Niominka people
Encyclopedia
The Niominka people are an ethnic group in Senegal
living on the islands of the Saloum River
delta. They are currently classified as a subgroup of the Serer
.
Being island-dwellers, they participate in both agriculture and aquaculture. The primary agricultural produce is made up of rice
, millet
, and peanut
s. As for the aquaculture, the men fish and the women gather shellfish, although environmental problems have become an aquacultural threat.
The Niominka are also beginning to look into tourism.
, their name is drawn from Mandinka
, meaning "coastal people" (Niumi = coast, and Nka = men), and were known to have been ruled by a mansa
(Mandinka for "king"), suggesting they might have originally been either a Mandinka people
that were later "Sererized" by migrants from the north, or conversely, a Serer people that were for some time "Mandinkized" by their neighbors from the south. They were overlooked in the process of the "organization" of the Sine
and Saloum kingdoms via the Mandinka Guelowar
dynasty in the 14th C. Theories suggest they were originally neither Serer nor Mandinka, but an altogether different people, probably related to the Jola people
and speakers of Bak language that inhabited the banks of the Gambia river
, until they were pushed from below by the migration of Mandinka from the south and east in the 13th C., only to hit the barrier of migrating Serer people
from the north, and as a result ended up squeezed into a corner of the delta, south of the Saloum River
. A supplementary theory suggests they were not a distinctive people, but rather just a disparate collection of indeterminate aboriginal riverine inhabitants and migrants, refugees and fugitives from neighboring Mandinka and Serer states that flocked to that relatively inaccessible and ungoverned delta corner, and eked out a largely independent existence.
The Niominka were largely unorganized, with an egalitarian social structure quite unlike their neighbors. The nominal overlordship of the Niominka seems to have flipped back and forth between between the Mandinka mansa of Barra to the south and the Serer king of Saloum
to the north. The Niominka adopted some cultural and economic elements from both, e.g. cultivation of millet from Serer, rice from Mandinka, but also possess elements quite distinctive in their own right, most notably riverine fishing. The Niominka are believed to have been the only traditionally aquacultural
people on the stretch of the west African coast south of Cape Vert and north of the Bissagos.
Old texts sometimes identify the Niominka as the "Niumi Bato", as distinct from their southerly neighbors, the "Niumi Banta" (ancestral to the Mandinka of Barra). Through much of their history, the Niumi Bato (Niominka), the Niumi Banta and the nearby Jokadu were all under the rule of the same Mandinka lord known as the "Niumimansa". However, there were repeated attempts by the Serer king of Saloum
to exert his authority over the Niominka. The Niominka (Niumi Bato) controlled the stretch of coast roughly from the south bank of the Saloum River
to a little above Barra point, including the entries of the Diombos, Banjala and Jinnak rivers and the associated delta islands; the Niumi of Barra (Niumi Banta) lived below them, on the northern shores of the Gambia River
. Niominka pirogue
s may have plied the coast and rivers further south (including the Gambia, maybe as far as the Casamance River
.
According to historians, the Niominka were probably responsible killing the Portuguese
explorer and slave-trader Nuno Tristão
in 1446. Tristão had ventured up the Diombos river on a longboat with his crew intending to find a native settlement to raid, when the Portuguese were trapped by Niominka canoes and massacred. The memoirs of Diogo Gomes
suggest the Niominka canoes proceeded to venture out to sea, overhwelmed the remaining Portuguese in the waiting caravel
, and proceeded to drag the ship upriver to dismantle it, its anchor later being found in the possession of the Niumimansa. The very next year, the Niumimansa ordered an attack on another Portuguese exploration-slaving party, led by Estêvão Afonso, although this was probably carried out further south, nearer the Gambia shore by the Niumi Banta (of Barra) (the Portuguese clambered back aboard and fled). There were two more attacks on Portuguese explorers in the area within the next year - one on Álvaro Fernandes
, a massed canoe attack similar to the attack on Tristão (although Fernandes escaped); another an attack on a landing party led by Danish captain Valarte (who was killed).
