At the close of the 18th century, the West African hosts of the Scottish traveler Mungo Park informed him of a range of mountains situated in "a large and powerful kingdom called Kong".
its a clan among the Sonongui, who are a Mande group closely related to the Dyula. the latter wouldn't consider the former to be similar to them cause they were primarily scholars and merchants while the Sonongui were warriors, although modern social realities have altered that dynamic.
the answer to that is extremely long, but ill try to simply it
Bambara, Dyula-Wangara and Maninka are names for population groups which are associated with specific languages in the Mande language family, but are also categorised as "tribes" or "ethnicities" in anthropological studies of the Mande, which can be confusing since ethnicities are not bounded entities but extremely fluid social groups that are influenced by the political structures of the societies they live in.
meaning that who was Dyula in the 18th century, may not be same as who was Dyula in the 20th century, etc, and who counts as Dyula in Kong, may not be the same as a Dyula in Bobo-Dioulasso, etc. People marry into (or out of) ethnicities, they adopt (or discard) the culture of ethnicities, they make claims of belonging to ethnicities (or claims rejecting them), etc.
While the barries to entry and exit arent so fluid to render the concept of ethnicity/tribe useless (or to be completely made up like some like to claim), they are not as rigid as, say, nationality, which would require that one goes through several legal hurdles to attain. So one may not become a Dyula within their lifetime, but their kids could become Dyula through marriage, or they could move to another place and be considered Dyula by their non-Dyula hosts, or the kingdom/state that they live in could categorise them as Dyula for political expediency, etc
To sumarise, many groups adopted the Watara patronymic even when they werent directly related to Seku Umar. They were neverthless considered Watara by the people around them, their children were also considered Watara, and other Watara groups may have also considered them Watara.
When it was politically useful to claim a larger identity, they could say they were Sonongui using the same method, it didnt matter too much how "accurate" that was, as long as many accepted it, including other Sonongui, and whichever political authority though such an identity was relevant.
Then when the French wanted to carve up clear ethnic boundaries (no matter how idiotic such an endevour was), the fluid social groups became abit more rigid, forming themselves into tribes, languages, and linguistic groups.
So a Watara living in Kong, who previously only really cared about his identity as far as his immediate lineage (clan) was concerned, was now compelled to define themselves based on the new larger social groups that had political clout, like tribes (eg Bambara), or language families (eg Mande).
The answer to your question would require, either;
1) a deep dive into your family's geneological history (which would understandbly be too complex),
or
2) a simple overview of Watara history, which only goes as far as tracing the name to Seku Umar, and his ancestral origins to a region in the heartland of Medieval Mali.
Great Post. I was wondering if you could write about the history of Mauritania and the Almoravids, and their political history within West Africa and the Sahara, pre-Bani Hassan dominance in the 1600's and onwards. Also the connections and political history between Saharan ethnic groups and Sahelian ethnic groups/states.
Yes I've read those, I'm specifically looking for the connections between the Fulbe and Amazighs in those areas who contributed to the rise of the Almoravids as i remember reading one of their leaders partnered with the Fulas, and their history in the conquest of Northwestern Africa
there's a (fairly long) section in here on the alliances between the Almoravids, Takrur (i assume those are the Fulbe), and Ghana, as well as more intriguing ones like the king of Zafun
Thanks, do you also have any knowledge of paper making in west Africa and where it was sorced, as well as indigenous scripts within the region in use during or before the introduction of Arabic (moreso specifically for Western Sahelian ethnicities)?
hello sir how are you please I have a question in your work you affirm that the dyula is an ethnic group and that the dyula ethnic group is also called wangara I ask this question because in my country the Ivory Coast people that dyula is not an ethnic group and I want to prove the opposite please help me
Hi Aminata. In the present day, I believe the Dyula are an ethnic group; they speak a distinct language, are associated with specific locations, and share a mostly similar culture across these locations.
However, in the past, the term Dyula was incredibly difficult to categorize, just like any social group analyzed from a historical perspective. Here's a helpful excerpt from Anne Haour's book; "Outsiders and Strangers: An Archaeology of Liminality in West Africa":
"The term 'dyula' has been best discussed. It can be understood variously as a linguistic classification, an ethno-sociological group, or a category of professional or semi-professional itinerant, mainly Mand- ing-speaking, traders (Perinbam 1974). In certain areas of West Africa, one simply becomes dyula [sic], that is, one becomes a merchant, and there are no ethnic undertones; in other areas the word 'Dyula' refers to strongly cohesive groups opposing to the local culture an original Mande culture (Person 1968: 97).
Apparently, then, at some stage the Dyula "disappeared" under regional nomenclature which identified them as "Wangara", "Marka", "Dafing", etc." (Perinbam 1974: 680). In some cases, migration involved a change of language, in a process that is still incompletely understood. Perinbam (1974: 678) suggests that by the beginning of the twentieth century 'Dyula' had already taken on amongst migrants of Manding-speaker descent an 'ethnic' meaning, albeit a vague one: that of traders, Muslims, living in enclaves in non-Manding communities. For her, the term 'Dyula' originally related to a socio-economic reality, which later gave way to ethno-linguistic claims (Perinbam 1974).
We thus have a blanket term for a group of people who, while revealing different identities at different times and places, and being tied at times to specific localities while at other times spread widely, show a common denominator- involvement in long-distance trade and adherence to the Islamic faith (Massing 2000)."
Another great one, thank you so much.
grateful.
Is Watara a clan among the Dyula?
its a clan among the Sonongui, who are a Mande group closely related to the Dyula. the latter wouldn't consider the former to be similar to them cause they were primarily scholars and merchants while the Sonongui were warriors, although modern social realities have altered that dynamic.
