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40-612: The Marka originated from Soninke people from Wagadu Empire who migrated to the middle Niger between the 11th and 13th centuries. The term 'Maraka' means 'men who rule' in Bambara , which may have originated as a term for the colonists from Wagadu or merely as a term of respect. Relatively geographically constrained compared to other trading communities such as the Jakhanke and Dyula people , they founded Nyamina and Sansanding during this early period, and Barouéli and Banamba in

80-618: A West African Mande -speaking ethnic group found in Mali , southern Mauritania , eastern Senegal , The Gambia , and Guinea (especially Fouta Djallon ). They speak the Soninke language , also called the Serakhulle or Azer language, which is one of the Mande languages . Soninke people were the founders of the ancient empire of Ghana or Wagadou c. 200–1240 CE, Subgroups of Soninke include

120-534: A Wolof word, was used for the Soninke at least as far back as the 16th century and is used by peoples as far apart as The Gambia and Hausaland . The Jahankas , a subgroup, refer to themselves as of Serakhulle extraction. Historically, the term "Soninke" carries negative connotations in the Futa Djallon and Senegambia , hence the more common use of the term "Serakhulle." Archaeological evidence suggests that

160-451: A circle around the boys. During this time the boys are surrounded with beautiful scarves called disa sing. The author Mamadou Soumare wrote “Above its traditional surgery, the ritual of circumcision makes in evidence, the physical endurance, the pain, the courage, in one word the personality of the child.” The Soninke people have long carried out female genital mutilation (FGM), also called female circumcision. The prevalence rate of FGM

200-436: A noble could take a wife from the slave strata. The Soninke practise circumcision and call it birou . Every afternoon, the boys who were circumcised the previous year organize tam-tams for the new boys in order to prepare them psychologically. Throughout the circumcision ceremony, the boys to be circumcised sit around the “tambour” called “daïné”. The other teenagers of the village, young girls, women, men, and slaves form

240-675: A part of the French colonial empire. Most of the Soninke people are found in the valley of the upper Senegal river and along the Mali–Senegal–Mauritania border between Nara and Nioro du Sahel . Migrations under French colonial rule led many Soninke to build communities in Dakar , other cities in Africa and in France. Soninke community were the early settlers in France, their community

280-422: A stew, is a mixture of millet and beans. The Soninke traditionally engage in both trade and agriculture. During the rainy season, men and women both cultivate. However, women usually stay at home to cook and take care of their children. They also do other work, such as dyeing cotton material. Many early West African immigrants in France came from this ethnic group. The Soninke are an influential ethnic group in

320-571: A template for servile relationships and social stratification of human beings. The linguistic evidence suggests that stratification structure relating to caste system and slavery likely were shared between the Manding and Soninke people, and possibly some others such as the Dogon people of West Africa. However, the linguistic differences between the caste and slave systems of the Soninke and Manding on one hand and northern ethnic groups of Africa such as

360-509: A week via Kati and Diamou as of 2013. The area is rich in gold and iron. Kayes has a hot semi-arid climate ( Köppen climate classification BSh ). The climate is subject to the West African Monsoon with all the rainfall occurring between June and October. August is the wettest month. There is almost no rainfall during the other seven months of the year. The total annual rainfall is around 650 millimetres or 26 inches. Kayes

400-473: Is accompanied with a wedding event called karikompe . The newly married couple has advisors. The man's advisor is called the khoussoumanta-yougo and the woman's is called khoussoumanta-yakhare . After one week of celebration, the women meet to show the gifts that the couple received from their parents mostly from the woman's mother. Marriage across social strata and caste lines has been taboo, states Saskia Brand. But, in polygynous noble families,

440-450: Is found in Paris and in southern French cities, and their language is the primary dialect spoken among many Muslim communities of France. There are also many Soninke living in cities throughout Central Africa , a population that includes new migrants as well as descendants of migration dating back to the 1800s, such as the laptots who represented French mercantile and colonial interests in

