1.
Kingdom of Sine
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The Kingdom of Sine was a pre-colonial Serer kingdom along the north bank of the Saloum River delta in modern Senegal. The inhabitants are called Siin-Siin or Sine-Sine, over generations these people, possibly Pulaar speaking herders originally, migrated through Wolof areas and entered the Siin and Saluum river valleys. This lengthy period of Wolof-Serer contact has left us unsure of the origins of shared terminology, institutions, political structures, and practices. The actual Sereer ethnic group is a mixture of the two groups, and this may explain their complex bilinear kinship system. }The actual foundation of the Kingdom of Sine is unclear and they were led by a matrilineal clan known as the Gelwaar. Serer oral history says that after Maysa Wali assimilated into Serer culture and served as advisor to the laman council of electors, he was chosen by the lamans. Almost a decade later he elected the legendary Ndiadiane Ndiaye and founder of the Jolof Empire to rule the Kingdom of Jolof. He was the first Senegambian king to voluntarily gave his allegiance to Ndiadiane Ndiaye and asked others to do so and it is for this reason that scholars propose the Jolof Empire was not an empire founded by conquest but by voluntary confederacy of various states. Around early 1550, both Sine and its sister Serer Kingdom overthrew the Jolof and became independent Kingdoms, the historian Sylviane Diouf states that Each vassal kingdom—Walo, Takrur, Kayor, Baol, Sine, Salum, Wuli, and Niani—recognized the hegemony of Jolof and paid tribute. The rulers of Sine as well as Jolof continued to follow the Traditional African religion, the rulers of Sine retained their titles throughout the colonial period and did not lose all official recognition until 1969 after the death of Maad a Sinig Mahecor Joof. Since he had never set foot in Serer country, his accounts about the Serer people were based on what his Wolof interpreters were telling him. Barbacini is a corruption of the Wolof phrase Buur ba Sine meaning King of Sine, the economic base of Sine was agriculture and fishing. Millet and other crops were grown, Sine was very reluctant to grow groundnut for the French market, in spite of French colonial directives. It was less dependent on groundnut than other states and their religious philosophy of preserving the ecosystem affected groundnut production in Sine. Even after mass production was adopted, succession struggles in the late 19th century between the royal houses hampered production. However, the Kingdom of Sine was less susceptible to hunger and indebtedness and it was very common for people from other states to migrate to the Serer kingdoms of Sine and Saloum in search of a better life. The inhabitants of Sine rarely migrated, some of the kings government include, the Lamanes, the heir apparents such as the Buumi, Thilas and Loul, the Great Farba Kaba, the Farba Binda and the Great Jaraff. The following diagram gives a version of the political structure of Sine. Suivie de notes sur les traditions orales et les sources écrites concernant le royaume du Sine par Charles Becker et Victor Martin, bulletin de lIfan, Tome 34, Série B, n°4, Diop, Cheikh Anta & Modum, Egbuna P
2.
Maad a Sinig Ama Joof Gnilane Faye Joof
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Maad a Sinig Ama Joof Gnilane Faye Joof was a king of Sine now part of present-day Senegal. He reigned from c.1825 to 1853 and he was fluent in several languages. He came from The Royal House of Semou Njekeh Joof, Maad a Sinig means king of Sine in the Serer-Sine language. The term Bur Sine is also used interchangeably with the proper title Maad a Sinig or Mad a Sinig, bour Sine is usually used by the Wolof people when referring to the Serer kings of Sine. The Serer people generally used the term Maad a Sinig or Mad a Sinig when referring to their kings, the king was the son of the Sandigue Ndiob Niokhobai Joof and Lingeer Gnilane Faye. Lingeer means royal princess or queen mother, Sandigue Ndiob is a title of nobility and a rather important and powerful figure in pre-colonial Sine. It designates the village chief of NDiob near the border of Baol and his father belongs to the Serer paternal dynasty of Sine and Saloum of the family Joof. He was a royal prince himself and a warlord, Lingeer Gnilane Faye, partains to the Faye family of Sine. On her maternal line she was a member of the Guelowar maternal dynasty, Ama Joof Gnilane Faye Joof was crowned king of Sine in his early teens, when he was about 12 or 15 years. Although dynastic wars between the royal houses were prevalent at the time, he succeeded to the throne without having to engage in battle. His father, the warlord and Sandigui NDiob Niokhobai joof. Niokhobai Joof was not eligible to rule at that time, although a member of the Joof Dynasty, his mother was a noble, but was not a Guelowar. To become a king, a prince must be able to trace royal descent both on his paternal and maternal line. Having secured the succession of his son, he permitted the uncle of Ama Joof Gnilane Faye Joof to rule as regent until Ama Joof Gnilane Faye Joof reached maturity and his son was quite young at the time, he was about 7 years old. The throne of his son secured, Ama Kumba Mbodj was exiled, Ama Kumba Mbodj was still living in exile when the French missionaries started arriving in 1848. According to some, the Sandigui NDiob was the most powerful man in the country and had control of country. The King had a turbulent relationship with the French missionaries, Joal, one of his provinces has become a source of rumor and campaign against the French missionaries. The Mission in Joal was created without the King giving his permission, when the missionaries arrived, a group of cheddos began demanding alcohol
3.
Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb Joof
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Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb Joof, also known as Kumba Ndoffene Joof II or Bour Sine Coumba Ndoffène Fandepp Diouf, was a King of Sine. Maad a Sinig translates as King of Sine, Maad meaning king in the Serer language, the surname Joof is the English spelling in the Gambia. Diouf is the French spelling in Senegal, there is no consensus regarding the exact date that Maad Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb succeeded to the throne. According to some, he reigned from 1898 to 1924 which correlates with the sources available at the time. Other historians propose that, he reigned from 1897 or 1898 to 1923 and this version agrees pretty much with the oral tradition of the Serer people. According to Serer tradition, the king was ill before his death. When the King died, there was a period of mourning and it took a little while to prepare for the Coronation ceremony of Maad a Sinig Mahecor Joof according to Serer custom and tradition. Maad Mahecor Joof ascended to the throne in 1924, more precisely, according to some, regarding the year Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb Joof died, there is consensus that it was in 1923, more specifically on 21 December 1923 at Diakhao. Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb Joof should not be confused with Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Famak Joof, also known as Coumba Ndoffène I, the prefix Famak means the elder in the Serer language. Fa Ndeb means the young in Serer and these prefixes were later additions to differentiate the two Kings of Sine who shared the same name and surname. His predecessor Maad a Sinig Mbacke Ndeb Njie died without nominating his Buumi, at that time Maad Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb was the Thilas. Without a Buumi, Maad Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb was elected by the Great Jaraff and his Noble Council, on his corronation, he was crowned Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb Joof from the Royal House of Boureh Gnilane Joof. His Great Jaraff was Bandiougour Sène, the succession of Maad Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb was unwelcomed by the French administration in Senegal, in particular by Hippolyte Alsace. The Great Jaraff and his Council of nobles who were in charge of electing the kings from the family were informed by Alsace that. The noble Council objected, and told him they had made their choice, and this answer displeased the French administration. The Kingdom of Sine was divided into cantons and Maad Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb was appointed Superior Chief of Eastern Sine, the interference of the French administration in Sine and their attempt to divide the Sine into cantons were bound to fail. Whilst in theory Maad Kumba Ndoffene Fa Ndeb was a simple Chief, in practice, the Serers of Sine had elected him and they were reluctant to submit to the orders of anyone else. The flaws in this became apparent when the Serer population of Western Sine refused to pay their taxes
4.
