Songhai subgroup
Ethnic group
The
Songhaiborai
(also
Songhai
,
Songhay
,
Sonrhai
) are a distinct subgroup within the larger
Songhai
ethnolinguistic
family. Residing predominantly in Niger's
Songhai region
, Northern
Mali
, and a minority presence in
Burkina Faso
. Notably, they trace their lineage to the ruling dynasties of the ancient
Songhai Empire
.
[3]
In Niger and Burkina Faso, differentiating the Songhaiborai from the
Zarma people
poses a challenge, as both are subgroups within the same language family, sharing a very similar dialect and culture. Despite the significant commonalities, the Songhaiborai may identify themselves and their dialect as "Zarma," emphasizing the shared heritage. However, both groups acknowledge their distinct branches within the same ethnicity, often adopting the collective name "Zarma," making it difficult for outsiders to discern any noticeable differences. Additionally, in Mali, they are recognized as the
Koyraboro
.
[4]
The Songhai originally were the descendants and partisans of the
Sonni dynasty
that retreated to this area of present
Niger
after the coup d'etat of 1493
[5]
and that of the
Askia dynasty
that also moved later to this same region after the invasion of the
Songhai Empire
by the
Saadi dynasty
of
Morocco
in 1591. These two historical events that resulted in the mass exodus of the Songhai emptied
Gao
and
Timbuktu
of their Songhai nobles, who find themselves dispersed today in the above-mentioned region of Southwestern
Niger
.
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
Aristocracy
[
edit
]
According to oral history, the Songhai nobles came to be known as "Songhai" during the reign of
Sonni Ali Ber
. The name was coined from his name to form a tribal name for the ruling caste.
The main factions of the Songhai are the
"Si Hamey"
and the "Mamar Hamey". The
Si Hamey
(meaning: descendants of Sonni), as the name implies, are the descendants and partisans of the
Sonnis
, while the
"Mamar Hamey"
are the descendants and partisans of
Askia Mohammad I
whose vernacular name among the Songhai is "Mamar".
[10]
[7]
It is also worth noting that both groups use the title surname "
Maiga
" (meaning, "King or Prince").
[11]
History
[
edit
]
After the ruler and founder of the
Songhai Empire
Sonni Ali died in 1492, his former army general and nephew Askia Mohammad rebelled against his son and successor,
Sonni Baru
and defeated him in a
battle in 1493
. Sonni Baru fled to
Ayorou
and established his own small kingdom.
After the defeat of the
Songhai Empire
at the
battle of Tondibi
in 1591, the son of
Askia Dawud
,
Askia Muhammed Gao
(
aka
Wayki
), deposed his brother
Askia Ishaq II
and briefly took command of the Songhai resistance army. Supported by the remains of the disbanded army, they migrated down river from Gao to the same region of Ayorou where Sonni Baru and his people had taken refuge after their overthrow, precisely in present-day
Niger
's
Tillabery Region
.
Askia Wayki
(Muhammed Gao) installed his base on the banks of the Niger river in the current locality of
Sikie
hoping in vain for a possible passage of the Moroccan army.
Askia Muhammed Gao
died in 1632 without being able to regroup his men to reclaim
Gao
, which had fallen under the control of
Judar Pasha
. His son,
Fari Monzon
(
Fari Mondyo
) who was an Inspector of tax collection during the reign of
Askia Ishaq I
succeeded him and in 1661 tried for the second time to regroup the Songhai including their rival cousins (the
Si Hamey
and the
Zarma
) in order to take back the city of Gao. Together, they were able to garner the support of the
Tuaregs
from
Imanan
and
Azawad
.
Recognizing the strength of the Moroccan army, they later decided to abandon the struggle for the re-establishment of the
Songhai Empire
. The son of
Fari Monzon
,
Tabari
took command of
Karma
, a principality established since the passage of
Askia Mohammad I
during his pilgrimage to
Mecca
. His other brothers and cousins created the kingdoms of
Namaro
,
Gotheye
,
Dargol
,
Tera
,
Sikie
,
Kokorou
etc. This marked the end of an empire that once shone for its immensity and the courage of its leaders in spite of multiple incessant internal conflicts of succession. These kingdoms, however, did not find their union circumstantial until March 1906, during the anti-colonial battle of
Karma
-
Boubon
led by
Oumarou Kambessikonou (Morou Karma)
, a descendant of Askia Daoud and brother to Askia Muhammed Gao.
