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101-460: The Nyancho's legendary origins begin with a Mandinka woman named Balaba, or in some versions Tenemba. She fled the Manding region to Mampatim , at the time the center of a Bainuk kingdom, and took shelter in a cave. Pregnant at the time of her arrival, the local population took her for a djinn or sorceress as there was no man living with her. She gave birth to three daughters who were then married to

202-602: A West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali , The Gambia , southern Senegal and eastern Guinea . Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in Africa . They speak the Manding languages in the Mande language family, which are a lingua franca in much of West Africa. Virtually all of Mandinka people are adherent to Islam , mostly based on

303-472: A kafu (confederation) headed by a kafu-tigi . The Keita clan initially held the status of kafu-tigi before Sundiata 's expansion and the creation of the mansa (king/emperor). The Mandinka people have traditionally been a socially stratified society, as are many West African ethnic groups with castes . The Mandinka society, states Arnold Hughes, a professor of West African Studies and African Politics, has been "divided into three endogamous castes –

404-587: A marabout , who knows the protective formulas. In most cases, the people do not make important decisions without first consulting a marabout. Marabouts, who have Islamic training, write Qur'anic verses on slips of paper and sew them into leather pouches ( talisman ); these are worn as protective amulets. The conversion of the Mandinka to Islam took place over many centuries. According to Robert Wyndham Nicholls, Mandinka in Senegambia started converting to Islam as early as

505-464: A Recipe for Conviviality (2020) The following ethnic groups have been historically characterized as "Creole" peoples: Alaskan Creole, sometimes colloquially spelled "Kriol" in English (from Russian креол), are a unique people who first came about through the intermingling of Sibero-Russian promyshlenniki men with Aleut and Eskimo women in the late 18th century and assumed a prominent position in

606-572: A certain privilege during the Portuguese era. In Sierra Leone , the mingling of newly freed Africans and mixed heritage Nova Scotians and Jamaican Maroons from the Western hemisphere and Liberated Africans - such as the Akan , Igbo people , and Yoruba people - over several generations in the late 18th and early 19th centuries led to the eventual creation of the aristocratic ethnic group now known as

707-526: A chief and group of elders. Mandinka has been an oral society , where mythologies, history and knowledge are verbally transmitted from one generation to the next. Their music and literary traditions are preserved by a caste of griots , known locally as jalolu (singular, jali ), as well as guilds and brotherhoods like the donso ( hunters ). Between the 16th and 19th centuries, many Muslim and non-Muslim Mandinka people, along with numerous other African ethnic groups, were captured, enslaved and shipped to

808-475: A commonality in many other Francophone and Iberoamerican cultures, who tend to lack strict racial separations common in United States History and other countries with large populations from Northern Europe 's various cultures. This racial neutrality persists to the modern day, as many Creoles do not use race as a factor for being a part of the ethno-culture. Contemporary usage has again broadened

909-562: A contrasting account, and states that Traore himself had converted and married Muhammad 's granddaughter. The Traore's marriage with a Muhammad's granddaughter, states Toby Green, is fanciful, but these conflicting oral histories suggest that Islam had arrived well before the 13th century and had a complex interaction with the Mandinka people. Through a series of conflicts, primarily with the Fula -led jihads under Imamate of Futa Jallon , many Mandinka converted to Islam. In contemporary West Africa,

1010-456: A council of upper-class elders and a chief who functions as a first among equals. In Mandinka society the lu (extended family) is the basic unit, and is led by a fa (family head) who manages relations with other fa . A dugu (village) is formed by a collection of lu , and the dugu is led by the fa of the most important lu , aided by the dugu-tigi ( village head or fa of the first lu that settled there). A group of dugu-tigi form

1111-483: A cow's tendons). It is played to accompany a griot's singing or simply on its own. A Mandinka religious and cultural site under consideration for World Heritage status is located in Guinea at Gberedou/Hamana . The kora has become the hallmark of traditional Mandinka musicians ". The kora with its 21 strings is made from half a calabash, covered with cow's hide fastened on by decorative tacks. The kora has sound holes in

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1212-656: A distinct cultural identity that has been shaped over time. The emergence of creole languages , frequently associated with Creole ethnicity, is a separate phenomenon. In specific historical contexts, particularly during the European colonial era , the term Creole applies to ethnicities formed through large-scale population movements . These movements involved people from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds who converged upon newly established colonial territories . Often involuntarily separated from their ancestral homelands, these populations were forced to adapt and create

1313-539: A few of these groups have retained the name crioulo or variations of it: The usage of creole in the islands of the southwest of the Indian Ocean varies according to the island. In Mauritius , Mauritian Creoles will be identified based on both ethnicity and religion. Mauritian Creoles being either people who are of Mauritian ancestry or those who are both racially mixed and Christian. The Mauritian Constitution identifies four communities namely, Hindu, Muslim, Chinese and