The series of attacks on Portuguese explorers by the Niominka (and their neighbors) in the Saloum-Gambia area prompted the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator to suspend all Portuguese expeditions south of Cape Vert in 1448. The Saloum delta in particular, with its rivulets and entries plied by the canoe-borne Niominka, was deemed too dangerous for Portuguese ships to pass. When a new expedition, led by Alvise Cadamosto, finally dared venture to that area again in 1455, one of his landing parties was killed by the mouth of the Saloum (possibly Niominka again), and Cadamosto's own ship attacked and fended off at the mouth of the Gambia by the Niumi Banta. Cadamosto reports the fierceness of the Niumi people rested on their belief that the Portuguese were cannibals, who came to capture black men to eat. But the very next year (1456), when Cadamosto returned, there was a very different reception, and Cadamosto ventured peacefully up the Gambia, and even amicably met the Niumimansa himself. What caused this change of heart is uncertain. In his own (unreliable) memoirs, Portuguese captain Diogo Gomes
reports he was personally responsible for negotiating a peace treaty c.1456 (perhaps a little later) with the Niumimansa, and even of baptising him as a Christian.
In the early 1860s, when the peoples of the Gambia area were raised in revolt against the Mandinka aristocracy by the Fulani marabout
Maba Diakhou Bâ
, the Niumi were not immune. The Niumimansa died in 1861, and an offshoot marabout rising ensued in the coastal area When Maba Bâ launched an attack on the kingdom of Saloum, both the Mandinka-speaking Niumi of Barra and the Serer-speaking Niominka swore allegiance to the marabouts and joined in the attack on the Serers of Saloum.
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
living on the islands of the Saloum River
Saloum River
The Saloum River rises about 105 kilometers east of Kaolack, Senegal, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The significant Saloum Delta is located at its mouth, which is protected as Saloum Delta National Park. The river basin lies within the Kingdom of Saloum....
delta. They are currently classified as a subgroup of the Serer
Serer people
The Serer people along with the Jola people are acknowledged to be the oldest inhabitants of The Senegambia....
.
Population
The territory of the Niominka is called the Gandoul. Most of the Niominka live in its eleven large villages, which include Niodior, Dionewar, and Falia. They represent a little less than 1% of the population of Senegal.Being island-dwellers, they participate in both agriculture and aquaculture. The primary agricultural produce is made up of rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
, and peanut
Peanut
The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...
s. As for the aquaculture, the men fish and the women gather shellfish, although environmental problems have become an aquacultural threat.
The Niominka are also beginning to look into tourism.
History
The origins of the Niominka are obscure and uncertain. Although currently classified together with the Serer peopleSerer people
The Serer people along with the Jola people are acknowledged to be the oldest inhabitants of The Senegambia....
, their name is drawn from Mandinka
Mandinka language
The Mandinka language is a Mandé language spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau and Chad; it is the main language of The Gambia. It belongs to the Manding branch of Mandé, and is thus fairly...
, meaning "coastal people" (Niumi = coast, and Nka = men), and were known to have been ruled by a mansa
Mansa
Mansa is a Mandinka word meaning "king of kings". It is particularly associated with the Keita Dynasty of the Mali Empire, which dominated West Africa from the thirteenth to the fifthteenth century...
(Mandinka for "king"), suggesting they might have originally been either a Mandinka people
Mandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....
that were later "Sererized" by migrants from the north, or conversely, a Serer people that were for some time "Mandinkized" by their neighbors from the south. They were overlooked in the process of the "organization" of the Sine
Kingdom of Sine
The Kingdom of Sine was a pre-colonial Serer kingdom along the north bank of the Saloum River delta in modern Senegal. Much of the kingdom's population was and still is Serer.-History:...
and Saloum kingdoms via the Mandinka Guelowar
Guelowar
The Guelowar was a Serer and Mandinka dynasty between 1350 to 1969. The dynasty was formed through marriage between the Serer paternal dynasties such as Joof or Diouf, Faye and Ndiaye and the Mandinka maternal Guelowar dynasty of Kaabu in modern day Guinea Bissau who escaped the Battle of...
dynasty in the 14th C. Theories suggest they were originally neither Serer nor Mandinka, but an altogether different people, probably related to the Jola people
Jola people
The Jola are an ethnic group found in Senegal , The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. There are great numbers on the Atlantic coast between the southern banks of the Gambia River, the Casamance region of Senegal and the northern part of Guinea-Bissau...
and speakers of Bak language that inhabited the banks of the Gambia river
Gambia River
The Gambia River is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul...
