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{{Short description|Ethnic group of Senegal}} |
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{{Infobox ethnic group |
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| header = Serer Kings |
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| footer = Two great Serer Kings from the [[Kingdom of Sine]]. The first picture is of Maat Sine (King of Sine) Ama Joof Gnilane Faye Joof who reigned from 1840 to 1853. He was from the Royal House of Semou Njekeh Joof ("Mbind" or "Kerr" Semou Njekeh Joof). He is one of few precolonial [[Senegambian]] kings that became immortalised. This picture was taken by L'abbé David Boillat in 1850 (three years before the death of the King). |
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The second picture is of Maat Sine Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb Joof who reigned from 1897 to 1924. He was from the Royal House of Boury Gnilane Joof ("Mbind" or "Kerr" Boury Gnilane Joof). |
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| width = 90 |
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| image1 = SererMan.jpg |
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| image2 = Buur Sine Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb Joof.jpg |
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}} |
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{{Infobox Ethnic group |
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|group = Niominka |
|group = Niominka |
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|population = |
|population = 10,000 |
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|languages = [[ |
|languages = [[Serer language|Serer]], [[French language|French]] |
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|religions = [[Islam]], [[Serer religion]], [[animism]] |
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The '''Niominka people''' (also called '''Niuminka''' or '''Nyominka''') 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 people|Serer]]. |
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{{ethnic group| |
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|group= Overall Serer Population |
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|poptime=Over 1.8 million<ref>Agence Nationale de Statistique et de la Démographie. Estimated figures for 2007 in Senegal alone</ref> |
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|popplace={{flagcountry|Senegal}} (1,840,712.1), |
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{{flagcountry|Gambia}} (31,900), |
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{{flagcountry|Mauritania}} small number (3500) |
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also found overseas. |
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|rels= [[Serer Religion]], some practice [[Catholicism]] and a very small number practice [[Islam]].<ref>[http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php Joshua Project. Note that you may be directed to the Afghanistan page which is first alphabetically. Select Senegal under country and select Serer-Sine people.]</ref> |
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|langs=[[Serer language|Serer proper]], [[Cangin languages]], [[Wolof language|Wolof]]<br />[[French language|French]] (Senegal and Mauritania),<br />[[English language|English]] (The Gambia), |
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|related=[[Wolof people]], [[Toucouleur people]] and [[Lebou people]] |
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}} |
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The '''Niominka people''' (also called '''Nyominka''') are an ethnic group in [[Senegal]] living on the islands of the [[Saloum River]]. |
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They are a part of the [[Serer people|Serer ethnic group]] and are closely related to the [[Guelowar]] of Sine-Saloum. |
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==Population== |
==Population== |
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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. |
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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. |
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They represent a little less than 1% of the population of Senegal. However, as part of the [[Serer people]] to which they belong, they collectively make up the third largest ethnic group in Senegal.<ref>Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie</ref> They are also found in [[The Gambia]]. |
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Being island-dwellers, they participate in both [[agriculture]] and [[aquaculture]]. The primary agricultural produce is made up of [[rice]], [[millet]], and [[peanuts]]. As for the aquaculture, the men fish and the women gather shellfish. Unfortunately environmental problems have become an aquacultural threat. Therefore, the Niominka are also beginning to look into tourism. |
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The Niominka are also beginning to look into tourism. |
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== Language == |
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They speak a dialect of the [[Serer language]] also called ''Niominka''. |
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==History== |
== History == |
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{{main|Timeline of Serer history|Serer ancient history|Serer history (medieval era to present)}} |
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{{multiple image |