If I may ask, is anyone who bears the name Watara a Sonongui? I'm a Wangara and I'm from the Watara clan
I would be very happy if you would clarify this for me: is Wangara, Dyula, Bambara and Maninka the same tribes?
the answer to that is extremely long, but ill try to simply it
Bambara, Dyula-Wangara and Maninka are names for population groups which are associated with specific languages in the Mande language family, but are also categorised as "tribes" or "ethnicities" in anthropological studies of the Mande, which can be confusing since ethnicities are not bounded entities but extremely fluid social groups that are influenced by the political structures of the societies they live in.
meaning that who was Dyula in the 18th century, may not be same as who was Dyula in the 20th century, etc, and who counts as Dyula in Kong, may not be the same as a Dyula in Bobo-Dioulasso, etc. People marry into (or out of) ethnicities, they adopt (or discard) the culture of ethnicities, they make claims of belonging to ethnicities (or claims rejecting them), etc.
While the barries to entry and exit arent so fluid to render the concept of ethnicity/tribe useless (or to be completely made up like some like to claim), they are not as rigid as, say, nationality, which would require that one goes through several legal hurdles to attain. So one may not become a Dyula within their lifetime, but their kids could become Dyula through marriage, or they could move to another place and be considered Dyula by their non-Dyula hosts, or the kingdom/state that they live in could categorise them as Dyula for political expediency, etc
To sumarise, many groups adopted the Watara patronymic even when they werent directly related to Seku Umar. They were neverthless considered Watara by the people around them, their children were also considered Watara, and other Watara groups may have also considered them Watara.
When it was politically useful to claim a larger identity, they could say they were Sonongui using the same method, it didnt matter too much how "accurate" that was, as long as many accepted it, including other Sonongui, and whichever political authority though such an identity was relevant.
Then when the French wanted to carve up clear ethnic boundaries (no matter how idiotic such an endevour was), the fluid social groups became abit more rigid, forming themselves into tribes, languages, and linguistic groups.
So a Watara living in Kong, who previously only really cared about his identity as far as his immediate lineage (clan) was concerned, was now compelled to define themselves based on the new larger social groups that had political clout, like tribes (eg Bambara), or language families (eg Mande).
The answer to your question would require, either;
1) a deep dive into your family's geneological history (which would understandbly be too complex),
or
2) a simple overview of Watara history, which only goes as far as tracing the name to Seku Umar, and his ancestral origins to a region in the heartland of Medieval Mali.
Thank you very much for this! 🙏🏿
I really appreciate you response
Great Post. I was wondering if you could write about the history of Mauritania and the Almoravids, and their political history within West Africa and the Sahara, pre-Bani Hassan dominance in the 1600's and onwards. Also the connections and political history between Saharan ethnic groups and Sahelian ethnic groups/states.
i may have already written about that, twice:
here's an essay on ancient Tichitt and medieval Ghana
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-building-in-ancient-west-africa
and another on the south-western saharan towns of Tichitt, Walata, Wadan and Chinguetti
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-of-the-south-western-saharan
Yes I've read those, I'm specifically looking for the connections between the Fulbe and Amazighs in those areas who contributed to the rise of the Almoravids as i remember reading one of their leaders partnered with the Fulas, and their history in the conquest of Northwestern Africa
there's a (fairly long) section in here on the alliances between the Almoravids, Takrur (i assume those are the Fulbe), and Ghana, as well as more intriguing ones like the king of Zafun
https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-building-in-ancient-west-africa
Thanks, do you also have any knowledge of paper making in west Africa and where it was sorced, as well as indigenous scripts within the region in use during or before the introduction of Arabic (moreso specifically for Western Sahelian ethnicities)?
not yet, but ill look into the Tuareg script soon.
hello sir how are you please I have a question in your work you affirm that the dyula is an ethnic group and that the dyula ethnic group is also called wangara I ask this question because in my country the Ivory Coast people that dyula is not an ethnic group and I want to prove the opposite please help me
thanks in advance
Hi Aminata. In the present day, I believe the Dyula are an ethnic group; they speak a distinct language, are associated with specific locations, and share a mostly similar culture across these locations.
However, in the past, the term Dyula was incredibly difficult to categorize, just like any social group analyzed from a historical perspective. Here's a helpful excerpt from Anne Haour's book; "Outsiders and Strangers: An Archaeology of Liminality in West Africa":
"The term 'dyula' has been best discussed. It can be understood variously as a linguistic classification, an ethno-sociological group, or a category of professional or semi-professional itinerant, mainly Mand- ing-speaking, traders (Perinbam 1974). In certain areas of West Africa, one simply becomes dyula [sic], that is, one becomes a merchant, and there are no ethnic undertones; in other areas the word 'Dyula' refers to strongly cohesive groups opposing to the local culture an original Mande culture (Person 1968: 97).
Apparently, then, at some stage the Dyula "disappeared" under regional nomenclature which identified them as "Wangara", "Marka", "Dafing", etc." (Perinbam 1974: 680). In some cases, migration involved a change of language, in a process that is still incompletely understood. Perinbam (1974: 678) suggests that by the beginning of the twentieth century 'Dyula' had already taken on amongst migrants of Manding-speaker descent an 'ethnic' meaning, albeit a vague one: that of traders, Muslims, living in enclaves in non-Manding communities. For her, the term 'Dyula' originally related to a socio-economic reality, which later gave way to ethno-linguistic claims (Perinbam 1974).
We thus have a blanket term for a group of people who, while revealing different identities at different times and places, and being tied at times to specific localities while at other times spread widely, show a common denominator- involvement in long-distance trade and adherence to the Islamic faith (Massing 2000)."
ok thank you very much for your help. I will continue my research with the name of the book you gave me
thank you and be well