Senegal
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Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country in West Africa. Senegal is bordered by Mauritania in the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast, and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal also borders The Gambia, a country occupying a narrow sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River, Senegal also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde. Senegals economic and political capital is Dakar and it is the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World, or Afro-Eurasia, and owes its name to the Senegal River, which borders it to the east and north. The name Senegal comes from the Wolof Sunuu Gaal, which means Our Boat, Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres and has an estimated population of about 15 million. The climate is Sahelian, but there is a rainy season, the territory of modern Senegal has been inhabited by various ethnic groups since prehistory. Organized kingdoms emerged around the century, and parts of the country were ruled by prominent regional empires such as the Jolof Empire. The present state of Senegal has its roots in European colonialism, which began during the mid-15th century, the establishment of coastal trading posts gradually led to control of the mainland, culminating in French rule of the area by the 19th century, albeit amid much local resistance. Senegal peacefully attained independence from France in 1960, and has since been among the politically stable countries in Africa. Senegals economy is centered mostly on commodities and natural resources, major industries are fish processing, phosphate mining, fertilizer production, petroleum refining, construction materials, and ship construction and repair. As in most African nations, agriculture is a sector, with Senegal producing several important cash crops, including peanuts, sugarcane, cotton, green beans, tomatoes, melons. Owing to its stability, tourism and hospitality are also burgeoning sectors. A multiethnic and secular nation, Senegal is predominantly Sunni Muslim with Sufi, French is the official language, although many native languages are spoken and recognized. Since April 2012 Senegals president has been Macky Sall, Senegal has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie since 1970. Senegal is named after the Senegal River, the etymology of which is contested, one popular theory is that it stems from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal, which means our canoe, resulting from a miscommunication between 15th-century Portuguese sailors and Wolof fishermen. The our canoe theory has been embraced in modern Senegal for its charm. It is frequently used in appeals to national solidarity, frequently heard in the media, modern historians believe the name probably refers to the Sanhaja, Berbers who lived on the northern side of the river. A competing theory is that it derives from the town of Sanghana
5.
Serer people
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The Serer people are a West African ethnoreligious group. They are the third largest ethnic group in Senegal making up 15% of the Senegalese population and they are also found in northern Gambia and southern Mauritania. They have had a sedentary settled culture and have known for their farming expertise. In the 20th century, most of them converted to Islam, the Serer society, like other ethnic groups in Senegal, has had social stratification featuring endogamous castes and slaves. The Serer people are referred to as Sérère, Sereer, Serere, Sarer, Kegueme, Seereer. The Serer people are found in contemporary Senegal, particularly in the west-central part of the country. In The Gambia, they occupy parts of old Nuimi and Baddibu as well as the Gambian Kombo, the Serer-Noon occupy the ancient area of Thiès in modern-day Senegal. The Serer-Ndut are found in southern Cayor and north west of ancient Thiès, the Serer-Njeghen occupy old Baol, the Serer-Palor occupies the west central, west southwest of Thiès and the Serer-Laalaa occupy west central, north of Thiès and the Tambacounda area. Senegal,1.84 million The Gambia,31,900 Mauritania,3500 The Serer occupy the Sine, the Serer people include the Seex, Serer-Noon, Serer-Ndut, Serer-Njeghene, Serer-Safene, Serer-Niominka, Serer-Palor, and the Serer-Laalaa. Each group speaks Serer or a Cangin language, Serer is the standard English spelling. Seereer or Sereer reflects the Serer pronunciation of the name and are used by Senegalese Serer historians or scholars. The meaning of the word Serer is uncertain, issa Laye Thiaw views it as possibly pre-Islamic and suggests four possible derivations,1. From the Serer Wolof word reer meaning misplaced, i. e. doubting the truth of Islam, from the Serer Wolof expression seer reer meaning to find something hidden or lost. From the Arabic word seereer meaning sahir magician or one who practices magic, from a Pulaar word, meaning separation, divorce, or break, again referring to refusing Islam. Professor Cheikh Anta Diop citing the work of the 19th century French archeologist and egyptologist - Paul Pierret, Diop went on to write, That would be consistent with their present religious position, they are one of the rare Senegalese populations who still reject Islam. Their route is marked by the stones found at about the same latitude from Ethiopia all the way to the Sine-Salum. Over generations these people, possibly Pulaar speaking herders originally, migrated through Wolof areas and entered the Siin and this lengthy period of Wolof-Serer contact has left us unsure of the origins of shared terminology, institutions, political structures, and practices. The actual Sereer ethnic group is a mixture of the two groups, and this may explain their complex bilinear kinship system and their own oral traditions recite legends on they being part of, or related to the Toucouleur people in the Senegal River valley area
6.
Cangin languages
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The Cangin languages are spoken by 200,000 people in a small area east of Dakar. They are the languages spoken by the Serer people who do not speak the Serer language, because the people are ethnically Serer, the Cangin languages are commonly thought to be dialects of the Serer language. However, they are not closely related, Serer is closer to Fulani than it is to Cangin, the languages are, Lehar and Noon are particularly close, as are Ndut and Palor, though not quite to the point of easy intelligibility. Safen is transparently closer to Lehar–Noon than to Palor–Ndut, Serer language Walter Pichl, The Cangin Group, A Language Group in Northern Senegal, Pittsburg, PA, Institute of African Affairs, Duquesne University, Coll. African Reprint Series,1966, vol.20 Guillaume Segerer & Florian Lionnet 2010, Language Isolates in Africa workshop, Lyon, Dec.4
7.
