Kingdoms & polities · attested from the 16th century
The Poro
The men's initiation and governing society that regulated law, initiation and trade across ethnic lines.
Biography
Poro was not a secret club but a form of government: it initiated boys into adulthood, adjudicated disputes between towns, regulated markets and could close the roads or declare a truce.
Its authority crossed ethnic and linguistic boundaries, which is why a traveller could pass from Gola to Kpelle to Loma country under a single juridical order. Sande, its counterpart, held equivalent authority over women's initiation and much of ritual life.
Historical significance
The institution that supplied continuity and law where there was no centralised state — and the reason the region was ordered without being unified.
Timeline
- 16th c.First European notices of the institution
- c. 1800Operating across the western forest belt
- 1941Documented in detail by G. W. Harley
Related entries
References
- Harley, G. W. (1941). Notes on the Poro in Liberia.
- d'Azevedo, Warren (1959).
Suggested reading
- d'Azevedo (1962). 'Uses of the Past in Gola Discourse.'