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The origins of the Niominka are obscure and uncertain. Although currently classified together with the [[Serer people]], their name is drawn from [[Mandinka language|Mandinka]], meaning "coastal people" (Niumi = coast, and Nka = men), and were known to have been ruled by a ''[[Mansa (title)|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.<ref>Teixeira da Mota, p.59, 64-65; Cormier-Salem, 1999: p.176</ref> They were overlooked in the process of the "organization" of the [[Kingdom of Sine|Sine]] and [[Kingdom of Saloum|Saloum]] kingdoms via the Mandinka [[Guelowar]] dynasty in the 14th century. 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 century, 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]].<ref>Klein, p.7-8; Cormier-Salem, 1999: p.176; Brooks, 1993</ref> 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.<ref>Cormier-Salem, 1999: p.176</ref> |
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|header = Serer Civilisation |
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| footer = The first picture is of the [[Senegambian stone circles|Senegambia Stone Circles]] (megaliths) which runs from [[Senegal]] all the way to [[The Gambia]] and described by [[UNESCO]] as "the largest concentration of stone circles seen anywhere in the world". The second picture is in (modern day [[Mauritania]])see [[West Saharan montane xeric woodlands]]. The third picture to the right is of [[Tassili n'Ajjer]]. Click on relevant links to learn more. |
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| width = 150 |
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| image1 = Wassu Stone Cirles shaunamullally 02.jpg |
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| image2 = Hoggar10.jpg |
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| image3 = Tassili n’Ajjer National Park NASA Landsat 7 (2000).jpg |
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}} |
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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 the Mandinka mansa of [[Kingdom of Niumi|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 [[aquaculture|aquacultural]] people on the stretch of the west African coast south of [[Cape Vert]] and north of the [[Bissagos]]. |
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The [[Serer people]] to which they belong are the oldest inhabitants of [[Senegambia]] along with the [[Jola people]]. Their Serer ancestors were dispersed throughout the Senegambian Region and it was them who built the [[Senegambian stone circles|megaliths of Senegambia]].<ref>Henry Gravrand. La Civilisation Sereer - Pangool.Published by Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal. 1990. Page 77 ISBN:2-7236-1055-1</ref><ref>Gambian Studies No. 17. “People of The Gambia. I. The Wolof.” By David P. Gamble & Linda K. Salmon with Alhaji Hassan Njie. San Francisco 1985 </ref> |
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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).<ref>Teixeira da Mota, 1946: p.60; Wright, 1976</ref> 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".<ref>Wright, 1976</ref> 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]]. |
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The Serer people are also the ancestors of the [[Wolof people]], [[Lebou people]] and [[Toucouleur people]].<ref>Senegambian Ethnic Groups: Common Origins and Cultural Affinities Factors and Forces of National Unity, Peace and Stability. By Alhaji Ebou Momar Taal. 2010</ref><ref>Gambian Studies No. 17. “People of The Gambia. I. The Wolof.” By David P. Gamble & Linda K. Salmon with Alhaji Hassan Njie. San Francisco 1985</ref> |
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According to historians, the Niominka were probably responsible killing the [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portuguese]] explorer and slave-trader [[Nuno Tristão]] in 1446.<ref>Teixeira da Mota (1946), pt.1.</ref> 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, overwhelmed 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).<ref>Teixeira da Mota, Pt.2, p.284ff.</ref> 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). |
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Their people, the Serer, were not only members of the royal dynasty of [[Takrur]], High Priests and Priestess of the Kingdom's main religion, the land owners passed down through the "Lamanic" lineage (descendants of the original founders, kings and land owners - in Serer culture), but they also brought civilisation there more than two thousand years ago. |
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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. |
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The following is a is a quote from the historian Henry Gravrand author of "La Civilisation Sereer, Pangool" as well as "La Civilisation Sereer, Cossan": |
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In the early 1860s, when the peoples of the Gambia area were raised in revolt against the Mandinka aristocracy by the Toucouleur [[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 [[Kingdom of Saloum|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.<ref>Klein, 1968:p.73</ref> |