Palor language
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Palor is a language spoken in Senegal. The speakers of this language - the Palor people or Serer-Palor, are ethnically Serers, like the Lehar, Saafi, Noon and Ndut languages, their language is classified as one of the Cangin languages attached to the Niger–Congo family. Walter Pichl, The Cangin Group - A Language Group in Northern Senegal, Pittsburg, Pennsylvanie, Institute of African Affairs, Duquesne University, African Reprint Series,1966, vol.20 Paula D’Alton, Le Palor. Esquisse phonologique et grammatical d’une langue cangin du Sénégal, Paris,1987 Lévolution du système consonantique des langues cangin
8.
Serer language
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Serer, sometimes called Serer-Sine Serer proper after its prestige dialect, is a language of the Senegambian branch of Niger–Congo spoken by 1.2 million people in Senegal and 30,000 in the Gambia. It is the language of the Serer people. Serer is one of the Senegambian languages, which are characterized by consonant mutation, the traditional classification of Atlantic is that of Sapir, which found that Serer was closest to Fulani. However, a widely cited misreading of the data by Wilson inadvertently exchanged Serer for Wolof, dialects of Serer are Serer Sine, Segum, Fadyut-Palmerin, Dyegueme, and Niominka. Not all Serer people speak Serer, because the speakers are ethnically Serer, these are commonly thought to be Serer dialects. However, they are not closely related, Serer is significantly closer to Fulani than it is to Cangin, the voiceless implosives are also written ⟨ƥ ƭ ƈ ⟩, these are highly unusual sounds. The following greetings and responses are spoken in most regions of Senegal that have Serer speakers, in Senegalese culture, greetings are very important. Sometimes, people will spend several minutes greeting each other, the ethnolinguistic classification of Seereer in question. In Africa, Challenges of Multilingualism, ds Altmayer, Claus / Wolff, H. Ekkehard, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, consonant mutation and reduplication in Seereer-Siin. Mc Laughlin, Fiona, Voiceless implosives in Seereer-Siin, Journal of the International Phonetic Association,35, 201–214, doi,10. 1017/S0025100305002215 Crétois, Dakar, Centre de Linguistique Appliquée de Dakar. Fal, A. Les nominaux en sereer-siin, Parler de Jaxaaw, senghor, L. S. Lharmonie vocalique en sérère. Journal de la Société des Linguistes
9.
Ndut initiation rite
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The Ndut is a rite of passage as well as a religious education commanded by Serer religion that every Serer must go through once in their lifetime. The Serer people being a group, the Ndut initiation rite is also linked to Serer culture. From the moment a Serer child is born, education plays a role throughout their life cycle. The ndut is one of these phases of their life cycle, in Serer society, education lasts a lifetime, from infancy to old age. The name Ndut comes from the language of the Ndut people, in a religious sense, it means nest. It is a place of sanctuary, and the place where Serer boys lodge in preparation for their circumcision, the word njuli comes from the Serer word juul which means a little boys penis. Because of its religious connotations, the word has been borrowed by the Wolof to designate a Muslim person, there are two main types of Ndut initiation rites. The first concerns the circumcision for Serer boys whilst the second concerns the initiation of Serer girls, Serer religion and culture forbids the circumcision of Serer girls. Serer girls receive their initiation through njam or ndom, preparation for the initiation starts early in childhood. In many cases, boys are circumcised when they reach 13 years old, however it is not uncommon for some to be circumcised when they are 19 to 26 years old. Likewise, Serer girls receive their initiation when they are 11 to 18 years, the purpose of this initiation is to mark the transition from childhood to adulthood. It is also to teach young Serers how to be good, brave, in Serer society, a Serer man who has not undergone the Ndut iniation rite is not deemed to be man. It is also taboo for a Serer woman to marry a Serer man who has not been circumcised, in a religious and hygienic point of view, an uncircumcised penis is deemed uncleanly and impure. Likewise, in old Serer culture, a Serer woman who has not undergone the njam was not deemed to be a real woman, the preparation for the Ndut takes several years, and involves the participation of the whole family and lineages as well as the community. It is a process where physical, sychological, spiritual and economic factors all come into play. The entire family play a role in preparing the child for this journey. Before a Serer boy is circumcised, he must make a public pronouncements called Kan boppam in Serer and this public pronouncements is made in the form of a poem or song. One of these chants is given below, Duma daw Saala Saala maa ko dige, in the initiation of both Serer boys and girls, Serer women play an important role
10.
Serer religion
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The Serer religion, or a ƭat Roog, is the original religious beliefs, practices and teachings of the Serer people of Senegal in western Africa. The Serer people believe in a supreme deity called Roog. In the Cangin languages, Roog is referred to as Koox, Kopé Tiatie Cac, Kokh Kox, the Serer people are found throughout the Senegambia region. The Serer people believe in a deity called Roog and sometimes referred to as Roog Sene. Serer tradition deals with various dimensions of life, death, space and time, ancestral spirit communications, Roog is the creator deity and is neither the devil nor a genie, but the lord of the creature. However, Roog is always in watch of its children and always available to them, in Serer, Roog Sene is the lifeblood to which the incorruptible and sanctified soul returns to eternal peace after they depart the living world. Roog Sene sees, knows and hears everything, but does not interfere in the affairs of the living world. Instead, lesser gods and goddesses act as Roogs assistants in the physical world and those who live their lives contrary to the teachings will be rightfully in the afterlife. For the ordinary Serers, they addressed their prayers to the pangool as they are the intermediaries between the world and the divine. An orthodox Serer must remain faithful to the spirits as the soul is sanctified as a result of the ancestors intercession between the living world and the divine. The pangool have both a historical significance as well as a religious one, without them, the lamane exploits would not have been possible. In the religious sense, these ancient lamanes created shrines to these pangool, thereby becoming the priests, as such, they became the intermediaries among the land, the people and the pangool. Whenever any member of the lamanic lineage dies, the whole Serer community celebrates in honour of the lives they had lived on earth in accordance with the teachings of the Serer religion. Serer prayers are addressed to the pangool who act as intercessors between the world and the divine. In addressing their prayers to the pangool, the Serers chant ancient songs and offer such as bull, sheep, goat. There is no heaven or hell in the Serer religion, the immortality of the soul and reincarnation is a strongly held belief in Serer religion. The pangool are canonised as saints, and will be called upon and venerated. Acceptance by the ancestors who have departed and the ability to intercede with the divine is as close to heaven after one passes over
11.