1414-410: A new way of life. Through a process of cultural amalgamation, they selectively adopted and merged desirable elements from their varied heritages. This resulted in the emergence of novel social norms, languages, and cultural practices that transcended their individual origins. This process of cultural amalgamation, termed creolization , is characterized by rapid social change that ultimately leads to

1515-589: A number of independent republics. Persons of pure Spanish descent born in the islands of the Spanish Philippines were called Insulares ("islanders") or Criollos. Although many of the Spanish Americans in the islands were also persons of pure Spanish descent, they, along with many Mestizos and Castizos from Spanish America living in the East Indies were also classified as "Americanos". In many parts of

1616-502: A number of settlements in southeastern Texas and western Louisiana (e.g. Los Adaes ). Black Texas Creoles have been present in Texas ever since the 1600s; they served as soldiers in Spanish garrisons of eastern Texas. Generations of Black Texas Creoles, also known as "Black Tejanos", played a role in later phases of Texas history: Mexican Texas, Republic of Texas, and American Texas. Unlike

1717-479: A part of many fragmented kingdoms that formed after the collapse of Ghana empire in the 11th century. During the rule of Sundiata Keita , these kingdoms were consolidated, and the Mandinka expanded west from the Niger River basin under Sundiata's general Tiramakhan Traore . This expansion was a part of creating a region of conquest, according to the oral tradition of the Mandinka people. This migration began in

1818-599: A professor of African American Religious History, Musa was highly influential in attracting North African and Middle Eastern Muslims to West Africa. The Mandinka people of Mali converted early, but those who migrated to the west did not convert and retained their traditional religious rites. One of the legends among the Mandingo of western Africa is that the general Tiramakhan Traore led the migration, because people in Mali had converted to Islam and he did not want to. Another legend gives

1919-512: A rich oral history that is passed down through sung versions by griots . This passing down of oral history through music has made the practice of music one of the most distinctive traits of the Mandinka. They have long been known for their drumming and also for their unique musical instrument, the kora . The kora is a twenty-one-stringed West African harp made from a halved, dried, hollowed-out gourd covered with cow or goat skin. The strings are made of fishing line (these were traditionally made from

2020-524: A similar usage, beginning in the Caribbean in the 16th century, which distinguished people born in the French, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies from the various new arrivals born in their respective, non-Caribbean homelands. Some writers from other parts of the country have mistakenly assumed the term to refer only to people of mixed racial descent, but this is not the traditional Louisiana usage. In Louisiana,

2121-463: A third group expanded with Fakoli Kourouma. With the migration, many gold artisans and metal working Mandinka smiths settled along the coast and in the hilly Fouta Djallon and plateau areas of West Africa. Their presence and products attracted Mandika merchants and brought trading caravans from north Africa and the eastern Sahel , states Toby Green – a professor of African History and Culture. It also brought conflicts with other ethnic groups, such as

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2222-597: A unique blend of European, Native American, and African cultures. Louisianians descended from the French Acadians of Canada are also Creoles in a strict sense, and there are many historical examples of people of full European ancestry and with Acadian surnames, such as the influential Alexandre and Alfred Mouton, being explicitly described as "Creoles." Today, however, the descendants of the Acadians are more commonly referred to as, and identify as, ' Cajuns '—a derivation of

2323-430: Is Cajun and any francophone of African descent is Creole—a false assumption that would not have been recognized in the nineteenth century . Some assert that "Creole" refers to aristocratic urbanites whereas "Cajuns" are agrarian members of the francophone working class, but this is another relatively recent distinction. Creoles may be of any race and live in any area, rural or urban . The Creole culture of Southwest Louisiana

2424-514: Is evidenced in the memoirs of the 14th century Moroccan traveller and Islamic historian Ibn Battuta . Slaves were part of the socially stratified Mandinka people, and several Mandinka language words, such as Jong or Jongo refer to slaves. There were fourteen Mandinke kingdoms along the Gambia River in the Senegambia region during the early 19th century, for example, where slaves were a part of

2525-691: Is found more often in the Chesapeake Colonies. In the United States , the words "Louisiana Creole" refers to people of any race or mixture thereof who are descended from colonial French La Louisiane and colonial Spanish Louisiana (New Spain) settlers before the Louisiana region became part of the United States in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase . Both the word and the ethnic group derive from

2626-429: Is historically inaccurate. Louisiane Creoles were also referred to as criollos , a word from the Spanish language meaning "created" and used in the post-French governance period to distinguish the two groups of New Orleans area and down river Creoles. Both mixed race and European Creole groups share many traditions and language, but their socio-economic roots differed in the original period of Louisiana history. Actually,