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''"Since the publication of "Cossan" (history), I took as a starting point of the Sereer (Serer) story in [[Takrur|Tekrur]] over 2000 years ago, I noted an important discovery. In the middle of the [[Sahara]], in the [[Tassili n'Ajjer|Tasili]] the rock carvings listed by [[Henri Lhote]], appears the traces of the present "Sereer Cossan" (Serer history) or their ancestors, a period dating back to the third or fourth millennium. This engraving represents the Sereer initiation Star (Serer Cosmology), with two coiled snakes, symbols of the "Pangool" (ancestral spirits also ancient Serer Saints in the Serer Religion)... The rock where the Star appears is the Sereer symbols of the Pangool which was probably a place of worship."''<ref>Henry Gravrand. La Civilisation Sereer - Pangool. Published by Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal. 1990. Page 9. ISBN: 2-7236-1055-1</ref> |
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{{Portal|Senegal}} |
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At Takrur, after several Serer victories against [[Islamization]] and [[Arabization]], they were finally defeated by the Almoravid Islamic coalition - a coalition made up of Arab-Berbers and their African converts such as Toucouleurs and [[Fula people|Fulas]] who were the first to convert and chose to abandon their religion. That was in 1035 AD during the reign of King [[War Jabi]] - a part Toucouleur, part Soninke and part Mandinka of the Manna (Manneh) Dynasty who launched a revolution against the ruling elite. At that time, War Jabi introduced Islamic [[Sharia law]] and after the final defeat of the Serer people of Takrur, the Serer still refused to submit to a foreign religion (Islam) but instead decided to move down south to join their distant relatives and preserve their honour. |
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According to Elisa Daggs, only the powerful Serer tribes to whom the Serer-Niominka descended from resisted conversion whilst the others ethnic groups (i.e. the [[Toucouleur people|Toucouleurs]] and [[Fula people|Fula]] who were also living at Takrur at |
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the time with the Serers) easily submitted to the foreign invaders. The following is a quote from Elisa Daggs' book: "All Africa: All its political entities of independent or other status": |
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==Filmography== |
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''"The [[Islamic religion]] which dominates [[Senegal]] today was carried from Mecca into North Africa after the seventh century by ... the Sahara by the Arabs and Arabized Berbers into Senegal. Only the powerful Serer tribes resisted conversion..."''<ref>Elisa Daggs. All Africa: All its political entities of independent or other status. Hasting House, 1970. ISBN: 0803803362, 9780803803367</ref> |
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*''Le Mbissa'', a documentary film by Alexis Fifis and Cécile Walter, produced by the [[Institut de recherche pour le développement|IRD]] [https://archive.today/20130107012045/http://www.audiovisuel.ird.fr/fiches_film/mbissa.htm] |
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== References == |
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The Serer-Niominka also have Mandinka ancestors called the [[Guelowar]], who came from [[Kaabu]] in the 14th century escaping the Battle of Turubang 1335. They were part of the royal dynasty of Kaabu and were being massacred by the Nyanthio dynasty of Kaabu.[[Image:Serer Religious Ceremony.jpg|thumb| left|The symbole of the Ndut Initiation]] Although the Nyanthios and Geulowars were relatives, the Battle of Turubang 1335 was a dynastic war between two maternal royal houses ("The House of Nyanthio" and "The House of Guelwar"). "Turubang" in Mandinka means to wipeout a clan or family. |
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After their defeat, their Mandinka ancestors escaped to the [[Kingdom of Sine|Serer Kingdom of Sine]] and were granted asylum by the Serer nobility of Sine. The Serer paternal noble families such as [[Faye (surname)]], [[Diouf]] or [[Joof]], [[Njie]] or N'diaye etc, married the Guelowar women and it was the offsprings of these marriages that provided the Guelowar maternal dynasties and Serer paternal dynasties of the [[Kingdom of Sine]] (1350 AD) and later the [[Kingdom of Saloum]] (1494 AD). The dynasties of these respective Serer Kingdoms lasted upto 1969. That was 9 years after modern day [[Senegal]] gained its independence from France in 1960.<ref>Alioune Sarr,Histoire du Sine-Saloum. Introduction, bibliographie et Notes par Charles Becker, BIFAN, Tome 46, Serie B, n° 3-4, 1986-1987</ref><ref>Martin A. Klein,Islam and Imperialism in Senegal Sine-Saloum, 1847-1914, Edinburgh At the University Press (1968)</ref><ref>Lucie Gallistel Colvin. Historical Dictionary of Senegal. Scarecrow Press/ Metuchen. NJ - London (1981) ISBN 081081885x</ref> |
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{{Reflist}} |
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== Religion == |
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==Bibliography== |
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* G.E. Brooks (1993) ''Landlords and Strangers: ecology, society and trade in West Africa, 1000-1630'' Westview. |
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* {{in lang|fr}} M.C. Cormier-Salem (1999) ''Rivières du Sud: sociétés et mangroves ouest-africaines'', vol.1 |
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*{{Cite journal|author=Virginia Coulon|title=Niominka Pirogue Ornaments|journal=African Arts|volume=6|issue=3|date=Spring 1973|pages=26–31|doi=10.2307/3334691|jstor=3334691}} |
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*{{Cite journal|author=Joseph Kerharo|author2=Jacques G. Adam |title=Les plantes médicinales, toxiques et magiques des Niominka et des Socé des îles du Saloum (Sénégal)|journal=Acta Tropica|issue=8|date=1964|pages=279–334|language=fr}} |
