Ethnic groups · pre-1822 and continuing
Mandingo people
Muslim traders and statesmen of the interior corridor, heirs of the Mali connection.
Biography
Mandingo traders carried Islam, literacy in Arabic, horses, cattle and long-distance credit into the forest belt from the old Mali sphere. They were not simply merchants: at Bopolu they built the Condo Confederation, a multi-ethnic state under Sao Boso that dominated the road from the far interior to Cape Mesurado. Mandingo clerics served as scribes, diviners and diplomats in courts far outside their own country.
Historical significance
One of the sixteen principal peoples mapped in the atlas; Mande (northern) in language, with an economy built on long-distance trade and arabic literacy.
Timeline
- 14th c.Mande commercial networks reach the forest frontier
- c. 1800Condo Confederation consolidated at Bopolu
- 1868Anderson walks the Mandingo road to Musardu
On the map
Associated with Bopolu. Open the historical atlas.
Related entries
References
- Holsoe 1971; Anderson, Journey to Musardu (1870)
Suggested reading
- Dunn, Beyan & Burrowes (2000). Historical Dictionary of Liberia.