2727-479: Is made in the village or compound for the return of the children. A celebration marks the return of these new adults to their families. As a result of these traditional teachings, in marriage a woman's loyalty remains to her parents and her family; a man's to his. The women among the Mandinka people, like other ethnic groups near them, have traditionally practiced female genital mutilation (FGM), traditionally referred to as "female circumcision." According to UNICEF ,

2828-492: Is minimal; the literacy rate in Latin script among these Mandinka is quite low. But, more than half the adult population can read the local Arabic script (including Mandinka Ajami ). Small Qur'anic schools for children where this is taught are quite common. Mandinka children are given their name on the eighth day after their birth. The children are almost always named after a very important person in their family. The Mandinka have

2929-529: Is now present day Mozambique and Zimbabwe, to create the Prazeros and Luso-Africans , who were loyal to the Portuguese crown and served to advance its interests in southeastern Africa . A legacy of this era are the numerous Portuguese words that have entered Shona , Tsonga and Makonde. Today, mixed race communities exist across the region, notably so in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. In colonial era Zambia,

3030-528: Is spoken among those families determined to keep the language alive or in regions below New Orleans around St. James and St. John Parishes where German immigrants originally settled (also known as 'the German Coast', or La Côte des Allemands) and cultivated the land, keeping the ill-equipped French Colonists from starvation during the Colonial Period and adopting commonly spoken French and creole (arriving with

3131-409: Is the predominant profession among the Mandinka, men also work as tailors, butchers, taxi drivers, woodworkers, metalworkers, soldiers, nurses, and extension workers for aid agencies. Today, most Mandinka people practice Islam . Some Mandinka syncretise Islam and traditional African religions . Among these syncretists, it is believed that spirits can be controlled mainly through the power of

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3232-524: Is thus more similar to the culture dominant in Acadiana than it is to the Creole culture of New Orleans . Though the land areas overlap around New Orleans and down river, Cajun/Creole culture and language extend westward all along the southern coast of Louisiana, concentrating in areas southwest of New Orleans around Lafayette, and as far as Crowley, Abbeville, and into the rice belt of Louisiana nearer Lake Charles and

3333-548: The Creoles . Thoroughly westernized in their manners and bourgeois in their methods, the Creoles established a comfortable dominance in the country through a combination of British colonial favouritism and political and economic activity. Their influence in the modern republic remains considerable, and their language Krio - an English-based creole language - is the lingua franca and de facto national language spoken throughout

3434-467: The mansaya (overall kingship) between them. The Nyancho ruling class, warrior-elites made rich war and slave raiding, were part of either the Manneh and Sanneh paternal lineages. Only those descended from Nyancho bloodlines on both sides could be elected mansa of Kaabu. Mandinka people Western Maninka , Eastern Maninka , Kita Maninka language , Mandinka The Mandinka or Malinke are

3535-828: The Americas . They intermixed with slaves and workers of other ethnicities, creating a Creole culture. The Mandinka people significantly influenced the African heritage of descended peoples now found in Brazil , the Southern United States and, to a lesser extent, the Caribbean . The history of Mandinka, as with many Mandé peoples, begins with the Ghana Empire , also known as Wagadu. Mande hunters founded communities in Manden , which would become

3636-509: The Caribbean and Canada. Many Louisiana Creole families arrived in Louisiana from Saint-Domingue as refugees from the Haitian Revolution , along with other immigrants from Caribbean colonial centers like Santo Domingo and Havana . The children of slaves brought primarily from Western Africa were also considered Creoles, as were children born of unions between Native Americans and non-Natives. Creole culture in Louisiana thus consists of

3737-848: The European colonial era, with some mix of African and non-African racial or cultural heritage. Creole communities are found on most African islands and along the continent's coastal regions where indigenous Africans first interacted with Europeans. As a result of these contacts, five major Creole types emerged in Africa: Portuguese , African American , Dutch , French and British . The Crioulos of African or mixed Portuguese and African descent eventually gave rise to several ethnic groups in Cape Verde , Guinea-Bissau , São Tomé e Príncipe , Angola and Mozambique . The French-speaking Mauritian and Seychellois Creoles are both either African or ethnically mixed and Christianized . On Réunion ,

3838-518: The European colonization of the Americas before 1660. Some had lived and worked in Europe or the Caribbean before coming (or being transported) to North America. Examples of such men included John Punch and Emanuel Driggus (his surname was likely derived from Rodrigues ). Also, during the early settlement of the colonies, children born of immigrants in the colonies were often referred to as "Creole". This