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* M.A. Klein (1968) ''Islam and imperialism in Senegal: Sine-Saloum, 1847-1914''. |
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[[File: Graves of the Sereres-1821.jpg|thumb| 1821 - Serer final resting place with Serer grave diggers. The top points are directed towards the Gods]] |
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*{{Cite journal|author=F. Lafont|title=Le Gandoul et les Niominkas|journal=Bulletin du Comité d'Études Historiques et Scientifiques de 1'AOF|date=1938|series=XXI|issue=3|pages=385–450|language=fr}} |
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They practice the [[Serer Religion]] which involves honouring the ancestors covering all dimensions of life, death, cosmology etc.<ref>Issa Laye Thiaw. "La Religiosite de Seereer, Avant et pendant leur Islamisation". Ethiopiques no: 54, Revue semestrielle de Culture Négro-Africaine. Nouvelle série, volume 7, 2e Semestre 1991 </ref><ref>Henry Gravrand. La Civilisation Sereer - Pangool. Published by Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal. 1990. Page 9. ISBN: 2-7236-1055-1</ref> |
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*{{Cite book|author=Assane Niane|title=Les Niominka de l'offensive musulmane en 1863 à l'établissement du protectorat français en 1891 : Le Gandun dans la maîtrise du royaume du Saalum|location=Dakar|publisher=Université Cheikh Anta Diop|date=1995|pages=81|language=fr}} |
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* {{in lang|pt}} A. Teixera da Mota (1946) "A descoberta da Guiné", ''Boletim cultural da Guiné Portuguesa'', Vol. 1 (1), p. 11-68, (2), p. 273-326; (3), p. 457-509. |
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*{{Cite journal|author=R. Van Chi Bonnardel|title=Exemple de migrations multiformes intégrées : les migrations de Nyominka (îles du Bas-Saloum sénégalais)|journal=Bulletin de l'IFAN|series=B|date=1977|volume=39|issue=4|pages=837–889|language=fr}} |
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* D. Wright (1976) ''Niumi: the history of a western Mandinka state through the eighteenth century''. Bloomington: Indiana University. |
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== See Also == |
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=== Related Ethnic Groups and Dialect === |
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*[[Serer people]] |
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*[[Serer-Ndut]] |
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*[[Serer-Noon]] |
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*[[Serer-Safene]] |
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*[[Serer-Laalaa]] |
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*[[Serer-Sine]] |
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*[[Serer-Palor]] |
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=== Other Ethnic Groups === |
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*[[Ethnic groups in Senegal]] |
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*[[List of African ethnic groups]] |
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=== Serer Kingdoms === |
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*[[Kingdom of Sine]] |
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*[[Kingdom of Saloum]] |
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*[[Kingdom of Baol]] |
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*[[Biffeche]] |
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=== Serer Demographics === |
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*[[Demographics of Senegal]] |
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=== Presidents of Senegal === |
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*[[List of Presidents of Senegal]] |
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== Notes == |
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{{Reflist|}} |
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==Language Bibliography== |
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=== English Language Bibliography === |
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*{{en}} Gambian Studies No. 17. “People of The Gambia. I. The Wolof.” By David P. Gamble & Linda K. Salmon with Alhaji Hassan Njie. San Francisco 1985 |
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*{{en}} Senegambian Ethnic Groups: Common Origins and Cultural Affinities Factors and Forces of National Unity, Peace and Stability. By Alhaji Ebou Momar Taal. 2010 |
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*{{en}} Martin A. Klein,Islam and Imperialism in Senegal Sine-Saloum, 1847-1914, Edinburgh At the University Press (1968) |
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*{{en}} Lucie Gallistel Colvin. Historical Dictionary of Senegal. Scarecrow Press/ Metuchen. NJ - London (1981) ISBN 081081885x |
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*{{en}} Elisa Daggs. All Africa: All its political entities of independent or other status. Hasting House, 1970. ISBN: 0803803362, 9780803803367 |
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*{{en}} {{Cite journal|author=Virginia Coulon|title=Niominka Pirogue Ornaments|url=http://jstor.org/stable/3334691|journal=African Arts|volume=6|issue=3|date=Spring 1973|pages=26–31|doi=10.2307/3334691}} |
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=== French Language Bibliography === |
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*{{fr}} Issa Laye Thiaw. "La Religiosite de Seereer, Avant et pendant leur Islamisation". Ethiopiques no: 54, Revue semestrielle de Culture Négro-Africaine. Nouvelle série, volume 7, 2e Semestre 1991 |
