Page 20 - Empires of Medieval West Africa

i ntroduction

native peoples of Africa include more than 1,000 different ethnic
groups. Each has its own language and customs. In the modern country
of Nigeria alone, there are more than 200 groups speaking languages What Is a Tribe?
that are not understood by the other groups. There are similar numbers Many people, including
of cultures in territories that were once home to the Ghana, Mali, and some anthropologists
and other social scien-
Songhay Empires. tists, describe African
The dominant peoples of both the Ghana and Mali Empires (and and other non-Western
their modern-day descendants) were part of a huge, complex cultural ethnic groups around
group whose people, taken together, are known as Mande. Many the world (including
groups speak regional variations of the Mande language and share native peoples of North
ancient customs. These include the Bamana and Malinke (Mali nké and South America)
as tribes. They use
means “people of Mali”), the Maninka of northeastern Guinea (Mani this word because it is
nka means “people of Mani,” an ancient variation of “Mali”), the short and convenient.
Mandinka of Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau (Mandi nka means But some people find it
“people of Mande”), and the Dyula of northern Côte d’Ivoire (dyula offensive. They believe
means “trader”). the word suggests
Many other related Mande groups are located between what is that the people are
today southern Mauritania, western Burkina Faso, northern Liberia, uncivilized or inferior,
because it is only used
and the Atlantic coast of Senegal and Gambia. One of the Mande to describe non-Western
groups on the fringe of this large group of cultures is the Soninke. They groups and very primi-
were the founders and rulers of the Ghana Empire. tive Western peoples
In the Ghana Empire, another important culture was the Sanhaja, who lived far in the past.
who came from the Berber peoples of North Africa. The Sanhaja were For this reason, the term
tribe will not be used
desert people and spoke a regional variation of the Berber language. in this book. Instead,
Like their North African relatives, they subdivided themselves into more descriptive terms
large clans (groups of close-knit families). In the Western Sahara in such as ethnic group,
the 11th century, the Sanhaja founded the Almoravid dynasty of the peoples, society, culture,
Islamic Empire. and clan will be used.
Some of their most important clans were the Jazula, Juddala, Lam-
tuna, and Massufa. These fierce desert fighters, caravan guides (a cara-
van is a group of people traveling together), and traders competed with
rival clans for control of major trade routes and market centers. They
also competed with Zanata clans from North Africa and the Soninke of
the Ghana Empire.
When the Ghana Empire lost its power, its territories and its
people (including the Soninke, Sanhaja, and other ethnic groups) were
eventually taken over by the Mali Empire. Inhabitants of Mali also
included the desert-dwelling Tuareg, who are a Berber people like the
Sanhaja. As the Mali Empire expanded, it also included the Songhay

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