3939-501: The Maliki jurisprudence. They are predominantly subsistence farmers and live in rural villages. Their largest urban center is Bamako , the capital of Mali. The Mandinka are the descendants of the Mali Empire , which rose to power in the 13th century under the rule of king Sundiata Keita , who founded an empire that would go on to span a large part of West Africa. They migrated west from

4040-774: The Niger River in search of better agricultural lands and more opportunities for conquest. Nowadays, the Mandinka inhabit the West Sudanian savanna region extending from The Gambia and the Casamance region in Senegal , Mali , Guinea and Guinea Bissau . Although widespread, the Mandinka constitute the largest ethnic group only in the countries of Mali, Guinea and The Gambia. Most Mandinka live in family-related compounds in traditional rural villages. Their traditional society has featured socially stratified castes. Mandinka communities have been fairly autonomous and self-ruled, being led by

4141-618: The Spanish word criollo (implying "native born") historically denoted a class in the colonial caste system comprising people born in the colonies with total or mostly European, mainly Spanish , descent. Those with mostly European descent were considered on the basis of their “passing” for white. For example, many castizos could've gotten away with passing as criollo because their features would be strikingly European and so many of them would assume such identity in passing, mainly for economic reasons. "Criollo" came to refer to things distinctive of

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4242-505: The Wolof people , particularly the Jolof Empire . The caravan trade to North Africa and Middle East brought Islamic people into Mandinka people's original and expanded home region. The Muslim traders sought presence in the host Mandinka community, and this likely initiated proselytizing efforts to convert the Mandinka from their traditional religious beliefs into Islam. In Ghana , for example,

4343-589: The 13th century. The Mandinka castes are hereditary, and marriages outside the caste was forbidden. Their caste system is similar to those of other ethnic groups of the African Sahel region. These castes are also common across Mandinka communities such as those in The Gambia , Mali , Guinea , and other countries. The Mandinka practice a rite of passage, kuyangwoo , which marks the beginning of adulthood for their children. At an age between four and fourteen,

4444-474: The 16th and 19th centuries. The Portuguese considered slave sources in Guinea and Senegambia parts of Mandinka territory as belonging to them; their 16th to 18th-century slave trade-related documents refer to "our Guinea" and complain about slave traders from other European nations superseding them in the slave trade. Their slave exports from this region nearly doubled in the second half of the 18th century compared to

4545-558: The 17th century, and most of Mandinka leatherworkers there converted to Islam before the 19th century. Mandinka musicians, however, were last, converting to Islam mostly in the first half of the 20th century. As in other locales, these Muslims have continued some of their pre-Islamic religious practices as well, such as their annual rain ceremony and "sacrifice of the black bull" to their past deities. Most Mandinka live in family-related compounds in traditional rural villages. Mandinka villages are fairly autonomous and self-ruled, being led by

4646-645: The 19th century, this discrimination and the example of the American Revolution and the ideals of the Enlightenment eventually led the Spanish American Criollo elite to rebel against the Spanish rule. With the support of the lower classes, they engaged Spain in the Spanish American wars of independence (1810–1826), which ended with the break-up of the former Spanish Empire in the Americas into

4747-662: The Almoravids had divided its capital into two parts by 1077, one part was Muslim and the other non-Muslim. The Muslim influence from North Africa had arrived in the Mandinka region before this, via Islamic trading diasporas. In 1324, Mansa Musa who ruled Mali , went on Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca with a caravan carrying gold. Shihab al-Umari , the Arabic historian, described his visit and stated that Musa built mosques in his kingdom, established Islamic prayers and took back Maliki school of Sunni jurists with him. According to Richard Turner –

4848-662: The Americas, the term coloured is preferred in Southern Africa to refer to mixed people of African and European descent. The colonisation of the Cape Colony by the Dutch East India Company led to the importation of Indonesian, East African and Southeast Asian slaves, who intermingled with Dutch settlers and the indigenous population leading to the development of a creolized population in the early 1700s. Additionally, Portuguese traders mixed with African communities, in what

4949-411: The Caribbean until the period between the mid-18th through to the 19th century. During these years, slave trade records show that nearly 33% of the slaves from Senegambia and Guinea-Bissau coasts were Mandinka people. Hawthorne suggests three causes of Mandinka people being taken captive as slaves during this era: small-scale jihads by Muslims against non-Muslim Mandinka, non-religious reasons such as

5050-481: The Caribbean has French, Spanish, Portuguese, British, or Dutch ancestry, mixed with sub-Saharan African ethnicities, and sometimes mixed with Native Indigenous peoples of the Americas. As workers from Asia entered the Caribbean, Creole people of colour intermarried with Arabs, Indians, Chinese, Javanese, Filipinos, Koreans, and Hmongs. The latter combinations were especially common in Guadeloupe. The foods and cultures are