Rite of passage
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A rite of passage is a celebration of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society, in cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of rite de passage, a French term innovated by the ethnographer Arnold van Gennep in his work Les rites de passage, The Rites of Passage. The term is now fully adopted into anthropology as well as into the literature, in English, Van Genneps first sentence of his first chapter begins, Each larger society contains within it several distinctly separate groupings. In addition, all these groups break down into still smaller societies in subgroups, the population of a society belongs to multiple groups, some more important to the individual than others. Van Gennep uses the metaphor, as a kind of house divided into rooms, a passage occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another, in the metaphor, he changes rooms. Van Gennep further distinguishes between the secular and the sacred sphere, many groups in modern industrial society practice customs that can be traced to an earlier sacred phase. Passage between these requires an ceremony, or ritual hence rite of passage. He is able to find some universals, mainly two, the separation between men and women, and the magico-religious separation between the profane and the sacred. He refuses credit for being the first to recognize type of rites, in the work he concentrates on groups and rites individuals might normally encounter progressively, pregnancy, childbirth, initiation, betrothal, marriage, funerals and the like. He mentions some others, such as the passage, a crossing of borders into a culturally different region. Rites of passage have three phases, separation, liminality, and incorporation, as van Gennep described, in the first phase, people withdraw from their current status and prepare to move from one place or status to another. The first phase comprises symbolic behavior signifying the detachment of the individual or group, from an earlier fixed point in the social structure. There is often a detachment or cutting away from the self in this phase. For example, the cutting of the hair for a person who has just joined the army and he or she is cutting away the former self, the civilian. The transition phase is the period between states, during which one has one place or state but has not yet entered or joined the next. The attributes of liminality or of liminal personae are necessarily ambiguous, in the third phase the passage is consummated the ritual subject. Having completed the rite and assumed their new identity, one society with ones new status. Laboratory experiments have shown that severe initiations produce cognitive dissonance and it is theorized that such dissonance heightens group attraction among initiates after the experience, arising from internal justification of the effort used
12.
Timeline of Serer history
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This is a timeline of the history and development of Serer religion and the Serer people of Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania. This timeline merely gives an overview of their history, consisting of calibrated archaeological discoveries in Serer countries, Serer religion, politics, royalty, dates are given according to the Common Era. For a background to these events, see Roog, Serer religion, Serer creation myth, Serer prehistory, Lamane, States headed by Serer Lamanes, Serer history, the Takrur period represents the prehistory of the Serer people. The Senegalese, Namandiru and Waalo period inaugurates Serer history,800 AD, John Trimingham lists states on the Senegal,800 States on the Senegal, Sanghana, Takrur, Silla, and Galam. Many of the Serer village and town names they have founded still survives today,850 AD, A state centered around Tekrur may have developed at this time, either as an influx of Fulani from the east settled in the Senegal valley. Or according to John Donnelly Fage formed through the interaction of Berbers from the Sahara, early 11th century, According to Serer tradition Lamane Jegan Joof founded Tukar. 1030, War Jabi usurped the throne of Tekrur following a revolution, from this point to 1042, the Serers of Tekrur became the subject of persecution and jihads by the African converts to Islam such as the Fula and Toucouleurs with their Almoravid allies. The Serers defeated the Muslim coalition army forcing them to refuge in Mauritania. This era marks the exodus of the Serers of Tekrur and those who survived the wars and refused to convert migrated southwards to what later became known as the Serer Kingdoms of Sine, Saloum and previously Baol, rather than convert to Islam. In the south, they were granted asylum by their distant Serer relatives, endorsed by the Great Council of Lamanes, Trimingham notes that, Tekrur was the first in the region to adopt Islam but lost completely its Serer identity. War Jabi died in 1040 and was succeeded by his son Leb, Leb is reported to have been fighting for the Almoravids in 1056 probably as a result of the subjugation of Tekrur by the Almoravids in 1042 and a well enforced Sharia law. Economically, the Kingdom of Tekrur benefit with the introduction of Islam and it also created political ties with the North. Many Fulanis/Toucouleurs were part of the Almoravid army that conquered parts of Europe,1235, Mansa Jolofing ransacked the caravan of gold sent by Sundiata Keita for the purchase of horses in Jolof. After this, Mansa Sundiata sent his general and cousin Tiramakhan Traore to Jolof to assassinate the Mansa Jolofing, 1285/7, Lamane Jaw on the throne of Jolof. During his reign, Mansa Sakoura launched an expedition in Senegal, conquered Jolof,1290, Maad Ndaah Njemeh Joof, ancestor of the Joof dynasty of Sine and Saloum succeeded to the throne of Laah in Baol. 1350–1400, The Kingdom of Sine renamed, the Guelowar period starts from 1350. Maad a Sinig Maysa Wali Jaxateh Manneh elected first Guelowar king to rule in one of the Serer countries. Nominated and elected by the Serers of Sine and the Great Council of Lamanes whose Council he served as adviser for 15 years and gave his sisters
13.
Serer prehistory
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The prehistoric and ancient history of the Serer people of modern-day Senegambia has been extensively studied and documented over the years. Much of it comes from archaeological discoveries and Serer tradition rooted in the Serer religion, Some of these Serer relics included gold, silver and metals. The known objects found in Serer countries, are divided into two types,1 and these are the traces left by the proto-populations with which the Sereer were in contact when they came from the Fuuta. Laterite megaliths carved planted in circular structures with stones directed towards the east are found only in parts of the ancient Serer kingdom of Saloum. The sand tumulus, on the hand which resembles ancestral tombs still built by Serers are observed everywhere including the Kingdom of Sine, Jegem. The following table lists the sites in some of the Serer countries with their densities. Note, Some of these are now regions with their cities, towns and villages, Shell mounds are found in the islands. In the provinces of the Gandun, Numi, Saloum and south-western Sine around Joal,139 sites have been identified and these relics are very numerous and imposing. The graves of the ancestors were also very often sanctified as Fangool. Such relics associated with the ancestors are often venerated relics, for example, the relics evoking memories of migration or foundation of states are sometimes sacralised. The family relics in other Serer countries which are brought from Takrur or Kaabu by the founders were noted in places of worship of the village or province history. This may be stone, wood, musical instruments, ceremonial objects used by the Saltigue or Yaal Pangool and these relics kept by families since ancient times remain largely unknown. There are two types of Serer relics relating to two lineages that come into play in the organisation of the Serer people, kucarla - which means paternal lineage or paternal inheritance. ƭeen yaay - which means maternal lineage or maternal inheritance
14.
