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The Mandinka (also known as Mandenka or Mandinko or Mandingo or Malinke) is a West African ethnic group with an estimated global population of eleven million (the other three major ethnic groups in the region being the non-related Fula, Hausa and Songhai). They belong to the larger Mandé group of peoples. They are the descendants of the Mali Empire, which rose to power under the rule of the Mandingo king Sundiata Keita. The Mandingo in turn belong to West Africa's largest ethnolinguistic group, the Mandé, who account for more than twenty million people (including the Dyula, Bozo, Bissa and Bambara). Today, over 99% of Mandinka in Africa are Muslim.〔〔 The Mandingo live primarily in West Africa, particularly in the Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Ivory coast, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Mauritania. Although widespread, the Mandingo do not form the largest ethnic group in any of the countries in which they live except the Gambia. Most Mandingos live in family-related compounds in traditional rural villages. Mandinka villages are fairly autonomous and self-ruled, being led by a chief and group of elders. Mandingo live in an oral society. Learning is traditionally done through stories, songs and proverbs. Originally from Mali, the Mandingo gained their independence from previous empires in the thirteenth century, and founded an empire which stretched across West Africa. They migrated west from the Niger River in search of better agricultural lands and more opportunities for conquest. Through a series of conflicts, the Fula jihads, primarily with the Fula-led Imamate of Futa Jallon, around half of the Mandingo population converted from indigenous beliefs to Islam. During the 16th, 17th, and 18th century, many Mandingo were enslaved and shipped to the Americas through capture in conflict and therefore a significant portion of the African Americans in the United States are descended from the Mandingo people. ==History== The Mandinka migrated west from the Niger River basin in search of better agricultural, land, and more opportunities for conquest. The Mandés founded the empire of Kaabu, comprising twenty small kingdoms. Some upper-class or urban Mandinkas converted to Islam during the reign of the Mansa Musa (1312–1337 AD). The majority of the Mandinka were still animists at the beginning of the 18th century. Through a series of conflicts, primarily with the Fula-led Imamate of Futa Jallon and amongst sub-states of the Kaabu, about half of the Senegambian Mandinka were converted to Islam while as many as a third were sold into slavery to the Americas through capture in conflict. Today, the majority of Mandinka are Muslim. A significant portion of African-Americans in North America are descended from Mandinka people.〔 In eastern areas (northern Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Southern Mali), Mandinka communities are often built around long distance trade routes. These people, often called Dyula after the Mandé word for "merchant", built communities in trading centers, spaced along trade routes, and near mining and agricultural centers, beginning during the Mali Empire. These merchant networks formed the lynchpin of trade between the desert-side upper Niger River cities (Djenné and Timbuktu, for example), highland production areas (the goldfields of Bambouk or agricultural centre of Kankan), and the coast. This last link became more important with the advent of Portuguese and other European trading posts in the 17th century, and much of the overland trade connecting the coast and interior (including the African slave trade) was controlled by Dyula merchants. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mandinka people」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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