5151-540: The Chesapeake Colonies as the Charter Generation of slaves during the Transatlantic Slave Trade before 1660. The Crioulos of mixed Portuguese and African descent eventually gave rise to several major ethnic groups in Africa, especially in Cape Verde , Guinea-Bissau , São Tomé e Príncipe , Equatorial Guinea (especially Annobón Province ), Ziguinchor ( Casamance ), Angola , Mozambique . Only

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5252-458: The French word Créole is derived from the Portuguese word Crioulo , which described people born in the Americas as opposed to Spain. The term is often used to mean simply "pertaining to the New Orleans area," but this, too, is not historically accurate. People all across the Louisiana territory, including the pays des Illinois , identified as Creoles, as evidenced by the continued existence of

5353-483: The General Population. Creoles are included in the General Population category along with white Christians. The term also indicates the same to the people of Seychelles . On Réunion the term creole applies to all people born on the island. In all three societies, creole also refers to the new languages derived from French and incorporating other languages. In regions that were formerly colonies of Spain ,

5454-460: The Mandinka are predominantly Muslim, with a few regions where significant portions of the population are not Muslim, such as Guinea Bissau, where 35 percent of the Mandinka practice Islam, more than 20 percent are Christian, and 15 percent follow traditional beliefs. Slave raiding, capture and trading in the Mandinka regions may have existed in significant numbers before the European colonial era, as

5555-422: The Mandinka since pre-Islamic days. A Mandinka man is legally allowed to have up to four wives, as long as he is able to care for each of them equally. Mandinka believe the crowning glory of any woman is the ability to produce children, especially sons. The first wife has authority over any subsequent wives. The husband has complete control over his wives and is responsible for feeding and clothing them. He also helps

5656-563: The Portuguese, primarily from the Jolof people, along with some Mandinka, started in the 15th century, states Green, but the earliest evidence of a trade involving Mandinka slaves is from and after 1497 CE. In parallel with the start of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the institution of slavery and slave-trading of West Africans into the Mediterranean region and inside Africa continued as a historic normal practice. Slavery grew significantly between

5757-608: The Southern Caribbean, the term Creole people is used to refer to the mixed-race descendants of Europeans and Africans born in the islands. Over time, there was intermarriage with Amerindians and residents from Asia, the Middle East and Latin America as well. They eventually formed a common culture based on their experience of living together in countries colonized by the French, Spanish, Dutch, and British. A typical Creole person from

5858-476: The Texas border. Louisiana Creoles historically spoke a variety of languages; today, the most prominent include Louisiana French and Louisiana Creole . (There is a distinction between "Creole" people and the "creole" language. Not all Creoles speak creole—many speak French, Spanish, or English as primary languages.) Spoken creole is dying with continued 'Americanization' in the area. Most remaining Creole lexemes have drifted into popular culture. Traditional creole

5959-445: The arts, and journalism. Atlantic Creole is a term coined by historian Ira Berlin to describe a group of people from Angola and Central Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries with cultural or ethnic ties to Africa , Europe , and sometimes the Caribbean . They often had Portuguese names and were sometimes mixed race. Their knowledge of different cultures made them skilled traders and negotiators, but some were enslaved and arrived in

6060-605: The centers of this slavery-perpetuating violence. Farim of Kaabu (the commander of Mandinka people in Kaabu) energetically hunted for slaves on a large scale. Martin Klein (a professor of African Studies) states that Kaabu was one of the early suppliers of African slaves to European merchants. The historian Walter Rodney states that Mandinka and other ethnic groups already held slaves who had inherited slavery by birth, and who could be sold. The Islamic armies from Sudan had long established

6161-424: The colonies on a previous Habsburg era. In Argentina , in an ambiguous ethnoracial way, criollo currently is used for people whose ancestors were already present in the territory in the colonial period, regardless their ethnicity. The exception are dark-skinned African people and current indigenous groups. The word criollo is the origin and cognate of the French word creole . The racially-based caste system

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6262-497: The country. The extension of these Sierra Leoneans' business and religious activities to neighbouring Nigeria in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - where many of them had ancestral ties - subsequently caused the creation of an offshoot in that country, the Saros . Now often considered to be part of the wider Yoruba ethnicity, the Saros have been prominent in politics, the law, religion,

6363-404: The culture of the Caribbean. In Trinidad , the term Creole is used to designate all Trinidadians except those of Asian origin. In Suriname , the term refers only to the descendants of enslaved Africans and in neighboring French Guiana the term refers to anyone, regardless of skin colour, who has adopted a European lifestyle. In Africa, the term Creole refers to any ethnic group formed during