Serer history
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Over generations these people, possibly Pulaar speaking herders originally, migrated through Wolof areas and entered the Siin and Saluum river valleys. This lengthy period of Wolof-Serer contact has left us unsure of the origins of shared terminology, institutions, political structures, the actual Sereer ethnic group is a mixture of the two groups, and this may explain their complex bilinear kinship system. After the Arab invasion of North Africa, the Berbers of the north advanced Islam via the Almoravid movement, penetrating parts of Africa, Europe, the Serer earned their living from agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, boat building and transporting people over the river. The jihads that had affected Tekrur in the 11th century which led to the Serers of Tekrur exodus only affected those Serers living in Tekrur at the time and it did not apply to all Serer people. The Serer people are very diverse and spread throughout the Senegambia founding towns and villages, in the Senegambia region, the Serer people were ruled by Lamanes. The Serer who have migrated from Tekrur to join their distant Serer relatives created a southward migration for Mandinka migrants, godfrey Mwakikagile proposed that the Mandinkas were either defeated in battle or incorporated into Serer society. The Serers ruled over the Wolof kingdom of Jolof and they were ruling Jolof before the Jaw, Ngom, Mengue and Njie dynasties. However, these Serer and Lebou rulers of Jolof became assimilated into Wolof culture, the actual foundation of the Kingdom of Sine is unclear, but in the late 14th century Mandinka migrants entered the area. They were led by a clan known as the Gelwaar. Marriages between the Serer paternal clans such as Faye and Joof to the Guelwar women created the Serer paternal dynasties, according to Serer oral tradition a king named Maad a Sinig Maysa Wali Jaxateh Manneh – was the first Guelowar king of Sine. Having served for years as legal advisor to The Great Council of Lamans and assimilated into Serer culture. His sisters and nieces were married off to the Serer nobility, in reporting this tradition, Henry Gravrand did not notice that this is actually a description of the 1867 Battle of Kansala. Njaajan Njie (English spelling in Gambia, Ndiandiane Ndiaye or NDiadian NDiaye – French spelling in Senegal, or Njaajaan Njaay - in the Serer language, umar, is the traditional founder of the Jolof Empire by the Wolof people. Traditional stories of the ancestry of this leader vary, one suggests that he was the first and only son of a noble and saintly Arab father Abdu Darday and a Tukuler woman, Fatamatu Sail. This gives him an Almoravid lineage, ie a Berber and Islamic background, on his fathers side, and a link on his mothers side to Takrur. James Searing adds that In all versions of the myth, Njaajaan Njaay speaks his first words in Pulaar rather than Wolof, njaajan Njie was the founder of the first Wolof kingdom and claimed by the Wolof as their ancestor. In 1446, a Portuguese caravel carrying the Portuguese slave trader - Nuno Tristão, none of the adult passengers of that caravel survived. They all succumbed to Serer poisoned arrows except five young Portuguese, one of them was left with the task to charter the caravel back to Portugal
15.
Senegambia Confederation
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The confederation was founded on 1 February 1982 following an agreement between the two countries signed on 12 December 1981. It was intended to promote cooperation between the two countries, but was dissolved by Senegal on 30 September 1989 after the Gambia refused to move closer toward union, as a political unit, Senegambia was created by dueling French and English colonial forces in the region. Competition between the French and the English began in the 16th century when both started to establish trading centers, although there was some overlap in their areas of influence, French trade centered on the Senegal River and in the Cap-Vert region and English trade on the Gambia River. From 1500 to 1758, the two used their naval power to try to remove each other from the region. In 1758, during the Seven Years War based in Europe, the unified region collapsed in 1779. With the British occupied by the American Revolutionary War in North America, the unified region ended officially in 1783 in the aftermath of the British defeat and independence by the United States. The Treaty of Versailles created a balance between France and Britain, Saint Louis, l’île de Gorée, and the Senegal River region were restored to France, and the Gambia was left to the British. Although the areas were ruled by separate, competing powers, they did not determine an official border between the French and British Senegambian colonies until 1889, at the time, France agreed to accept the current border between the two countries and remove its border trading posts. For each country, the lock and key border situation has posed problems for international relations, especially in trade. One of the greatest problems for both countries is the ease with which violence could spread through the region and this fear was realized during the 1981 coup attempt to oust President Dawda Jawara of the Gambia. Specific threats came from Kwame Nkrumahs Ghana, Moussa Traorés Mali, Ahmed Sekou Tourés Guinea, João Bernardo Vieiras Guinea-Bissau, while the Senegalese government speculated about some dangers, in the late 1980s it had border skirmishes with Mauritania. After the coup attempt, the government realized that its forces were not adequate to stop, or prevent. Security of the region was becoming more and more difficult to maintain, the opposing trade policies fueled a large black market around the Senegal–Gambia border, which brought cheaper manufactured goods into Senegal. The black market also attracted an export drain into the Gambia, the Senegalese government began to institute a delayed payment system with its groundnut farms. When farmers sold their harvest to the Senegalese government, they would get a voucher, known as a chit, in the short term, the Senegambia Confederation was a pragmatic union based on a mutual security interest. As noted, the Senegalese government feared national instability caused by uprisings in either the Gambia or the Casamance region and this fear nearly became reality on 30 July 1981 when Gambian leftists attempted a coup détat against President Sir Dawda Jawara. At the request of President Jawara, the Senegalese army entered the Gambia, the attempted coup resulted in both countries leaders promoting the unification ideas which had been developing in the region. Senghor’s belief in Negritude informed the possibility of unification between Senegal and the Gambia, and fostered the belief that unification would happen as an organic process
16.
Jola people
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The Jola are an ethnic group found in Senegal, the Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. There are great numbers on the Atlantic coast between the banks of the Gambia River, the Casamance region of Senegal and the northern part of Guinea-Bissau. They migrated from southern Egypt into the Senegambia region around 13th - 14th century to where they brought palm seed, cotton, in the 1880s the Jolas were engaged in palm wine tapping in Bathurst. By the end of 19th century some Jola had moved to producing groundnuts as a cash crop and they also reared livestock and produced other crops including sweet potatoes, yams and watermelon. The Jola language is distinct from the Dioula language of the Dioula Mande people of the Gambia, Upper Niger and the Kong highlands of Burkina Faso. The Jola speak a variety of Jola dialects which may not, at times, be mutually intelligible, including, kuDiola spoken in a handful of villages south of Oussouye. Gusilay spoken in the village of Thionck Essyl, karon spoken along the coast of Casamance south of Diouloulou. Kuwaataay spoken along the coast south of the Casamance River, Mlomp spoken in the village of Mlomp. The Jolas were the last ethnic group in the Senegambian region to accept Islam, even though some accepted Islam after the Soninke-Marabout war, they honour the traditional use of palm wine in their rituals. They have one God that they associate with the phenomena like sky, rain. They have charms and sacred precincts that they honour and with which they communicate, the Jola people believe that spirits called Bakin or Eneerti can protect their families, their villages, and their rice fields, and can even protect them from conversion to Islam and Christianity. Jolas believed strongly in living a good life in this world. They believe that if one lives a bad life in this world, in the Jola Cassa subgroup this exile spirit is called a Holowa. This exile spirit becomes a spirit with no respect from the other spirits. Unlike most ethnic groups of the Senegambian region, the Jola have no system of griots, slaves, nobility, leather workers. Jolas are also able herbal medicine practitioners, but this does not mean they did not develop a sophisticated political system. In a sense the Jolas political achievement in the village was socialism and it was totally tied to their religious belief in the Bakin. This political achievement is not easy to reach if the society runs it does not have well-defined rules of administration
17.