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*{{fr}} Alioune Sarr,Histoire du Sine-Saloum. Introduction, bibliographie et Notes par Charles Becker, BIFAN, Tome 46, Serie B, n° 3-4, 1986-1987 |
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*{{fr}} Henry Gravrand. La Civilisation Sereer - Pangool.Published by Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal. 1990. Page 77 ISBN:2-7236-1055-1 |
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*{{fr}} {{Cite journal|author=Joseph Kerharo|coauthor=Jacques G. Adam|title=Les plantes médicinales, toxiques et magiques des Niominka et des Socé des îles du Saloum (Sénégal)|journal=Acta tropica|issue=8|date=1964|pages=279–334}} |
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*{{fr}} {{Cite journal|author=F. Lafont|title=Le Gandoul et les Niominkas|journal=Bulletin du Comité d'Études Historiques et Scientifiques de 1'AOF|date=1938|series=XXI|issue=3|pages=385–450}} |
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*{{fr}} {{Cite book|author=Assane Niane|title=Les Niominka de l’offensive musulmane en 1863 à l’établissement du protectorat français en 1891 : Le Gandun dans la maîtrise du royaume du Saalum|location=Dakar|publisher=Université Cheikh Anta Diop|date=1995|pages=81}} |
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*{{fr}} {{Cite journal|author=R. Van Chi Bonnardel|title=Exemple de migrations multiformes intégrées : les migrations de Nyominka (îles du Bas-Saloum sénégalais)|journal=Bulletin de l'IFAN|series=B|date=1977|volume=39|issue=4|pages=837–889}} |
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==Filmography== |
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*''Le Mbissa'', a documentary film by Alexis Fifis and Cécile Walter, produced by the [[Institut de recherche pour le développement|IRD]] [http://www.audiovisuel.ird.fr/fiches_film/mbissa.htm] |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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* [http://www.lequotidien.sn/pleinepage/index.cfm?var_pp=74 The Niominka] |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927141953/http://www.lequotidien.sn/pleinepage/index.cfm?var_pp=74 The Niominka] |
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{{Serer topics|state=collapsed}} |
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{{Ethnic groups in the Gambia}} |
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{{Ethnic groups in Senegal}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
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[[Category:Serer people]] |
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[[fr:Niominka]] |
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Latest revision as of 00:00, 13 February 2024
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 10,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Languages | |
| Serer, French | |
| Religion | |
| Islam, Serer religion, animism |
The Niominka people (also called Niuminka or Nyominka) 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.
Population
[edit]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, millet, and peanuts. 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
[edit]The origins of the Niominka are obscure and uncertain. Although currently classified together with the Serer people, 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.[1] They were overlooked in the process of the "organization" of the Sine and Saloum kingdoms via the Mandinka Guelowar dynasty in the 14th century. 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 century, 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.[2] 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.[3]
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 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).[4] 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".[5] 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 pirogues 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.[6] 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, overwhelmed 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).[7] 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 Toucouleur 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.[8]
Filmography
[edit]References
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]- G.E. Brooks (1993) Landlords and Strangers: ecology, society and trade in West Africa, 1000-1630 Westview.
- (in French) M.C. Cormier-Salem (1999) Rivières du Sud: sociétés et mangroves ouest-africaines, vol.1
- Virginia Coulon (Spring 1973). "Niominka Pirogue Ornaments". African Arts. 6 (3): 26–31. doi:10.2307/3334691. JSTOR 3334691.
- Joseph Kerharo; Jacques G. Adam (1964). "Les plantes médicinales, toxiques et magiques des Niominka et des Socé des îles du Saloum (Sénégal)". Acta Tropica (in French) (8): 279–334.
- M.A. Klein (1968) Islam and imperialism in Senegal: Sine-Saloum, 1847-1914.
- F. Lafont (1938). "Le Gandoul et les Niominkas". Bulletin du Comité d'Études Historiques et Scientifiques de 1'AOF. XXI (in French) (3): 385–450.
- Assane Niane (1995). Les Niominka de l'offensive musulmane en 1863 à l'établissement du protectorat français en 1891 : Le Gandun dans la maîtrise du royaume du Saalum (in French). Dakar: Université Cheikh Anta Diop. p. 81.
- (in Portuguese) A. Teixera da Mota (1946) "A descoberta da Guiné", Boletim cultural da Guiné Portuguesa, Vol. 1 (1), p. 11-68, (2), p. 273-326; (3), p. 457-509.
- R. Van Chi Bonnardel (1977). "Exemple de migrations multiformes intégrées : les migrations de Nyominka (îles du Bas-Saloum sénégalais)". Bulletin de l'IFAN. B (in French). 39 (4): 837–889.
- D. Wright (1976) Niumi: the history of a western Mandinka state through the eighteenth century. Bloomington: Indiana University.