6464-446: The descendants of European colonists who had been born in the colony. Creole is also known by cognates in other languages, such as crioulo , criollo , creolo , kriolu , criol , kreyol , kreol , kriol , krio , and kriyoyo . In Louisiana , the term Creole has been used since 1792 to represent descendants of African or mixed heritage parents as well as children of French and Spanish descent with no racial mixing. Its use as in

6565-556: The economic greed of Islamic elites who wanted imports of goods and tools from the coast, and attacks by the Fula people on the Mandinka's Kaabu , with consequent cycle of violence. In the 21st century, the Mandinka continue as rural subsistence farmers who rely on peanuts , rice , millet , maize , and small-scale husbandry for their livelihood. During the wet season , men plant peanuts as their main cash crop. Men also grow millet. The women grow rice (traditionally, African rice ), tending

6666-462: The economy of Russian America and the North Pacific Rim. Atlantic Creole is a term coined by historian Ira Berlin to describe a group of people from Angola and Central Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries with cultural or ethnic ties to Africa , Europe , and sometimes the Caribbean . Some of these people arrived in the Chesapeake Colonies as the Charter Generation of slaves during

6767-429: The eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries make use of the word "Creole" without any additional qualifier. Creoles of Spanish and German descent also exist, and Spanish Creoles survive today as Isleños and Malagueños, both found in southern Louisiana. However, all racial categories of Creoles - from Caucasian, mixed racial, African, to Native American - tended to think and refer to themselves solely as Creole,

6868-773: The exiles) as a language of trade. Creoles are largely Roman Catholic and influenced by traditional French and Spanish culture left from the first Colonial Period, officially beginning in 1722 with the arrival of the Ursuline Nuns , who were preceded by another order, the sisters of the Sacred Heart, with whom they lived until their first convent could be built with monies from the French Crown. (Both orders still educate girls in 2010). The "fiery Latin temperament" described by early scholars on New Orleans culture made sweeping generalizations to accommodate Creoles of Spanish heritage as well as

6969-399: The female genital mutilation practices. Marriages are traditionally arranged by family members rather than by either the bride or groom. This practice is particularly prevalent in the rural areas. The suitor's family formally sends Kola nuts, a bitter nut from a tree, to the male elders of the bride-to-be. If they accept the nuts, the courtship may begin. Polygamy has been practiced among

7070-533: The female genital mutilation prevalence rates among the Mandinka of The Gambia is the highest at over 96%, followed by FGM among the women of the Jola people at 91%, and Fula people at 88%. Among the Mandinka women of some other countries of West Africa, the FGM prevalence rates are lower, but still range between 40% and 90%. This cultural practice, locally called Niaka or Kuyungo or Musolula Karoola or Bondo , involves

7171-463: The first, and most of these slaves disembarked in Brazil. Scholars have offered several theories on the source of the transatlantic slave trade of Mandinka people. According to Boubacar Barry, a professor of History and African Studies, chronic violence between ethnic groups such as the Mandinka people and their neighbours, combined with weapons sold by slave traders and lucrative income from slave ships to

7272-496: The formation of a distinct Creole identity. The English word creole derives from the French créole , which in turn came from Portuguese crioulo , a diminutive of cria meaning a person raised in one's house. Cria is derived from criar , meaning "to raise or bring up", itself derived from the Latin creare , meaning "to make, bring forth, produce, beget"; which is also the source of the English word "create". It originally referred to

7373-441: The freeborn ( foro ), slaves ( jongo ), and artisans and praise singers ( nyamolo ). The freeborn castes are primarily farmers. The enslaved strata included labor providers to the farmers, as well as leather workers, pottery makers, metal smiths, griots , and others. The Mandinka Muslim clerics and scribes have traditionally been considered a separate occupational caste called Jakhanke , with their Islamic roots traceable to about

7474-418: The intermingling of African Recaptives with Afro-Caribbean people and African Americans . Perhaps due to the range of divergent descriptions and lack of a coherent definition, Norwegian anthropologist T. H. Eriksen concludes: “A Creole society, in my understanding, is based wholly or partly on the mass displacement of people who were, often involuntarily, uprooted from their original home, shedding

7575-582: The later part of the 13th century. The beginnings of Mandinka We originated from Tumbuktu in the land of the Mandinka: the Arabs were our neighbours there... All the Mandinka came from Mali to Kaabu . — Mandinka de Bijini , Transl: Toby Green The oral traditions in Guinea-Bissau Another group of Mandinka people, under Faran Kamara – the son of the king of Tabou – expanded southeast of Mali, while

7676-444: The main features of their social and political organisations on the way, brought into sustained contact with people from other linguistic and cultural areas and obliged to develop, in creative and improvisational ways, new social and cultural forms in the new land, drawing simultaneously on traditions from their respective places of origin and on impulses resulting from the encounter.” Thomas Hylland Eriksen , Creolisation as

