The Bambara, also known as Bamana or Banmana, are a Mandé ethnic group native to various regions in West Africa, including southern Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Senegal. They constitute the largest Mandé ethnic group in Mali today, with approximately 80% of the population speaking the Bambara language, regardless of their ethnicity.
The term "Bambara" means "unbeliever" or "infidel" in the Bambara language.
Bambaras: A Glimpse into Bamana Men of Ivory Coast Circa 1910 - Vintage Postcard by Photographer G. Kante
The group acquired this name because it resisted Islam after the religion was introduced in 1854 by the Tukulor conqueror El Hadj Umar Tal. The Bambara language, also known as Bamana or Bamanankan, belongs to the Mande language family within the larger Niger-Congo family. It is spoken by as many as six million people, including second language users, primarily in Mali, and to a lesser extent in Burkina Faso and Senegal.
The Bambara language serves as the language of the Bambara ethnic group, which has a population of about 4 million people. It also functions as a lingua franca in Mali, with an estimated 80% of the population speaking it as either a first or second language. The language follows a Subject-Object-Verb word order and features two tones. Although written literature is limited, there is a rich tradition of oral literature, often comprising tales of kings and heroes. Griots, known as Jɛliw in Bambara, play a vital role in preserving and transmitting this oral literature through storytelling and recitation. Many of their songs date back to the old kingdom of Mali.
Standard Bamara is the main sub-dialect of Bambara, heavily influenced by Western Maninkakan. However, there are numerous local dialects, including Somono, Segou, San, Beledugu, Ganadugu, Wasulu, and Sikasso.
Since the 1970s, Bambara has primarily been written using the Latin script, supplemented with some additional phonetic characters. The language uses seven vowels: a, e, ɛ, i, o, ɔ, and u. Accents can be used to indicate tonality. The former digraph "ny" is now written as ɲ or ñ in Senegal. The ambiguous digraph "ng" represents both the [ŋɡ] sound of English "finger" and the [ŋ] sound of "singer." The 1966 Bamako spelling conventions render the latter sound as "ŋ". Alternatively, the N'Ko alphabet, created by Solomana Kante in 1949, is still used for writing Bambara, alongside the Arabic script, although the Latin script is more commonly used.
Bambara language is also prominent in music, with many Malian artists, such as Oumou Sangaré, Rokia Traoré, Ali Farka Touré, Salif Keita, Habib Koité, and the blind couple Amadou & Mariam, often singing in Bambara. Artists from other countries have also incorporated the language into their music, such as Spanish rock group Dover, who released an album in 2010 with the majority of lyrics in Bambara.
Historically, the Bamana originated as a royal subgroup of the Mandinka people and played a significant role in the founding of the Mali Empire in the 13th century. The Mandé ethnic group, including both Manding and Bambara, traces its roots back to ancient sites near Tichitt in southern Mauritania, where urban centers began to emerge as early as 2500 BC. The Soninke Mandé dominated western Mali between 300 AD and 1100 AD, leading the Ghana Empire..
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