A blurb on the Ethnic Groups of The Gambia

I got hold of my host sister’s, Khadija’s, textbook: Social and Environmental Studies (grade 9) and wanted to share with you some things I read about the Gambia’s history, its culture and people. The information in this write-up is base on this book.

Even after four months spent here it still fascinates me how different ethnic groups live side by side in peace. The major ethnic groups are the Mandingo, the Fulla, the Wolof, the Serere, the Jola, the Serahule, the Aku, and the Manjagos. The groups also have different dialects within themselves.

Most of the people speak several languages. If lets say Fulla man marries the Mandingo wife their children will speak both languages or if Wolof family moves to Jola village they and their children most likely will learn speak Jola language and etc. If a Jola child has Fulla and/or Mandingo friend, he learns to speak those languages.

The Kombo area is dominated by Wolof language, which is considered local business language. So when I am in Kombo area I usually use English, since I know only few Wolof words. My village is dominated by Mandingo. There are also quite a few Jola families, but most of them speak Mandingo language.

Nowadays intermarrying between the ethnic groups is common. The ethnicity of offspring is considered the same as his/her father’s.

Manndingo is the largest ethnic group in the Gambia today. They originated from Manding tribe in the empire of Mali. Their significant migration to the Gambia started in 13^th century, when the empire of Mali was founded. They moved in search for better agricultural lands and more opportunities for conquest and settlement. Mandinko established their rule in the current areas of Guinea Bissau, the Cassamance region of Senegal (today’s Senegal area, south of the Gambia) and the Gambia. The empire had a centralized system of government with three levels of authority: the lineage, the village and the state level. Lineage is referred as an extended family – everyone, excluding the strangers, belonged to the lineage. The members of the lineage lived in the same or related compounds. At the village level, the village had a chief with the council and at state level – the king with the council. The empire came to the end by the 19^th century, when it was invaded by the Fulla. Today Mandinko people are ingaged in business and farming, especially groundnut production.     

Fula origin is not well known but it is thought that they are the descendents of Berbers who intermarried with the people of Tekrur. The first group of Fulla settlers consisted of nomads, cattle rearers. Even to the present day most of the kettle is owned by the Fulla families, but they usually have permanent homesteads. Later another group of Fulla settlers came to the The Gambia with the intention to spread the Islam. They had a theocratic system of government - the law of the land was based on Sharia (Islamic) Law. The states, “imamates”, were ruled by the imam, the religious leader. After conquering Kaabu (Mandingo) empire and conquering other surrounding places the Kingdom of Fulladu was established which joined together the area of Cassamance region and part of the Gambia. Today most of them are engaged in raising cattle, farming and business. Northern, eastern and central part of the country is still largely populated by fullas.

Wolof people originated from Sahara (Southern Mauritania) and migrated to the current Gambia area around 8^th century looking for the more fertile land to farm. They had similar governmental structure as Mandingos. However, what is interesting is that women played a leading role in their political system. King’s mother or sister, called “Linguere”, was responsible for settling disputes on women affairs, represent king in state functions and supervise the villages among other things. The heaviest migration of wolof into the Gambia occurred during the religious wars in 19^th century. They established themselves in Banjul area and on the north bank of the Gambia River as traders and shipbuilders. However, at present north bank wolof people are mostly engaged in farming.

The origin of the Serere people is not known. However, it is believed that they were forced by frequent invasions to migrate from the north Senegal and settled to the north of Gambia River. There were two Serere states in the region - Sine and Soloum. ‘Saalum’ means ‘North’ in Madinko language, which is believed came from the Soloum name of the state. Serere people are closely related to the Wolofs. Today they are found primarily in along the river mouth. Fishing is their main occupation.

Jolas are believed to be the earliest residents of the indigenous people in the Gambia. They never organized themselves in the kingdoms and lived in small independent communities/ villages lead by the village head, “Kanda”. The “Ayi” was a spiritual leader in some Jola communities who was rarely seen by the people. He was isolated and lived in groves. Jola women never inherited property left by their husbands or fathers. Even though Jolas embraced Islam or Christianity, they retained more of their traditional practices and beliefs more than the other ethnic groups. Today many Jolas live in the coastal areas of the country. Mostly they produce rice, palm tree products and raise animals.

It is believed that the Serahuli are rulers and merchants from Ghana Empire. They were highly involved with the trade during the Trans-Saharan trade, buying and selling commodities such as gold, salt and kola nuts among the others. Although many live and farm in eastern part of the country, Serahuli are known for their diamond and gold trading activities throughout West, Central and West Africa. They are also known for their tie-die and pottery. 

 Aku (or Creole in Sierra Leone) are descendants of freed African slaves who came to The Gambia during 19^th century from Sierra Leone after the abolition of the slave trade. Due to their close contacts with European community, they were the first to receive formal education. Today they are mostly engaged in Gambian commerce and the civil service.

There is little known about the origins of Manjago people, but it is believed that they originated from the coastal region of Guinea Bissau. They were seafaring people who worked with the Portuguese in trading. They are also known as excellent weavers. Even today whenever there are weaved baskets in the compound, it is almost certain that the compound belongs to Manjago family. They are mainly Christians who grow pigs (and eat their meat) and drink palm wine.

Oh…and I forgot another important group – tuubabs who came to The Gambia from tuubabadu, the land of whites.

Even though each ethnic has its own culture, traditions and language, they share many cultural patterns between themselves due to interconnection throughout the history, the small size of the country, same religion (Islam) and intermarriage.

I think another reason for such peaceful coexistence between different ethnic groups are established joking relationships. For the longest time I could not grasp the meaning of it until one day it finally made sense. The relationships are between the ethnic groups (e.g. Serer and Jola, Fulla and Jola), settlements (e.g. Sukuta – Gunjur), surnames (e.g. Conteh – Camara, Jallow – Bah, Jammeh – Badjie) and others. When I was in the training village my surname was Conteh (I lived in Conteh Kunda/compound) so anytime I passed through Camara Kunda Mr. Camara used to comment on how much Conteh family eats, that they have big stomachs and etc. You just laugh and talk back that Camaras are the ones who eat non stop, that they are the slaves for the Conteh. Historically many different relationships and jokes formed between different groups many of which I have not learned yet. It is so fascinating!