The Mandingo comprised numerous groups and subgroups distributed across the Sudan-Sahel zone. Their habitat extended from the Atlantic toward the Air and projected deeply into the forests of the Bight of Benin. The extract identifies Soninke, Soso, and Malinke communities as major components of the early Mandingo world.

At the height of the Ghana empire, the Soninke occupied Wagadu, Bakhanu, and Kaniaga, while the Soso lived south of those regions near the Kulikoro mountains. Farther south, the Malinke inhabited Mande or Manding in the upper Niger basin between Kangaba and Siguiri. The Soninke are also identified as Marka or Wakore, while Wangara and Dioula were used for Mandingo groups associated especially with trade.

Mandingo expansion was driven by both commerce and warfare. Soninke groups moved beyond Wagadu, settled along the Niger, and pursued gold toward the forest margins. Wangara or Dioula traders expanded their influence in many directions before the wider extension of trans-Saharan trade by Arab merchants.

The second Mandingo expansion corresponded with the emergence of Mali. From their upper Niger base, Malinke clans fought as far as the Atlantic coast and settled in Senegambia. Mandingo traders also introduced Islam into Hausa in the fourteenth century, extending commercial and cultural networks across the western Sudan.