7777-410: The meaning of Louisiana Creoles to describe a broad cultural group of people of all races who share a colonial Louisianian background. Louisianians who identify themselves as "Creole" are most commonly from historically Francophone and Hispanic communities. Some of their ancestors came to Louisiana directly from France , Spain , or Germany , while others came via the French and Spanish colonies in

7878-543: The name for languages started from 1879, while as an adjective for languages, its use began around 1748. In Spanish-speaking countries, the word Criollo refers to the descendants of Europeans born in the Americas, but also in some countries, to describe something local or very typical of a particular Latin American region. In the Caribbean , the term broadly refers to all the people, whatever their class or ancestry — African, East Asian, European, Indian — who are part of

7979-457: The original French. The mixed-race Creoles, descendants of mixing of European colonists, slaves, and Native Americans or sometimes Gens de Couleur (free men and women of colour), first appeared during the colonial periods with the arrival of slave populations. Most Creoles, regardless of race, generally consider themselves to share a collective culture. Non-Louisianans often fail to appreciate this and assume that all Creoles are of mixed race, which

8080-532: The partial or total removal of the clitoris, or alternatively, the partial or total removal of the labia minora with the clitoris. Some surveys, such as those by the Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices (GAMCOTRAP), estimate FGM is prevalent among 100% of the Mandinka in Gambia . In 2010, after community efforts of UNICEF and the local government bodies, several Mandinka women's organization pledged to abandon

8181-434: The plants by hand. This is extremely labour-intensive and physically demanding work. Only about 50% of the rice consumption needs are met by local planting; the rest is imported from Asia and the United States. The oldest male is the head of the family, and marriages are commonly arranged. Small mud houses with conical thatch or tin roofs make up their villages, which are organised on the basis of clan groups. While farming

8282-621: The political and cultural center of the Mandinka, but also in Bambuk and the Senegal river valley. The Mande diaspora from Ghana extended from the Atlantic Ocean to Gao . The mythical ancestors of the Malinké and the Bambara people are Kontron and Sanin, the founding "hunter brotherhood". Manden was famous for the large number of animals and game that it sheltered, as well as its dense vegetation, so

8383-464: The practice of slave raids and trade. Fula jihad from Futa Jallon plateau perpetuated and expanded this practice. These jihads captured the highest number of slaves to sell to Portuguese traders at the ports controlled by Mandinka people. The insecure ethnic groups, states Rodney, stopped working productively and tried to withdraw for security, which made their social and economic conditions more desperate. Though less powerful, such groups also joined

8484-523: The region, as it is used today, in expressions such as "comida criolla" ("country" food from the area). In the latter period of settlement of Latin America called La Colonia , the Bourbon Spanish Crown preferred Spanish-born Peninsulares (literally "born in the Iberian Peninsula ") over Criollos for the top military, administrative, and religious offices due to the former mismanagement of

8585-562: The result of creolization of these influences. "Kreyòl" or "Kwéyòl" or "Patois/Patwa" refers to the French-lexicon Creole languages in the Caribbean, including Antillean French Creole , Haitian Creole , and Trinidadian Creole . Creole also refers to Bajan Creole , Bahamian Creole , Belizean Creole , Guyanese Creole , Jamaican Patois , Tobagonian Creole , Trinidadian Creole and Sranan Tongo (Surinamese Creole), among others. People speak French-lexicon Antillean Creole in

8686-510: The retaliatory cycle of slave raids and violence. Walter Hawthorne (a professor of African History) states that the Barry and Rodney explanation was not universally true for all of Senegambia and Guinea, where high concentrations of Mandinka people have traditionally lived. Hawthorne says that numerous Mandinka were not exported to the various European colonies in North America, South America and

8787-418: The side which are used to store coins offered to the praise singers, in appreciation of their performance. The praise singers are called jalibaa or jalolu in Mandinka. Creole peoples Creole peoples may refer to various ethnic groups around the world. The term's meaning exhibits regional variations, often sparking debate. Creole peoples represent a diverse array of ethnicities, each possessing

8888-431: The slave sellers, fed the practice of groups raiding for captives, conducting manhunts, and taking slaves. The victimised ethnic group felt justified in retaliating. Slavery was already an accepted practice before the 15th century, when most enslaved people were taken on routes to North Africa and western Asia by Arab traders. As the demand grew, states Barry, Futa Jallon, led by an Islamic military theocracy, became one of

8989-457: The social strata in all these kingdoms. According to Toby Green, selling slaves along with gold was already a significant part of the trans-Saharan caravan trade across the Sahel between West Africa and the Middle East after the 13th century. With the arrival of Portuguese explorers in Africa as they looked for a sea route to India, the European purchase of slaves had begun. The shipment of slaves by

