Mande Written Script from West Africa

[Samori Toure]

This is an old video, but since I am blown away by the history of the Mande people I try to post information from time to time on their civilizations. Research is now showing that the Mande people of West Africa has some of the oldest written script and it seems to date back to the same time that the Egyptians and Sumerians began writing. Some researchers now realize that the Sumerians did not invent writing and writing likely started in North and West Africa.

Starts @2:55.

 

[Waldo Geraldo Faldo]

This is an old video, but since I am blown away by the history of the Mande people I try to post information from time to time on their civilizations. Research is now showing that the Mande people of West Africa has some of the oldest written script and it seems to date back to the same time that the Egyptians and Sumerians began writing. Some researchers now realize that the Sumerians did not invent writing and writing likely started in North and West Africa.

Starts @2:55.

You have anymore material on this?

 

[Premeditated]

Mande are the goat Africans.
no tribalism
Sudano region need to develop so they can spend money researching some ancient sites. do bad most of them are in Mauritania. Mauritania is a lost cause.

edit: @The Chief do you know if the vai language spoken in Liberia is based on the vai writing system from ancient Maiuritania? I know it's also a mande language. I've never met a liberian who spoke it though.

 

[Samori Toure]

You have anymore material on this?

http://www.olmec98.net/mandeWriting.pdf



Kathleen Hau has a book that I can no longer find in print called "Pre-Islamic writing in West Africa."
Pre-Islamic writing in West Africa (Article, 1973) [WorldCat.org]

David Dalby has a book called "A survey of the indigenous scripts of Liberia and Sierra Leone: Vai, Mende, Loma, Kpelle and Bassa."
A survey of the indigenous scripts of Liberia and Sierra Leone: Vai, Mende, Loma, Kpelle and Bassa : David Dalby : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive


‘The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu,’ by Joshua Hammer

 

[Samori Toure]

Mande are the goat Africans.
no tribalism
Sudano region need to develop so they can spend money researching some ancient sites. do bad most of them are in Mauritania. Mauritania is a lost cause.

edit: @The Chief do you know if the vai language spoken in Liberia is based on the vai writing system from ancient Maiuritania? I know it's also a mande language. I've never met a liberian who spoke it though.

I am not sure if @Chief position is that the Vai are not Mandingo or if he is saying that they are not Mande. Maybe he can clarify that for us, because the Vai are clearly a Mande people but he might be stating that they are not Mandingo.

My position is that all Mande people are Mandingo or Mandenka, because Mandeka is two words "Ka" which means "citizen of Manden" "people of Manden" or "Subjects of Manden." Of course the Arab or Fulani word for Manden is Mali (which is actually Mauritania). So Mandenka is "Mande"+"Nka." Mandingo/Mandengo means "Mande +Ngo", which is the same thing as Mandinka and Malinke. @Chief has stated that Mande is distinct from Mandingo, Mandinka and Malinke, because Mandingo/Mandinka/Malinke are actual tribes within the larger Mande family. I concur with him that is how those groups are interpreted now, but research that I have reviewed showed that they are not distinct and the only difference between those specific tribes now and other Mande groups is that other Mande groups moved into different regions where they mixed with other local ethnic groups.

QI: some quite interesting facts about Mali
Saylor.org's Ancient Civilizations of the World/Empire of Mali - Wikibooks, open books for an open world
History of The Djembe

My maternal line is Mende from Sierra Leone. My paternal line is Bissa from Burkina Faso. Both of those are Mande groups, but on DNA tests my father shows up as Mandingo and my mother shows up as Mende/Mandingo. Mende literally means Mande.

 

[Premeditated]

I am not sure if @Chief position is that the Vai are not Mandingo or if he is saying that they are not Mande. Maybe he can clarify that for us, because the Vai are clearly a Mande people but he might be stating that they are not Mandingo.

My position is that all Mande people are Mandingo or Mandenka, because Mandeka is two words "Ka" which means "citizen of Manden" "people of Manden" or "Subjects of Manden." Of course the Arab or Fulani word for Manden is Mali (which is actually Mauritania). So Mandenka is "Mande"+"Nka." Mandingo/Mandengo means "Mande +Ngo", which is the same thing as Mandinka and Malinke. @Chief has stated that Mande is distinct from Mandingo, Mandinka and Malinke, because Mandingo/Mandinka/Malinke are actual tribes within the larger Mande family. I concur with him that is how those groups are interpreted now, but research that I have reviewed showed that they are not distinct and the only difference between those specific tribes now and other Mande groups is that other Mande groups moved into different regions where they mixed with other local ethnic groups.

QI: some quite interesting facts about Mali
Saylor.org's Ancient Civilizations of the World/Empire of Mali - Wikibooks, open books for an open world
History of The Djembe

My maternal line is Mende from Sierra Leone. My paternal line is Bissa from Burkina Faso. Both of those are Mande groups, but on DNA tests my father shows up as Mandingo and my mother shows up as Mende/Mandingo. Mende literally means Mande.

I'm kpelle and fulani
kpelle people came down to Liberian around the 17th century. another mende language. I understand kpelle, but can't speak it. and people who actually speak kpelle understand loma but can't speak it

 

[Apollo Creed]

Mande are the goat Africans.
no tribalism
Sudano region need to develop so they can spend money researching some ancient sites. do bad most of them are in Mauritania. Mauritania is a lost cause.

edit: @The Chief do you know if the vai language spoken in Liberia is based on the vai writing system from ancient Maiuritania? I know it's also a mande language. I've never met a liberian who spoke it though.

I dont know much about modern Mauritania, but the Vai are a Mande group so maybe. I never looked into their migration patterns, but most Mande groups moved south in larger numbers. Id assume anyone who went elsewhere got absorbed into other groups.