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710 SONINKE
Most live in Mali, Upper Volta and Ivory Coast, while smaller groups are found
in Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania. According to their oral history, they are
related to ancestors of the Caucasian race from the Saharan-Mediterranean region,
probably Berbers, who exercised considerable authority and power in the Sudanese
Sahel, in Ghana, near Koumbi, in the Ouagadougou until the end of the
eleventh century and, later, at Diara, near Nioro.
Since then the Soninke have formed numerous communities during their migrations
and are referred to by their neighbors under a variety of names. They
are called Diakhanke, Ouakore or Aswanik by the Moors of Mauritania; Azor
(from their original tongue, Azer) and Ahl-Massin in Tagant, Ouadane and in
the Niger buckle (5,000 of these live in Marseilles, France). They are also referred
to as Dyankanke in upper Gambia and in Futa Jalon, where they may also be
called Tubakai. The Fulani, Hausa and Songhay call them Wangarbe, Wangarawa
and Wankore, respectively.
Except where they form compact and relatively pure ethnic communities, such
as in the regions of Nioro, Nara, Guidimakha between Kayes and Selibaby in
Mauritania and Bakel in Senegal, the Soninke have almost everywhere else
abandoned Azer and speak the tongues of their larger neighbors in the countries
where they happen to live—Songhay at Djenne, Bambara in the region of Bamako,
Dyula in Dafina (Upper Volta) and Odienne in southern Ivory Coast.
The Soninke were forcibly converted to Islam by the Almoravids in the eleventh
century and subsequently became fervent propagators of the religion. Today,
their clerics are among the most learned Muslims and educated people of West
Africa. Firmly attached to the soil, the Soninke's occupation is either agriculture
or trading, providing intense competition in the field to the Dyula (see Dyula).
In Gambia and in Guinea-Bissau (where they are referred to as Ligbe), they are
notorious illegal traffickers. More recently, the Soninke have taken to sea and
have become excellent sailors.
Generally the Soninke's social life has been deeply influenced by Islam, but
the traditional person remains superficially Muslim, leaving the practice of the
religion to the clerical clans. Beliefs concerning the nature of man are at present
in a fluid stage with much remaining and still believed in from the animistic
substratum. The destiny of man after death, however, has been more deeply
influenced by Islam. The Soninke, therefore, believe in the "vital force," which
is impersonal and which goes to the nether world to be absorbed into the deity.
The "shadow soul" which enters the body on the eighth day after birth, upon
the naming of the child, leaves the body during sleep, is the element exposed
to seizure by witches and, after death, wanders about the earth to be reunited
with the body upon resurrection.
Soninke society is highly stratified, and mobility between the levels is still
minimal in a traditional milieu. The clergy is drawn from the clerical class. A
special distinction is made for those with juridical training. The chief regional