the present day. It is noteworthy that many of the See also:instruments affected by the Mandingos are found again in the more civilized regions of See also:Bantu Africa, as well as in the central See also:Sudan. Many of these types of musical instruments can also be traced originally to See also:ancient See also:Egypt. The Mandingos also seem to have brought with them in their westward See also:march the See also:Egyptian type of ox, with the See also:long, erect horns. It would almost seem as if this breed had been preceded by the zebu or humped ox; though these two types are evidently of See also:common origin so far as derivation from one See also:wild See also:species is concerned. The Mandingos maintain the See also:system of totems or clans, and each section or tribe identifies itself with a See also:symbol, which is usually an animal or a plant.

The Mandenga are supposed to have either the manati or the hippopotamus as Canna (totem). (Binger states that the manati was the totem of the Mande group, to which perhaps belonged originally the Susu and the Dyula.) The Bamana are the people of the See also:

crocodile; the Samanke are the people of the See also:elephant; the Samokho of the snake. Other totems or symbols of See also:special families or castes are the See also:dog, the See also:calabash or See also:gourd, the See also:lion, the See also:green See also:monkey, the See also:leopard, the See also:monitor See also:lizard, a certain spice called bandugu, certain rats, the See also:python, the puff-See also:adder, &c. The Melle Empire.—The tradition which ascribes the arrival of the Mandingo in the western Sudan to the loth or 11th century is referred to in the previous section. It is not known by whom the Melle (Mali) See also:state was founded. Neither is there certainty as to the site of the See also:capital, also called Melle. See also:Idrisi in the 12th century describes the See also:Wangara (a Hausa name for the Mandingo) as a powerful people, and El See also:Bakri writes in similar terms. But the first See also:king whose name is preserved was Baramindana, believed to have reigned from 1213 to 1235. His territory See also:lay south of that of Jenne, partly within the See also:bend of the Niger and partly west of that river. The people were already Moslem, and the capital was a See also:rendezvous for merchants from all parts of the western Sudan and the See also:Barbary States. Mari Jatah (or Diara), Baramindana's successor, about the See also:middle of the r3th century conquered the Susu, then masters of Ghanata (Ghana). See also:Early in the 14th century Mansa, i.e.

See also:

Sultan, Kunkur Musa, extended the empire, known as the Mellistine, to its greatest limits, making himself See also:master of Timbuktu, See also:Gao and all the See also:Songhoi dominions. His authority extended northward over the Sahara to the See also:Tuat oases. Mansa See also:Suleiman was on the See also:throne when in 1352–1353 Melle was visited by See also:Ibn Batuta. By this monarch the empire was divided into three great provinces, ruled by viceroys. For a century afterwards Merle appears to have been the dominant Sudan state west of the Lower Niger, but it had to meet the hostility of the growing power of the See also:pagan Mossi, of the See also:Tuareg in the north and of the Songhoi, who under Sunni See also:Ali (c. 1325) had already regained a measure of See also:independence. See also:Cadamosto nevertheless describes Melle in 1454 as being still the most powerful of the negro-See also:land kingdoms and the most important for its See also:traffic in See also:gold and slaves. The Songhoi See also:sovereign Askia is said to have completed the See also:conquest of Melle at the beginning of the 16th century. It nevertheless retained some sort of See also:national existence—though with the See also:advent of the See also:Moors in the Niger countries (end of the 16th century) native civilization suffered a See also:blow from which it never recovered. See also:Civil See also:war issaid to have finally wrought the ruin of Melle about the middle of the 17th century.' The Portuguese, from their first appearance on the Senegal and See also:Gambia, entered into friendly relations with the rulers of Melle. See also:Barros relates (Da See also:Asia, See also:Decade I.) that John II. of See also:Portugal sent embassies to the See also:court of Melle by way of the Gambia (end of the 15th century). At that See also:time the authority of Melle was said to extend westward to the coast.

The king, pressed by the Mossi, the Songhoi and the Fula, solicited the help of his " See also:

friends and See also:allies " the Portuguese —with what result does not appear; but in 1534 Barros himself despatched an See also:ambassador to the king of Melle concerning the See also:trade of the Gambia. By way of that river the Portuguese themselves penetrated as far as Bambuk, a See also:country conquered by the Mandingo in the 12th century. By Barros the name of the Melle ruler is given as See also:Mandi Mansa, which may be the native See also:form for " Sultan of the Mandi " (Mandingo). See further TIMBUKTU and the authorities there cited; cf. also L. Marc, Le Pays Mossi (See also:Paris, 1909). Lists of Mandingo sovereigns are given in Stokvis, See also:Manuel d'histoire, vol. i. (See also:Leiden, 1888). (F. R.

End of Article: MANDINGO

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