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480-480: Is found in the works of the 8th century Arab geographer Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī and a more complete record is found in works of another 11th century Arab geographer Al-Bakri . The rulers and Soninke people of the Ghana Empire converted to Islam in the 11th century, and they have been Muslim ever since. Some Islamic sources suggest that the conversion was triggered after the 1076 Almoravid conquest of

520-405: Is higher among the Soninke than among neighbouring ethnic groups such as Wolof people and others. The practice is culturally done as a ritual of social acceptance, and sometimes assumed to be required for religious reasons. In Mauritania and Senegal, FGM of a child is illegal in contemporary law but continues because it is culturally sanctioned for young girls as young as one year old. According to

560-459: Is shaped by various forms of social stratification. The Soninke strata have included a free category called Horro or Horon , a caste system category called Namaxala or Nyaxamalo , and slaves called Komo . In the Jaara subgroup of the Soninke people, the nobility called Tunkanlenmu was another strata. Soninke society became highly stratified after the 13th century. The slaves were

600-453: The jeli below the tage or numu (smiths, pottery workers). The castes and serf system can be linked to the Mandé 'Nyamakalaw' (literally 'caste'). archaeological evidence shows that Arabs and Berbers would later participate in an already established and integrated trade and transport network with West Africa (trading in gold, salt, and some slaves to a lesser extent), building upon

640-657: The Jakhanke , Maraka and Wangara . When the Ghana empire was destroyed, the resulting diaspora brought Soninkes to Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinée-Conakry, modern-day Republic of Ghana , Kano in Nigeria, and Guinea-Bissau where some of this trading diaspora was called Wangara, leading to the saying “when Americans landed on the moon, a Soninke was already there” in Senegal , with other versions across West Africa. Predominantly Muslims,

680-732: The Segu based state and its Kaarta vassals in the 18th and early 19th centuries. When the Bambara Empire (which practiced African spirituality ) was defeated by the Maraka's fellow Muslim Umar Tall in the 1850s, the Maraka's unique trade and landholdings concessions suffered damage from which they never recovered. Today there are only around 25,000 Marka speakers, and they are largely integrated amongst their Soninke and Bambara neighbors. The Marka people are adherents of Islam. Soninke people The Soninke (Sarakolleh) people are

720-467: The (13 century BC to the 1st century BC) truly materializing within the (1st and 3rd) centuries CE but was destroyed by about the 12th century, after the Muslim invasions of this region started in the 10th century. In contemporary time, the total population of Soninke people is above 2 million. Soninke people are found throughout West Africa and in France, given their migration when Senegal and Mali were

760-576: The 13th century. McIntosh concurs with Tamari, but states that the emergence of caste systems likely occurred much earlier in West African societies such as Soninke, Mande, Malinke, Wolof, Serer, and others. She places the development and spread of castes in these societies to about the 10th century, because the slave capture, slave trade and slave holding by elite families was an established institution in West Africa by then, and slavery created

800-666: The 19th century. All four were at various times prominent trading and religious centers. Muslim merchant communities at the time of the Bambara Empire , the Maraka largely controlled the desert-side trade between the Sahel and nomadic Berbers and Moors of the Sahara . Their economy was based on slave plantation agriculture growing food and cotton to be traded. The Bambara integrated Maraka communities into their state structure, and Maraka trading posts and plantations multiplied in

840-497: The 2009 Report on Human Rights Practices by the US State Department, FGM practice among Soninke has included the most dangerous Type III mutilations. Breakfast foods include fonde , porridge made of millet , sugar, milk, and salt, and sombi , porridge made of rice, millet or corn. For lunch demba tere and takhaya are very common, both containing rice and peanuts, frequent Soninke ingredients. Dere ,