Senegambian stone circles
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The Senegambian stone circles lie in The Gambia north of Janjanbureh and in central Senegal. They are sometimes divided into the Wassu and Sine-Saloum circles, researchers are not certain when these monuments were built, but the generally accepted range is between the third century B. C. and the sixteenth century A. D. Archaeologists have also found pottery sherds, human burials, and some grave goods, a small collection of these can be found in the British Museums study collection that was donated by the colonial administrator Sir Richmond Palmer. They include a bracelet and two spears. Among these four areas, there are approximately 29,000 stones,17,000 monuments. The monuments consist of what were originally upright blocks or pillars, the monoliths are found in circles, double circles, isolated, or standing apart from circles in rows or individually. These stones that are found standing apart outside the circles are called frontal stones, when there are frontal stones in two parallel, connected rows, they are called lyre-stones. The construction of the stone monuments shows evidence of a prosperous, the stones were extracted from laterite quarries using iron tools, although few of these quarries have been identified as directly linked to particular sites. After extracting the stone, identical pillars were made, either cylindrical or polygonal, the builders of these megaliths are unknown, but some believe that the Serer people are the builders. This hypothesis comes from the fact that the Serer still use funerary houses like those found at Wanar, Wassu is located in the Niani district of Gambia, and is made up of 11 stone circles. The tallest stone is found in area, with a height of 2.59 meters. The builders of the monuments here possessed great knowledge of their local geology in order to find the sources of laterite stones and they must also have had great technical ability in order to extract these stones without splitting or cracking them. Kerbatch, an area comprising nine stone circles and one circle, is located in Gambias Nianija district. Kerbatch also features a V-shaped stone that had broken in three places and fallen and this stone, that had been part of a frontal line, was restored during the 1965 Anglo-Gambian Stone Circles Expedition led by P. Ozanne. During this expedition Ozanne and his team excavated the double circle at Kerbatch, the area of Wanar is located in the Kaffrine district of Senegal, and is made up of 21 stone circles and one double circle. In fact, one third of all Senegambian lyre-stones are located at Wanar, all of the monuments found at Wanar seem to mark burials, according to the archaeologists working there. Researchers have also determined that the site was a ground first. Construction for this area can be narrowed down to between the seventh and fifteenth centuries A. D, a current dating program that has begun is yielding estimates that date the construction of the double circle to between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
18.
Biffeche
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Biffeche or Bifeche is an area of Senegal centred on the town of Savoigne, around 30 kilometres north-east of the major coastal city of Saint-Louis. Low-lying and largely flat, the region has Fula, Serer-Ndut people, Wolof and Moor ethnic groups engaged in pasturing animals, Savoigne is the regions largest town, twinned with La Ferté Macé, its SOCAS tomato-paste factory imports and dilutes tomato paste for re-shipment within Senegal. The population is primarily Muslim, but also contains Catholics and animists, the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary is located to the north. Currently, the river marks this section of the border between Mauritania and Senegal, the island can perhaps most easily be seen on the map with one of its main towns Maka clearly marked. A contemporary map can be found at - this map shows NDar under its older French name of Isle St. Louis, on the island is written Emboulan which appears to be a European variant of a local town name Mboubène. It can also be just seen at the top of Senegal in 1753. In the 17th century a chief known as the Petit Brak or Little King ruled over a region known variously as Biffeche or Gangueul with capital at Maka, the Grand Brak or Big King ruled the kingdom of Waalo, whose capital was originally at Diourbel. The area was depopulated by repeated slaving raids by Moors from the north. At times, the Petit Brak was tributary to Waalo, at times allied with Bethio. In the 1720s, the Brak of Waalo was Erim MBagnick and Béquio Malicouri, Le royaume du Waalo - Le Senegal avant la conquete. Journal Historique et Suitte du Journal Historique 39.2, 223-289, premier voyage du Sieur de la Courbe. Encyclopedie, dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une société de gens de lettres, mis en ordre et publié par Mr. * * *, the Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Vol. XXI. Actes du colloque de Nantes, tome I, les planches sénégalaises et mauritaniennes des “Atlas Vingboons”, G. IFAN, B. t. Gravrand, Henry, La civilisation Sereer - Cosaan, les origines, online at BNF Carte de la rivière du Sénégal depuis la Barre jusquau Panier Foule des petites rivières et marigots qui en dérivent avec les noms des villages qui sont au bord, fait au Sénégal,1720. Online at BNF Anville, Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon, Carte manuscrite de la côte dAfrique aux environs de Gorée et de la rivière du Sénégal depuis Cagneux jusquà son embouchure
19.
French colonial empire
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The French colonial empire constituted the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. The second empire came to an end after the loss of bitter wars in Vietnam and Algeria, competing with Spain, Portugal, the United Provinces, and later Britain, France began to establish colonies in North America, the Caribbean, and India in the 17th century. A series of wars with Great Britain and other European major powers during the 18th century, France rebuilt a new empire mostly after 1850, concentrating chiefly in Africa, as well as Indochina and the South Pacific. Republicans, at first hostile to empire, only became supportive when Germany started to build her own colonial empire and it also provided manpower in the World Wars. It became a mission to lift the world up to French standards by bringing Christianity. In 1884 the leading proponent of colonialism, Jules Ferry declared, The higher races have a right over the lower races, full citizenship rights – assimilation – were offered, although in reality assimilation was always receding the colonial populations treated like subjects not citizens. At its apex, it was one of the largest empires in history, including metropolitan France, the total amount of land under French sovereignty reached 11,500,000 km2 in 1920, with a population of 110 million people in 1939. In World War II, Charles de Gaulle and the Free French used the colonies as bases from which they fought to liberate France. However, after 1945 anti-colonial movements began to challenge European authority, the French constitution of October 27,1946, established the French Union which endured until 1958. Newer remnants of the empire were integrated into France as overseas departments. These now total altogether 119,394 km², which amounts to only 1% of the pre-1939 French colonial empires area, by the 1970s, says Robert Aldrich, the last vestiges of empire held little interest for the French. He argues, Except for the decolonization of Algeria, however. During the 16th century, the French colonization of the Americas began, the story of Frances colonial empire truly began on 27 July 1605, with the foundation of Port Royal in the colony of Acadia in North America, in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. A few years later, in 1608, Samuel De Champlain founded Quebec, which was to become the capital of the enormous, New France had a rather small population, which resulted from more emphasis being placed on the fur trade rather than agricultural settlements. Due to this emphasis, the French relied heavily on creating friendly contacts with the local First Nations community and these became the most enduring alliances between the French and the First Nation community. The French were, however, under pressure from religious orders to them to Catholicism. Through alliances with various Native American tribes, the French were able to exert a loose control over much of the North American continent, areas of French settlement were generally limited to the St. Lawrence River Valley. Prior to the establishment of the 1663 Sovereign Council, the territories of New France were developed as mercantile colonies
20.