, until they were pushed from below by the migration of Mandinka from the south and east in the 13th C., only to hit the barrier of migrating Serer people
Serer people
The Serer people along with the Jola people are acknowledged to be the oldest inhabitants of The Senegambia....
from the north, and as a result ended up squeezed into a corner of the delta, south of the Saloum River
Saloum River
The Saloum River rises about 105 kilometers east of Kaolack, Senegal, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The significant Saloum Delta is located at its mouth, which is protected as Saloum Delta National Park. The river basin lies within the Kingdom of Saloum....
. A supplementary theory suggests they were not a distinctive people, but rather just a disparate collection of indeterminate aboriginal riverine inhabitants and migrants, refugees and fugitives from neighboring Mandinka and Serer states that flocked to that relatively inaccessible and ungoverned delta corner, and eked out a largely independent existence.
The Niominka were largely unorganized, with an egalitarian social structure quite unlike their neighbors. The nominal overlordship of the Niominka seems to have flipped back and forth between between the Mandinka mansa of Barra to the south and the Serer king of Saloum
Saloum
The Kingdom of Saloum in Senegal is a traditional kingdom which was renamed Saloum in the late 15th century by the son of a Serer and a Guelowar from the kingdom of Kaabu to the south. The ancient and present capital of the Kingdom of Saloum is the city of Kahone. Previous to that, it was known...
to the north. The Niominka adopted some cultural and economic elements from both, e.g. cultivation of millet from Serer, rice from Mandinka, but also possess elements quite distinctive in their own right, most notably riverine fishing. The Niominka are believed to have been the only traditionally aquacultural
Aquaculture
Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...
people on the stretch of the west African coast south of Cape Vert and north of the Bissagos.
Old texts sometimes identify the Niominka as the "Niumi Bato", as distinct from their southerly neighbors, the "Niumi Banta" (ancestral to the Mandinka of Barra). Through much of their history, the Niumi Bato (Niominka), the Niumi Banta and the nearby Jokadu were all under the rule of the same Mandinka lord known as the "Niumimansa". However, there were repeated attempts by the Serer king of Saloum
Saloum
The Kingdom of Saloum in Senegal is a traditional kingdom which was renamed Saloum in the late 15th century by the son of a Serer and a Guelowar from the kingdom of Kaabu to the south. The ancient and present capital of the Kingdom of Saloum is the city of Kahone. Previous to that, it was known...
to exert his authority over the Niominka. The Niominka (Niumi Bato) controlled the stretch of coast roughly from the south bank of the Saloum River
Saloum River
The Saloum River rises about 105 kilometers east of Kaolack, Senegal, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The significant Saloum Delta is located at its mouth, which is protected as Saloum Delta National Park. The river basin lies within the Kingdom of Saloum....
to a little above Barra point, including the entries of the Diombos, Banjala and Jinnak rivers and the associated delta islands; the Niumi of Barra (Niumi Banta) lived below them, on the northern shores of the Gambia River
Gambia River
The Gambia River is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul...
. Niominka pirogue
Pirogue
A pirogue is a small, flat-bottomed boat of a design associated particularly with the Cajuns of the Louisiana marsh. In West Africa they were used as traditional fishing boats. These boats are not usually intended for overnight travel but are light and small enough to be easily taken onto land...
s may have plied the coast and rivers further south (including the Gambia, maybe as far as the Casamance River
Casamance River
The Casamance River flows westward for the most part into the Atlantic Ocean along a path about 200 miles in length. However, only 80 miles of it are navigable. The Casamance is the principal river of the Kolda, Sédhiou, and Ziguinchor Regions in the southern portion of Senegal between The...
.
