Malinké

Total population
15.00 million
Regions with significant populations
Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Senegal, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Ghana
Languages
Maninka
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
other Mandé

The Malinké or Maninka are a part of Mandé in Africa.

Approximately 15,000,000 Malinké are scattered throughout West Africa, including:

• Guinea - 3.8 million
• Mali - 3.1 million
• Ivory Coast - 3.0 million
• Senegal - 2.0 million
• Gambia - 900,000
• Sierra Leone - 600,000
• Burkina Faso - 800,000
• Guinea-Bissau - 300,000
• Liberia - 200,000
• Ghana - 200,000

They do not form a majority group in any of the above countries. In Gambia they represent approx. 39% of the country's total population, in Guinea 32% and in Guinea-Bissau 14%.^{[citation needed]}

They speak Malinké or Maninkakan, one of the Manding languages.

The Malinké are generally Muslim, having abandoned earlier pantheist beliefs.

Traditionally they are subsistence farmers, growing small cash crops of peanuts and millet in the Sahel Africa region.

The "Malinke Empire" is an ethnic entity governed from its capital of Kangaba since the 8th century.

[edit] See also

• Mali Empire
• Mandinka people
• Mandé
• Mande languages
• Manding languages
• Mandinka language
• Griot
• Djembe
• Kora
• Mane, Malian Soldiers

[edit] External links

• mnsu.edu Malinke
• A website devoted to Malinke djembe drumming
• A UK based website devoted to playing Malinke djembe rhythms
• The Ethnologue page for this people group

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