[12]
[13]
Society and Culture
[
edit
]
The language, society and culture of the Songhai people is barely distinguishable from the
Zarma people
.
[14]
Some scholars consider the Zarma people to be a part of and the largest ethnic sub-group of the
Ayneha
.
[15]
Some study the group together as Zarma-Songhai people.
[16]
[17]
However, both groups see themselves as two different peoples.
[14]
The Songhai proper have traditionally been a socially stratified society, like many West African ethnic groups with
castes
.
[18]
[19]
According to the medieval and colonial era descriptions, their vocation is hereditary, and each stratified group has been endogamous.
[20]
The social stratification has been unusual in two ways; it embedded slavery, wherein the lowest strata of the population inherited slavery, and the
Zima
, or priests and Islamic clerics, had to be initiated but did not automatically inherit that profession, making the cleric strata a pseudo-caste.
[14]
Louis Dumont
, the 20th-century author famous for his classic
Homo Hierarchicus
, recognized the social stratification among Zarma-Songhai people as well as other ethnic groups in West Africa, but suggested that sociologists should invent a new term for West African social stratification system.
[21]
Other scholars consider this a bias and isolationist because the West African system shares all elements in Dumont's system, including economic, endogamous, ritual, religious, deemed polluting, segregative and spread over a large region.
[21]
[22]
[23]
According to
Anne Haour
? a professor of African Studies, some scholars consider the historic caste-like social stratification in Zarma-Songhay people to be a pre-Islam feature while some consider it derived from the Arab influence.
[21]
The different strata of the Songhai have included the kings and warriors, the scribes, the artisans, the weavers, the hunters, the fishermen, the leather workers and hairdressers (Wanzam), and the domestic slaves (Horso, Bannye). Each caste reveres its own guardian spirit.
[18]
[21]
Some scholars such as John Shoup list these strata in three categories: free (chiefs, farmers and herders), servile (artists, musicians and griots), and the slave class.
[24]
The servile group were socially required to be endogamous, while the slaves could be emancipated over four generations. The highest social level, states Shoup, claim to have descended from King
Sonni 'Ali Ber
and their modern era hereditary occupation has been
Sohance
(sorcery). The traditionally free strata of the Songhai proper and Zarma have owned property and herds, and these have dominated the political system and governments during and after the French colonial rule.
[24]
Within the stratified social system, the Islamic system of polygynous marriages is a norm, with preferred partners being
cross cousins
.
[25]
[26]
This endogamy within Songhai-Zarma people is similar to other ethnic groups in West Africa.
[27]
Livelihood
[
edit
]
The Songhay are mostly agriculturalists (mostly growing rice and millet), hunters, fishers and cattle owners which they let the
Fulani
tend.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Africa: Niger - The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency"
.
www.cia.gov
. 27 April 2021
. Retrieved
1 May
2021
.