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880-610: The Gambia, Senegal, and Mali. commune of Diawara, Sénégal] Archived 2006-12-08 at the Wayback Machine Kayes Kayes ( Bambara : ߞߊߦߌ tr. Kayi , Soninké : Xaayi ) is a city in western Mali on the Sénégal River with a population of 127,368 at the 2009 census. Kayes is the capital of the administrative region of the same name. The city is located 420 kilometres (260 mi) northwest of

920-581: The Ghana Empire and other Mande states from roots in preceding local ancestral Soninke cultures such as that of Dhar Tichitt, rather than from North Africa or the Middle East. The early written records about Soninke come from early Islamic historians. The Soninke, according to these records, were the founders of the ancient Ghana Empire (not to be confused with modern Ghana), also called the Wagadu Empire. The empire has its roots roughly between

960-554: The Ghana Empire. The Soninke people, like other Mande peoples, typically adhere to the Maliki school of Sunni Islam. The Soninke society and its culture has historically many cultural practices with its neighboring ethnic groups, particularly the Mande peoples. This includes the religion of Islam, occupations, foods, the rites of passage, family structure, weddings and social stratification. Soninke society, like other groups in Mande,

1000-867: The Soninke were one of the early ethnic groups from West Africa to convert to Islam in about the 10th century. The contemporary population of Soninke people is estimated to be over 2 million. The cultural practices of Soninke people are similar to the Mandé peoples, and those of the Imraguen of Mauritania. They include traditional Islamic rites of marriage, circumcision, and have social stratification. The Soninke people are also referred to as Aswanik, Dafing, Dafi, Dyakanke, Gadyaga, Maraka, Maraxa, Marka, Marka Soninké, Sarakolleh, Saracole, Zarakole, Zagha, Sarakolé, Sarakollé, Sarakule, Sarawule, Saraxole, Seraculeh, Serahuli, Serakhulle, Silabe, Soniake, Soninkés, Sonninké, Toubakai, Wakore, Wangara. They refer to themselves by

1040-561: The Tuareg people and Moors on the other, suggests that these evolved separately. Marriage in Soninke society follows Islamic practices. Cousin marriages are common and preferred in Soninke culture, just as with the Fula people . Parents consent to marriage. A traditional proverb states, "Cousins are made for each other." The practice among Soninke merchants, states Saskia Brand, a professor of psychology and educational sciences, may be related to

1080-622: The West Africa region. The Soninke people were a coastal trade link between the Berber people of the Maghreb region and the other Empires in West Africa. In their early history, they helped exchange salt from the north and western coast for gold found inland. This trade brought Muslim traders to them, particularly Arab traders interested in gold, after Islam arrived in North Africa. The earliest passing mention of Soninke people's Ghana Empire

1120-733: The ancestor of the Soninke was Dinga , sometimes said to have come from the Middle East (though such a story is unlikely, as the "Middle Eastern" tag came about subsequent to the Mande converting to Islam), His sons included Dyabe Sisse, the founder of the Wagadu kingdom with its capital at Kumbi . Another Soninke tradition indicates that they migrated from Aswan , Egypt . However theories of foreign origin are almost entirely doubted/disregarded by scholars and are believed to result from later Eurasiatic cultural influences (Namely Arab and French). Archaeological evidence supports an evolution of

1160-540: The capital Bamako . There are multiple possible etymologies of the name 'Kayes', all derived from the Soninke language . These include: the word "kharré", which describes a low humid place that floods in rainy season; the word 'kayé', a type of grass; 'khayé', the Soninke name for the rhun palm . The area around Kayes was historically a part of the Soninke states of Diarra and Gajaaga . The important trading center of Goundiourou , known in Arabic sources as Ghiyaru,

1200-405: The cultural belief that cousin marriages "helps to keep the money in the family". If both families agree, the couple is engaged ( i na tamma laga ) in a mosque . Each month after the engagement, the man pays the woman's family a bridewealth dower ( nakhafa ) for their food and other spending. The marriage, called futtu , is complete with a marriage contract that mentions the dower, and

