The Bassari are a small ethnic community living in the hills and mesas of southeastern Senegal. Their relative geographical isolation has helped preserve traditional practices more strongly than among many other Senegalese groups. Agriculture, hunting, and gathering remain central to the way of life described in the excerpt, whose communities also carry a history of enslavement raids.
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The Story
The Bassari are described as a small group inhabiting the hills and mesas of southeastern Senegal. Their settlement in a relatively isolated landscape has limited some external pressures and enabled them to maintain traditional ways of life more fully than many other groups in the country.
Bassari subsistence combines cultivation with the exploitation of upland and surrounding environments. They raise millet and corn, but also hunt and gather. This combination gives their economy a broader base than one centered solely on field agriculture.
The excerpt also records a history of vulnerability: over centuries, Bassari clans were raided for slaves. In the present setting described by the passage, geographic isolation remains a major factor in the continued visibility of their traditional practices.
The Bassari are a small ethnic community living in the hills and mesas of southeastern Senegal. Their relative geographical isolation has helped preserve traditional practices more strongly than among many other Senegalese groups. Agriculture, hunting, and gathering remain central to the way of life described in the excerpt, whose communities also carry a history of enslavement raids.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Bassari are described as a small group inhabiting the hills and mesas of southeastern Senegal. Their settlement in a relatively isolated landscape has limited some external pressures and enabled them to maintain traditional ways of life more fully than many other groups in the country.
Bassari subsistence combines cultivation with the exploitation of upland and surrounding environments. They raise millet and corn, but also hunt and gather. This combination gives their economy a broader base than one centered solely on field agriculture.
The excerpt also records a history of vulnerability: over centuries, Bassari clans were raided for slaves. In the present setting described by the passage, geographic isolation remains a major factor in the continued visibility of their traditional practices.