9090-529: The term Créole in the critically endangered Missouri French . The Mississippi Gulf Coast region has a significant population of Creoles—especially in Pass Christian , Gulfport , Biloxi , and Pascagoula . A community known as Creoletown is located in Pascagoula, with its history on record. Many in this location are Catholic and have also used the Creole, French. and English languages. In colonial Texas,

9191-581: The term Eurafrican was often used though it has largely fallen out of use in the modern era and is no longer recognized at the national level. Today, South African Coloureds and Cape Malay form the majority of the population in the Western Cape and a plurality in the Northern Cape . In addition to Coloured people, the term mestiço is used in Angola and Mozambique to refer to mixed race people, who enjoyed

9292-401: The term "Creole" ( criollo ) distinguished old-world Africans and Europeans from their descendants born in the new world, Creoles; they composed the citizen class of New Spain 's Tejas province. Texas Creole culture revolved around "' ranchos " (Creole ranches), attended mostly by vaqueros (cowboys) of African, Spaniard, or Mestizo descent, and Tlaxcalan Nahuatl settlers , who established

9393-460: The term "Creole" was first used to describe people born in Louisiana, who used the term to distinguish themselves from newly arrived immigrants. It was not a racial or ethnic identifier; it was simply synonymous with "born in the New World," meant to separate native-born people of any ethnic background—white, African, or any mixture thereof—from European immigrants and slaves imported from Africa. Later,

9494-531: The term Creole applies to all people born on the island, while in South Africa , the blending of East African and Southeast Asian slaves with Dutch settlers, later produced a creolized population. The Fernandino Creole peoples of Equatorial Guinea are a mix of Afro-Cubans with Emancipados and English-speaking Liberated Africans , while the Americo-Liberians and Sierra Leone Creoles resulted from

9595-662: The term was racialized after newly arrived Anglo-Americans began to associate créolité, or the quality of being Creole, with racially mixed ancestry. This caused many white Creoles to eventually abandon the label out of fear that the term would lead mainstream Americans to believe them to be of racially mixed descent (and thus endanger their livelihoods or social standing). Later writers occasionally make distinctions among French Creoles (of European ancestry), Creoles of Color (of mixed ethnic ancestry), and occasionally, African Creoles (of primarily African descendant); these categories, however, are later inventions, and most primary documents from

9696-615: The three sons of Tiramakhan Traore , who had led a powerful force to incorporate the area into the Mali Empire . The Nyancho were the maternal descendants of these three couples. They could therefore claim legitimacy through conquest, the Mandinka patrilineal inheritance system, and local Bainuk matrilineal traditions. The term 'Nyancho' is derived from the Mandinka phrase I nyon ten , meaning 'you have no equal. Traore's three sons and their descendants ruled Kaabu's royal provinces (or constituent kingdoms) of Jimara, Pacana, and Sama, alternating

9797-412: The wives' parents when necessary. Wives are expected to live together in harmony , at least superficially. They share work responsibilities of the compound, such as cooking, laundry, and other tasks. Mandinka culture is rich in tradition, music, and spiritual ritual. The Mandinka continue a long oral history tradition through stories, songs, and proverbs. In rural areas, the influence of western education

9898-427: The word Acadian, indicating French Canadian settlers as ancestors. The distinction between "Cajuns" and "Creoles" is stronger today than it was in the past because American racial ideologies have strongly influenced the meaning of the word "Creole" to the extent that there is no longer unanimous agreement among Louisianians on the word's precise definition. Today, many assume that any francophone person of European descent

9999-430: The youngsters have their genitalia ritually mutilated (see articles on male and female genital mutilation ), in separate groups according to their sex. In years past, the children spent up to a year in the bush, but that has been reduced now to coincide with their physical healing time, between three and four weeks. During this time, they learn about their adult social responsibilities and rules of behaviour. Preparation

10100-508: Was a very popular hunting ground. The Camara (or Kamara) are believed to be the oldest family to have lived in Manden, after having left Wagadou, due to drought. They founded the first village of Manding, Kiri, then Kirina, Siby , Kita . A very large number of families that make up the Mandinka community were born in Manden. Manding is the province from which the Mali Empire started, under the leadership of Sundiata Keita . The Manden were initially

10201-575: Was in force throughout the Spanish viceroyalties in the Americas , since the 16th century. During the early Spanish colonial period the Spaniards had a policy selecting promising assimilationist Indigenous to educate and indoctrinate. They were accepted into the colonial leadership but sometimes remained in Spain. Among the descendants of these assimilated sons of chiefs are the Aztec descended Moctezuma de Tultengo . By

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