Mandé peoples
Ethnic groups who speak the Mande languages / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Mandé people are an ethnic and linguistic group who are native to West Africa, possessing a long shared history and forming a distinct linguistic family known as the Mandé Languages. The Mandé languages are divided into two primary groups: East Mandé and West Mandé.
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The Mandinka or Malinke, a western branch of the Mandé, are credited with the founding one of the largest West African empires. Other large Mandé tribes include the Soninke and Susu as well as smaller tribes such as the Ligbi, Vai, and Bissa. The Mandé people inhabit various environments, from coastal rainforests to the sparse Sahel, and are organized mainly by bloodlines while governing in accordance to tribal affiliation (with respects to their geographic & political environs); providing a diverse blend of cuisines, customs, and beliefs within Mandé culture.
After migrating from the Central Sahara, Mandé 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, Mande 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, the Mandé people are predominantly Muslim and follow a caste system. Islam has played a central role in identifying the Mandé people who live in the Sahel regions. Influences from Mandé 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-Mande Fula, Songhai, Wolof, Hausa, and Voltaic peoples such as the Kingdom of Dagbon, Guang people,Maghan people and the Gonja people maintain varying degrees of close alignment with the Mandé people's worldview, clothing, and other cultural artifacts (e.g., a shared written script, architecture, cuisine, and social norms).[citation needed]