Ethnic cleansing
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Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic or religious groups from a given territory by a more powerful ethnic group, with the intent of making it ethnically homogeneous. The forces applied may be forms of forced migration, intimidation, as well as mass murder. An antecedent to the term is the Greek word andrapodismos, which was used in ancient texts to describe atrocities that accompanied Alexander the Greats conquest of Thebes in 335 BC. In the early 1900s, regional variants of the term could be found among the Czechs, the Poles, the French, a 1913 Carnegie Endowment report condemning the actions of all participants in the Balkan Wars contained various new terms to describe brutalities committed toward ethnic groups. During World War II, the euphemism čišćenje terena was used by the Croatian Ustaše to describe military actions in which non-Croats were purposely killed or otherwise uprooted from their homes. Viktor Gutić, a senior Ustaše leader, was one of the first Croatian nationalists on record to use the term as a euphemism for committing atrocities against Serbs. This process was repeated on a larger scale in 1939–41. During The Holocaust, Nazi Germany pursued a policy of ensuring that Europe was cleansed of Jews, according to Israeli historian Benny Morris, the term cleansing was used in Israeli military documents dating to the 1948 Israeli–Arab war, referring to the expulsion of Arabs from Israel. In the 1980s, the Soviets used the term ethnic cleansing to describe the violence in Nagorno-Karabakh. At around the time, the Yugoslav media used it to describe what they alleged was an Albanian nationalist plot to force all Serbs to leave Kosovo. It was widely popularized by the Western media during the Bosnian War, the first recorded mention of its use in the Western media can be traced back to an article in The New York Times dated 15 April 1992, in a quote by an anonymous Western diplomat. Those practices constitute crimes against humanity and can be assimilated to specific war crimes, furthermore, such acts could also fall within the meaning of the Genocide Convention. As a category, ethnic cleansing encompasses a continuum or spectrum of policies, in the words of Andrew Bell-Fialkoff, thnic cleansing defies easy definition. At one end it is virtually indistinguishable from forced emigration and population exchange while at the other it merges with deportation, at the most general level, however, ethnic cleansing can be understood as the expulsion of a population from a given territory. The term ethnic cleansing has frequently employed to refer to the events in Bosnia. General Assembly resolution 47/121 referred in its Preamble to the abhorrent policy of ethnic cleansing and it can only be a form of genocide within the meaning of the Convention, if it corresponds to or falls within one of the categories of acts prohibited by Article II of the Convention. The expulsion of a group or part of a group does not in itself suffice for genocide, there is no international treaty that specifies a specific crime of ethnic cleansing. There are however situations, such as the expulsion of Germans after World War II, timothy V. Waters argues that if similar circumstances arise in the future, this precedent would allow the ethnic cleansing of other populations under international law
21.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
22.
Issa Laye Thiaw
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Issa Laye Thiaw is a Senegalese historian, theologian, and author on Serer religion, Serer tradition and history. Born into a Serer family, himself the son of a Serer High Priest and he was a former researcher at the Centre d’études des civilisations de Dakar. Some of Thiaws works include, Issa Laye Thiaw, la femme Seereer, Sénégal,2005, Sociétés africaines et diaspora. Edition Lharmattan, ISBN 2-7475-8907-2 Issa Laye Thiaw, la religiosité Seereer, avant et pendant leur Islamisation. Dans, Ethiopiques, No.55 Serer people Serer religion List of Senegalese writers
23.
Henry Gravrand
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Father Henry Gravrand was a French Catholic missionary to Africa and an anthropologist who has written extensively on Serer religion and culture. He was one of the pioneers of interfaith dialog and believed that African religion was the first covenant between God and man. Papa Massène Sene argues that his approach lacks scientific rigor and include fundamental linguistic, according to Charles Becker, Gravrand is confusing a description of the 1867 Battle of Kansala. First missionary of the Congregation of Holy Spirit, Gravrand arrived in Senegal on 28 December 1948, in 1955, Gravrand created the Union of farmers of Sine, affiliated to the French Confederation of Christian Workers, which gave the farmers training enabling them to defend their own interests. Gravrand was a specialist on Traditional African religion, in particular the Serer religion, in 1964, Gravrand was one of the founder-members of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. In October 1970, Gravrand was appointed parish priest of MBour, the year 1987 marked the Silver Jubilee of the episcopate of the Archbishop of Dakar. That same year, the apostolate of father Gravrand in Senegal came to an end, Gravrand took his solemn vows in 1990 and was sent to the Monastery of the Holy Saviour in Lebanon. Gravrand died on 11 July 2003 at the Abbey of Latrun,2,1973, pp 237–266 Le Gabou dans les traditions orales du Ngabou, Éthiopiques, no. 28, October 1981 L’héritage spirituel Sereer, valeur traditionnelle dhier, daujourdhui et de demain, Éthiopiques,31, 3e trimestre 1982 La civilisation sereer, vol. ISBN 0-14-044945-0, chapter 67 Klein, Martin A. Islam and Imperialism in Senegal Sine-Saloum, 1847–1914, minh-ha, Drawings from African dwellings, Indiana University Press, Bloomington,1996. JSTOR by Peter Mark À la découverte de la civilisation sereeer avec le R. P. Gravrand
24.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
25.
Africa
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Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
26.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
27.
