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WANGARA
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WANGARA , the See also:Hausa name for the See also:Mandingo (q.v.), a See also:people of See also:West See also:Africa; used also as the name of districts in the western and central See also:Sudan. The Wangara are also known as Wangarawa, Wongara, Ungara, Wankore and Wakore. According to See also:Idrisi (See also:writing in the 12th See also:century), the Wangara See also:country was renowned for the quantity and the quality of the See also:gold which it produces. The country formed an See also:island about 300 M. See also:long by 150 in breadth, which the See also:Nile (i.e. See also:Niger) surrounded on all sides and at all seasons. Thf's description corresponds fairly accurately with the See also:tract of country between the Niger and its tributary the Bani. Idrisi's See also:account of the See also:annual inundation of the See also:land by the rising of the Niger agrees with the facts. He states that on the fall of the See also:waters natives from all parts of the Sudan assembled to gather the gold which the subsiding waters See also:left behind. In the closing years of the 18th and the opening years of the 19th century the discoveries of See also:Hornemann, Mungo See also:Park and others revived the stories of Wangara and its richness in gold. Geographers of that See also:period (e.g. See also:Major See also:Rennell) shifted the Wangara country far to the See also:east and confused Idrisi's description with accounts which probably referred to See also:Lake See also:Chad. Gradually, however, as knowledge increased, the Wangara territory was again moved westward, and was located within the Niger See also:bend. The name has now practically disappeared from the maps See also:save that a See also:town in the See also:hinterland of See also:Dahomey is named Wangara (See also:French spelling Ouangara). Idrisi's account as to the richness in gold of the upper Niger regions has basis in fact; though the gold brought in considerable quantities to the See also:European trading stations on the See also:Gambia and See also:Senegal in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries appears to have come largely from Bambuk. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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