- ^
Niger
, retrieved
2021-03-12
- ^
Zarma, a Songhai language
, retrieved
2021-02-23
- ^
Stoller, Paul (1992),
The Cinematic Griot: The Ethnography of Jean Rouch
, University of Chicago Press, p. 59 "In this way the true Songhay, after the seventeenth century,is no longer the one of Timbuktu or Gao, but the one farther south near the
Anzourou
, the
Gorouol
, on the islands of the river surrounded by rapids" (Rouch 1953, 224),
ISBN
9780226775487
, retrieved
2021-06-04
- ^
Idrissa, Abdourahmane; Decalo, Samuel (2012),
Historical Dictionary of Niger by Abdourahmane Idrissa, Samuel Decalo
, Scarecrow Press, p. 414,
ISBN
9780810870901
, retrieved
2021-03-17
- ^
Olivier de Sardan, Jean-Pierre (2000),
Unite et diversite de l'ensemble songhay-zarma-dendi
- ^
a
b
Bernussou, Jerome (8 June 2020),
"Chapitre I. Les nouveaux axes de l'historiographie universitaire : ≪ histoire totale ≫ et ≪ histoire politique ≫, a partir des annees 70"
,
HISTOIRE ET MEMOIRE AU NIGER
, Meridiennes, Presses universitaires du Midi, pp. 41?112,
ISBN
9782810709519
, retrieved
2021-03-30
- ^
Southern Songhay Speech Varieties In Niger:A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Zarma, Songhay, Kurtey, Wogo, and Dendi Peoples of Niger
(PDF)
, Byron & Annette Harrison and Michael J. Rueck Summer Institute of Linguistics B.P. 10151, Niamey, Niger Republic, 1997
, retrieved
2021-02-23
- ^
Soumalia, Hammadou; Hamidou, Moussa; Laya, Dioulde (January 1998),
Traditions des Songhay de Tera (Niger) by Hammadou Soumalia, Moussa Hamidou, Dioulde Laya
, KARTHALA Editions,
ISBN
9782865378517
, retrieved
2021-04-14
- ^
Bornand, Sandra (2012),
Is Otherness Represented in Songhay-Zarma society? A case study of the 'Tula' story
(PDF)
, London, United Kingdom.
, retrieved
2021-04-12
{{
citation
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Journal de la Societe des africanistes, Volume 36
, France: Societe des africanistes, 1966, p. 256
, retrieved
2021-04-21
- ^
Michel, Jonathan (1995),
The Invasion of Morocco in 1591 and the Saadian Dynasty
, retrieved
2021-04-17
- ^
Askia Mohammed V Gao
, Fr Wiki
- ^
a
b
c
Abdourahmane Idrissa; Samuel Decalo (2012).
Historical Dictionary of Niger
. Scarecrow Press. pp. 474?476.
ISBN
978-0-8108-7090-1
.
- ^
Songhai people
, Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^
Don Rubin (1997).
The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Africa
. Taylor & Francis. p. 212.
ISBN
978-0-415-05931-2
.
- ^
Boubou Hama (1967).
L'Histoire traditionnelle d'un peuple: les Zarma-Songhay
(in French). Paris: Presence Africaine.
ISBN
978-2850695513
.
- ^
a
b
Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan (1984).
Les societes Songhay-Zarma (Niger-Mali): chefs, guerriers, esclaves, paysans
. Paris: Karthala. pp. 56?57.
ISBN
978-2-86537-106-8
.
- ^
Tal Tamari (1991). "The Development of Caste Systems in West Africa".
The Journal of African History
.
32
(2). Cambridge University Press: 221?250.
doi
:
10.1017/s0021853700025718
.
JSTOR
182616
.
S2CID
162509491
.
,
Quote:
"[Castes] are found among the Soninke, the various Manding-speaking populations, the Wolof, Tukulor, Senufo, Minianka, Dogon,
Songhay
, and most Fulani, Moorish and Tuareg populations".
- ^
I. Diawara (1988),
Cultures nigeriennes et education : Domaine Zarma-Songhay et Hausa
, Presence Africaine, Nouvelle serie, number 148 (4e TRIMESTRE 1988), pages 9-19 (in French)
- ^
a
b
c
d
Anne Haour (2013).
Outsiders and Strangers: An Archaeology of Liminality in West Africa
. Oxford University Press. pp. 95?97, 100?101, 90?114.
ISBN
978-0-19-969774-8
.
- ^
Declan Quigley (2005).
The character of kingship
. Berg. pp. 20, 49?50, 115?117, 121?134.
ISBN
978-1-84520-290-3
.
- ^
Bruce S. Hall (2011).
A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600?1960
. Cambridge University Press. pp. 15?18, 71?73, 245?248.
ISBN
978-1-139-49908-8
.
- ^
a
b
John A. Shoup (2011).
Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia
. ABC-CLIO. pp. 265?266.
ISBN
978-1-59884-362-0
.
- ^
Songhai people
Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^
Bonnie G. Smith (2008).
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History
. Oxford University Press. pp. 503?504.
ISBN
978-0-19-514890-9
.
- ^
Tal Tamari (1998), Les castes de l'Afrique occidentale: Artisans et musiciens endogames, Nanterre: Societe d’ethnologie,
ISBN
978-2901161509
(in French)
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