XIIᵉ siècle – XVIIIᵉ siècle
Senegambia, Casamance, and the western Sudan
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Western Mandingo societies formed politically organized communities across Senegambia and Casamance, structured around matrilineal descent, chiefly authority, agriculture, and long-distance trade. Their religious life remained strongly animist, although Muslim influence expanded among rulers and coastal populations from the sixteenth century. Mandingo merchants, especially the Wangara and later Dioula, helped disseminate Mandingo commercial and cultural practices toward the southern forests.
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Western Mandingo communities developed political institutions in which authority was concentrated in hereditary chiefly offices. Descent was matrilineal: children belonged to their mother’s lineage, and succession commonly passed through the maternal line. The office of farin stood above village chiefs and local representatives, while councils of elders and regents helped manage transitions to power.
Matrilineal succession shaped the political geography of the Gambia and Casamance. A chief could be represented by a nephew, as in the case of Farin Sangoli at Niumi, because royal authority was associated with the maternal family. Newly appointed farins could also undergo a year of ritual withdrawal, during which regents—often military commanders and at least one royal relative—governed the country.
The western Mandingo economy rested on fertile agricultural zones watered by the Gambia and Casamance rivers. Cotton fields, rice plantations, forests, salt production, and gold exchange supported settlements and markets. Commercial centers such as Sutuco and Jamnam Sura connected Mandingo merchants with Portuguese traders, while Wangara specialists helped spread Mandingo culture toward the forest regions farther south.
Animist beliefs remained central to western Mandingo society. Illness and legal disputes were often interpreted through sorcery, and the red-water judgment was used to determine guilt. Religious practice also included offerings to the dead and agrarian rites intended to secure good harvests, including the use of blood and grain mixtures at field boundaries.
Islam expanded unevenly, especially through itinerant marabouts who distributed amulets and sought the conversion of chiefs. In many communities, Islam remained a political veneer rather than a complete transformation of religious life. Muslim rulers could still consult diviners, make libations to the dead, and maintain agrarian cults; Kaabu is presented as a particularly stronghold of traditional religion.
From the late sixteenth century, declining gold commerce and the intensification of the coastal slave trade encouraged Mandingo movements southward and southeastward. Settlements developed along kola routes, creating new centers of Mandingo influence. These networks later provided support to Samory during the nineteenth century, although that later history lies beyond the period covered here.
XIIᵉ siècle – XVIIIᵉ siècle
Senegambia, Casamance, and the western Sudan
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Western Mandingo societies formed politically organized communities across Senegambia and Casamance, structured around matrilineal descent, chiefly authority, agriculture, and long-distance trade. Their religious life remained strongly animist, although Muslim influence expanded among rulers and coastal populations from the sixteenth century. Mandingo merchants, especially the Wangara and later Dioula, helped disseminate Mandingo commercial and cultural practices toward the southern forests.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Western Mandingo communities developed political institutions in which authority was concentrated in hereditary chiefly offices. Descent was matrilineal: children belonged to their mother’s lineage, and succession commonly passed through the maternal line. The office of farin stood above village chiefs and local representatives, while councils of elders and regents helped manage transitions to power.
Matrilineal succession shaped the political geography of the Gambia and Casamance. A chief could be represented by a nephew, as in the case of Farin Sangoli at Niumi, because royal authority was associated with the maternal family. Newly appointed farins could also undergo a year of ritual withdrawal, during which regents—often military commanders and at least one royal relative—governed the country.
The western Mandingo economy rested on fertile agricultural zones watered by the Gambia and Casamance rivers. Cotton fields, rice plantations, forests, salt production, and gold exchange supported settlements and markets. Commercial centers such as Sutuco and Jamnam Sura connected Mandingo merchants with Portuguese traders, while Wangara specialists helped spread Mandingo culture toward the forest regions farther south.
Animist beliefs remained central to western Mandingo society. Illness and legal disputes were often interpreted through sorcery, and the red-water judgment was used to determine guilt. Religious practice also included offerings to the dead and agrarian rites intended to secure good harvests, including the use of blood and grain mixtures at field boundaries.
Islam expanded unevenly, especially through itinerant marabouts who distributed amulets and sought the conversion of chiefs. In many communities, Islam remained a political veneer rather than a complete transformation of religious life. Muslim rulers could still consult diviners, make libations to the dead, and maintain agrarian cults; Kaabu is presented as a particularly stronghold of traditional religion.
From the late sixteenth century, declining gold commerce and the intensification of the coastal slave trade encouraged Mandingo movements southward and southeastward. Settlements developed along kola routes, creating new centers of Mandingo influence. These networks later provided support to Samory during the nineteenth century, although that later history lies beyond the period covered here.