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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Wangara, an Old Soninke Diaspora in West Africa? |
Author: | Massing, Andreas W. |
Year: | 2000 |
Periodical: | Cahiers d'études africaines |
Volume: | 40 |
Issue: | 158 |
Pages: | 281-308 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | West Africa |
Subjects: | Soninke long-distance trade history Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Urbanization and Migration |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.175 |
Abstract: | The Wangara are a central element of a Soninke diaspora in West Africa, from Mauritania to northern Nigeria, and go back to the Soninke kingdom of Ghana, where they were known as Wakoré, and obtained royal trade (gold dust) privileges. The author outlines the overall context of the Wangara diaspora and documents Wangara identity through an analysis of primary historical sources, cross-checking of secondary sources with contemporary oral testimony, and his own investigations into oral history of Malian, Ivorian, and Ghanaian settlements and clans. While the Wangara reveal slightly different identities at different times and in different regions, they nevertheless show a common denominator: involvement in the long-distance trade in precious commodities between desert-side and forest fringe, and in the propagation of the Islamic faith. Certain groups holding the imamates in key settlements such as the Sa(gha)nogo, Kamaghaté, Diaba(gha)té, Timité, Cissé-Haidara, Fofana and Bagayogo are of Soninke origin, but other groups identify themselves as 'Wangara'. Ann., bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. |