Malinké

The Malinke (also called Malinke or Maninka ) an African nation that wide regions of Senegal and Mali over Guinea to Côte d' Ivoire and Burkina Faso are populated.

• 2.1 language
• 2.2 Music
• 2.3 Religion

History

Emergence of the Mali Empire

They are according to oral tradition, descendants of around 2760 BC immigrated there Wangara. They were the main people of the former African- Islamic Empire of Mali at the upper Niger, which existed between the 12th and 17th centuries. It has been Islamized in the 13th century by the Arabs in the north and had reached its heyday in the 15th century.

The Malinke were in Europe, especially through the prime of their great kingdom Mali esp. in the 13th - 15th Known century, whose wealth and splendor was legendary and was relayed by Arab travelers. Traveled in 1324, the then king of Mali, Mansa Musa of Mali to Mecca and held stopover in Cairo. He gave away so much gold there that after that time sources declined, the price of gold for a period of 12 years by half. The Kingdom of Mali with an area of ​​about 1 million square kilometers, revealed numerous ministries with far-reaching development plans. Mansa Musa left his farm ministers experiments for improved rice varieties take on experimental fields. He took a North African architects into the country to improve the local architecture, from which the so-called " Sudanese architecture " emerged as a mixed culture (eg, seen from the Mosque of Djenne in Mali, the largest clay building plant in the world ).

Presence

Today's Mandinka live primarily on agriculture. It is mainly cultivated millet, moreover, is operated on a small scale animal husbandry, however, mainly to act and for reasons of prestige. The houses of the Malinke are the typical round houses of the region, thatched and in small villages grouped with picket fence.

Culture

Language

Their language, Maninka called in different variants Malinke, Maninka, Manenka etc., is one of the main variants of Mandenkan (next to the Bambara ) and thus belongs to the Mande languages. It is written in their own N'Ko font.

Music

The Malinke are famous worldwide for their music, which heavily makes use of different drums and rhythm is very strong. In particular, the Djembe is a central part of the Malinke music, but also the bass drums Dununba ( doundounba ) Sangban and Kenkeni ( kensedeni ). In general, three bass drums are played together with three djembes, where the bass drums a 12/8 or 16/8-Takt play. The accompaniment of drums done by balafon, flutes and rattles, this often comes singing ( from a soloist and two accompanying voices ) and dance.

An internationally known musicians of the Malinke is Famoudou Konaté.

Religion

Since the 12th century the Mandinka are predominantly Muslims.