Marka people
Encyclopedia
The Marka people are a Soninke people of northwest Mali
. They speak the Manding
Marka language
.
merchant communities at the time of the Bambara Empire
, the Maraka largely controlled the desert-side trade between the sahel
communities and nomadic berber
tribes who crossed the Sahara
. The Bambara integrated Maraka communities into their state structure, and Maraka trading posts and plantations multiplied in the Segu
based state and its Kaarta
vassals in the 18th and early 19th centuries. When the pagan Bambara empire was defeated by the Maraka's fellow Muslim Umar Tall
in the 1850s, the Maraka's unique trade and landholdings concessions suffered damage from which they never recovered.
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
. They speak the Manding
Manding languages
The Manding languages are a fairly mutually intelligible group of dialects or languages in West Africa, belonging to the Mande languages. Their best-known members are Bambara, the most widely spoken language in Mali; Mandinka, the main language of Gambia; Maninka or Malinké, a major language of...
Marka language
Marka language
-External links:**...
.
History
MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
merchant communities at the time of the Bambara Empire
Bambara Empire
The Bamana Empire was a large pre-colonial West African state based at Ségou, now in Mali. It was ruled by the Kulubali or Coulibaly dynasty established circa 1640 by Kaladian Coulibaly also known as Fa Sine or Biton-si-u...
, the Maraka largely controlled the desert-side trade between the sahel
Sahel
The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian Savannas in the south.It stretches across the North African continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea....
communities and nomadic berber
Berber mythology
The traditional Berber mythology is the ancient and native set of beliefs and deities developed by the Berber people in their historical land of North Africa...
tribes who crossed the Sahara
Sahara
The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
. The Bambara integrated Maraka communities into their state structure, and Maraka trading posts and plantations multiplied in the Segu
Segu
*Segu may refer to**Ségou, a city in south-central Mali, and former capital of the Bamana Empire**Sergi López Segú, a Spanish footballer**Segu , a novel by Maryse Condé...
based state and its Kaarta
Kaarta
Kaarta, or Ka'arta , was a short-lived Bambara kingdom in what is today the western half of Mali.As Bitòn Coulibaly tightened his control over Ségou, capital of his newly-founded Bambara Empire, a faction of Ségou Bambara dissatisfied with his rule fled west...
vassals in the 18th and early 19th centuries. When the pagan Bambara empire was defeated by the Maraka's fellow Muslim Umar Tall
Umar Tall
El Hadj Umar ibn Sa'id Tall , , born in what is now actual Senegal was a West African political leader, Islamic scholar, and Toucouleur military commander who founded a brief empire encompassing much of what is now Guinea, Senegal, and Mali.-Name:Umar Tall's name is spelled variously: in...
in the 1850s, the Maraka's unique trade and landholdings concessions suffered damage from which they never recovered.