According to historians, the Niominka were probably responsible killing the Portuguese
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal was Portugal's general designation under the monarchy. The kingdom was located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, Europe and existed from 1139 to 1910...
explorer and slave-trader Nuno Tristão
Nuno Tristão
Nuno Tristão was a 15th century Portuguese explorer and slave trader, active in the early 1440s, traditionally thought to be the first European to reach the region of Guinea .-First Voyage:Nuno Tristão was a knight of the household of Henry the Navigator...
in 1446. Tristão had ventured up the Diombos river on a longboat with his crew intending to find a native settlement to raid, when the Portuguese were trapped by Niominka canoes and massacred. The memoirs of Diogo Gomes
Diogo Gomes
Diogo Gomes , was a Portuguese navigator, explorer and writer.Diogo Gomes was a servant and explorer of Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator. His memoirs were dictated late in his life to Martin Behaim...
suggest the Niominka canoes proceeded to venture out to sea, overhwelmed the remaining Portuguese in the waiting caravel
Caravel
A caravel is a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave her speed and the capacity for sailing to windward...
, and proceeded to drag the ship upriver to dismantle it, its anchor later being found in the possession of the Niumimansa. The very next year, the Niumimansa ordered an attack on another Portuguese exploration-slaving party, led by Estêvão Afonso, although this was probably carried out further south, nearer the Gambia shore by the Niumi Banta (of Barra) (the Portuguese clambered back aboard and fled). There were two more attacks on Portuguese explorers in the area within the next year - one on Álvaro Fernandes
Álvaro Fernandes
Álvaro Fernandes , was a 15th Century Portuguese slave-trader and explorer from Madeira, in the service of Henry the Navigator. He captained two important expeditions , which expanded the limit of the Portuguese discovery of the West African coast, probably as far as the northern borderlands of...
, a massed canoe attack similar to the attack on Tristão (although Fernandes escaped); another an attack on a landing party led by Danish captain Valarte (who was killed).
The series of attacks on Portuguese explorers by the Niominka (and their neighbors) in the Saloum-Gambia area prompted the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator to suspend all Portuguese expeditions south of Cape Vert in 1448. The Saloum delta in particular, with its rivulets and entries plied by the canoe-borne Niominka, was deemed too dangerous for Portuguese ships to pass. When a new expedition, led by Alvise Cadamosto, finally dared venture to that area again in 1455, one of his landing parties was killed by the mouth of the Saloum (possibly Niominka again), and Cadamosto's own ship attacked and fended off at the mouth of the Gambia by the Niumi Banta. Cadamosto reports the fierceness of the Niumi people rested on their belief that the Portuguese were cannibals, who came to capture black men to eat. But the very next year (1456), when Cadamosto returned, there was a very different reception, and Cadamosto ventured peacefully up the Gambia, and even amicably met the Niumimansa himself. What caused this change of heart is uncertain. In his own (unreliable) memoirs, Portuguese captain Diogo Gomes
Diogo Gomes
Diogo Gomes , was a Portuguese navigator, explorer and writer.Diogo Gomes was a servant and explorer of Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator. His memoirs were dictated late in his life to Martin Behaim...
reports he was personally responsible for negotiating a peace treaty c.1456 (perhaps a little later) with the Niumimansa, and even of baptising him as a Christian.
In the early 1860s, when the peoples of the Gambia area were raised in revolt against the Mandinka aristocracy by the Fulani marabout
Marabout
A marabout is a Muslim religious leader and teacher in West Africa, and in the Maghreb. The marabout is often a scholar of the Qur'an, or religious teacher. Others may be wandering holy men who survive on alms, Sufi Murshids , or leaders of religious communities...
Maba Diakhou Bâ
Maba Diakhou Bâ
Maba Diakhou Bâ was a marabout from Rip, and a disciple of the Tijaniyya sufi brotherhood...
, the Niumi were not immune. The Niumimansa died in 1861, and an offshoot marabout rising ensued in the coastal area When Maba Bâ launched an attack on the kingdom of Saloum, both the Mandinka-speaking Niumi of Barra and the Serer-speaking Niominka swore allegiance to the marabouts and joined in the attack on the Serers of Saloum.
Filmography
- Le Mbissa, a documentary film by Alexis Fifis and Cécile Walter, produced by the IRDInstitut de recherche pour le développementThe Institut de recherche pour le développement is a French public science and technology research institute under the joint authority of the French ministries in charge of research and overseas development....
http://www.audiovisuel.ird.fr/fiches_film/mbissa.htm