1240-465: The headquarters of the colonial presence in the central Sudan, as Medina was difficult to access by boat. By 1886 the post had been fortified, and by 1889 a market town of 6000 people had grown up around it. From the beginning, the French began building a railway linking Kayes, the furthest point reachable by boat on the Senegal river , with Bafoulabe upstream. This stretch was completed in 1890, and reached to Bamako in 1904. A rail link to Thiès

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1280-448: The largest stratum, one at the bottom among the Soninke like other West African ethnic groups, and constituted up to half of the population. The slaves among the Soninke people were hierarchically arranged into three strata. The village slaves were a privileged servile group who lived apart from the village and took orders from the village chief. The domestic slaves lived with a family and could not be sold. The lowest level among slaves were

1320-460: The pre-existing trade routes trading had extended into Ghana and the western Atlantic coast by the 11th century trading systems became increasingly sophisticated in 13th and 14th century Mali Empire and 16th century Songhai Empire . As the practice of slavery grew, so did the caste system. Tamari suggests that a corollary of the rising slavery system was the development and growth of the caste system among numerous ethnic groups of Africa by about

1360-488: The region. Trade networks led by the Wangara mercantile confederations, spread Soninke people and culture throughout most of Mali and Senegal, southern Mauritania, northern Burkina Faso, as well as parts of the Gambia , and Guinea-Bissau. The Maraka-Soninke merchant communities and plantations (centered just north of the city of Segou , Mali) were an economic mainspring under the Bambara Empire , and built trade routes in

1400-585: The regions where Soninke people are found were inhabited in ancient times. These stone settlements were built on the rocky promontories of Tichit - Walata and the Tagant cliffs of Southern Mauritania. Though there are no surviving records to suggest which ethnic group these people were, the settlers of this region by between 2500 BCE and 600 BCE were likely related to the Soninke and greater Mande people. A significant agro-pastoral society had developed in this prehistoric era. According to Soninke oral tradition ,

1440-442: The trade slaves who could be bought and sold. With time, each of these strata became endogamous , states Daniel Littlefield, a professor of history. Above the slaves were the castes of Soninke, which too were hereditary, endogamous, and had an embedded hierarchical status. They included, for example, the garanke (leather workers) below the fune (bard), the fune below the gesere or jeli (griots, singers), and

1480-846: The word "Soninké", which is actually the singular of the word "Soninko", but are also called "Sarakholés" by the Wolofs, "Marakas" by the Bambaras, "Wangara" by the Mandinka, "Wangarawa" by the Hausa, "Wakoré" by the Songhais, or even "Toubakai". “Marka” is the name by which they are known in Mali in the region of Kayes , Koulikoro , Sikasso , Ségou , Mopti and in Burkina Faso in that of Dafina. The term "Serakhulle," although often claimed to be

1520-604: Was begun in 1907 which, interrupted by the First World War , was completed in 1923. . In 1892, Kayes became the capital of the French Sudan ; Bamako replaced it as the capital, first of the state of Haut Sénégal-Niger on October 17, 1899, then as the capital of all of French Sudan in 1908. During World War II , a portion of Poland 's gold reserve , evacuated during the German-Soviet invasion in 1939,

1560-416: Was just across the river, and was later rebuilt just south of the modern city. Kayes itself was founded in the second half of the 19th century. Guéssé Sidy, a prince of Khasso , established a base there to protect the western approaches to the kingdom's capital, Medina . Prior to French colonial expansion, Kayes was still a small village. In 1881 the French chose it as the site for a fort and barracks,

1600-749: Was stored for several years in Kayes before being transported to the United States in 1944, to be returned to Poland after the occupation and war ended. Kayes lies on the Route Nationale ;1 (RN1) highway and is 612 km (380 mi) by road from Bamako and 96 km (60 mi) from the border with Senegal . The town has an international airport ( Kayes Airport ), and lies on the Dakar-Niger Railway which offered regional passenger train service to Bamako three times

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