Sine-Saloum
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Sine-Saloum is a region in Senegal located north of the Gambia and south of the Petite Côte. It encompasses an area of 24,000 square kilometers, about 12% of Senegal, the western portion contains the Saloum Delta, a river delta at the junction of the Saloum and the North Atlantic. It is in region that the Saloum Delta National Park is located. 145,811 hectares of the Delta were designated a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2011, because it flows so slowly, this delta allows saltwater to travel deep inland. Long ago, the Serer kingdoms of Sine and Saloum were rivals, in 1984, the area was divided into two administrative regions, Kaolack and Fatick. Primary economic activities in the 2000s consisted of fishing, salt production, peanut farming, transportation is difficult because of the many islands. A secondary economy is the construction of fishing boats, much of the region consists of mangrove swamps. The upper reaches of the rivers adjoin the Sahel region and are affected by its desertification, the salinity of the water increased during the 1970s instance of the Sahel drought and mismanagement of the rivers upstream has been described as a factor. Mangroves are disappearing, and freshwater fish are disappearing with them, the villagers have difficulty obtaining freshwater. Sometimes water pumps are donated by international organizations, but spare parts are difficult to find when the pumps fail, the change in water salinity is affecting the ecosystem as much as it is changing the lifestyle of the inhabitants of the region. Sine-Saloum has long feared by even Europes most distinguished mariners because the sandbanks move. This danger to outsiders has long protected the region and preserved its individual villages, labour Party of Sine Saloum Tourism in Senegal M. Klein. Un exemple d’économie coloniale, le Sine-Saloum, de 1887 à1940, Paris, Université de Paris VII. Frans J. Schepers. Oiseaux deau dans le Delta du Sine-Saloum et la Petite Côte, Sine-Saloum at Au-Senegal. com Sine-Saloum at Senegalaisement. com
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Cheikh Anta Diop
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Cheikh Anta Diop was a historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician who studied the human races origins and pre-colonial African culture. Though Diop is sometimes referred to as an Afrocentrist, he predates the concept, however, Diopian thought, as it is called, is paradigmatic to Afrocentricity. Diops work has posed important questions about the bias inherent in scientific research. Cheikh Anta Diop University, in Dakar, Senegal, is named after him, born in Thieytou, Diourbel Region, French Senegal, Diop was born to an aristocratic Muslim Wolof family in Senegal where he was educated in a traditional Islamic school. Diops family was part of the Mouride brotherhood, the only independent Muslim fraternity in Africa according to Diop and he obtained a bachelors degree in Senegal before moving to Paris for graduate studies, where he ended his scholastic education. In 1946, at the age of 23, Diop went to Paris to study and he initially enrolled to study higher mathematics, but then enrolled to study philosophy in the Faculty of Arts of the Sorbonne. He gained his first degree in philosophy in 1948, then enrolled in the Faculty of Sciences, in 1949, Diop registered a proposed title for a Doctor of Letters thesis, The Cultural Future of African thought, under the direction of Professor Gaston Bachelard. In 1951 he registered a second thesis title Who were the pre-dynastic Egyptians under Professor Marcel Griaule. He completed his thesis on pre-dynastic Egypt in 1954 but could not find a jury of examiners for it, in 1956 he re-registered a new proposed thesis for Doctor of Letters with the title The areas of matriarchy and patriarchy in ancient times. From 1956, he taught physics and chemistry in two Paris lycees as an assistant master, before moving to the College de France. In 1957 he registered his new thesis title Comparative study of political and social systems of Europe and Africa, the new topics did not relate to ancient Egypt but were concerned with the forms of organisation of African and European societies and how they evolved. He obtained his doctorate in 1960 and he ultimately translated parts of Einsteins Theory of Relativity into his native Wolof. According to Diops own account, his education in Paris included History, Egyptology, Physics, Linguistics, Anthropology, Economics, Diop said that he acquired proficiency in such diverse disciplines as rationalism, dialectics, modern scientific techniques, prehistoric archeology and so on. In 1948 Diop edited with Madeleine Rousseau, a professor of art history, APAM had been set up in 1936 by people on the political left wing to bring culture to wider audiences. Diop contributed an article to the journal, Quand pourra-t-on parler d’une renaissance africaine and he examined various fields of artistic creation, with a discussion of African languages, which, he said, would be the sources of regeneration in African culture. He proposed that African culture should be rebuilt on the basis of ancient Egypt, in the way that European culture was built upon the legacies of ancient Greece. In his 1954 thesis, Diop argued that ancient Egypt had been populated by Black people and he specified that he used the terms negro, black, white and race as immediate givens in the Bergsonian sense, and went on to suggest operational definitions of these terms. He said that the Egyptian language and culture had later spread to West Africa
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Edinburgh University Press
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Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh in 1992, Books and journals published by the Press carry the imprimatur of The University of Edinburgh. All proposed publishing projects are appraised and approved by the Press Committee, since August 2004, the Press has had Charitable Status. In November 2013, Edinburgh University Press acquired Dundee University Press for a sum, with a stated aim to increase textbook and digital sales. Brodies advised Edinburgh University Press on the terms of the acquisition, Edinburgh University Press publishes a range of research publications, which include scholarly monographs and reference works, as well as materials which are available on-line. The Press also publishes textbooks for students and lecturers, the press publishes around 120 books and 30 journals each year. Edinburgh University Press publishes mostly in humanities and social sciences, the press participates in the ebook platforms University Press Scholarship Online, Books at JSTOR and University Publishing Online, and also works with a number of ebook aggregators. The Trustees normally meet five times a year, and are responsible for the conduct of the Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh University Press achieved combined book and journal revenues of over £2. 37m for the year ending 31 July 2013, a 7% increase on the previous year. Profit before interest was £197,000, which was marginally down on 2012 due to continued investment in editorial, Official website - Corporate information and journals publishing programme Official website – books publishing programme
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Serer-Laalaa
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The Serer-Laalaa or Laalaa are part of the Serer ethnic group of Senegambia. They live in Laa, the Léhar Region, which comprises eighteen villages north of Thies, although the people are ethnically Serer, their language Laalaa is not a dialect of the Serer-Sine language, but—like Saafi, Noon, Ndut and Palor, one of the Cangin languages. Serer-Lehar, Serer-Lehaar, Serer-Laalaa, Serer-Laal, Serer-Lala, Laalaa or just Serer and their language, Laalaa or Lehar, is one of the Cangin languages, closely related to the Noon and Saafi languages, and more distantly related to Serer proper. They are people who once practiced agro-pastoral activities, nowadays, agricultural activities predominate their lives. Livestock has been decimated by repeated droughts in the late 1990s. The Laalaa have a generation of many intellectuals, a typical Serer traite. The number of speakers of their language is 12,000 in Senegal excluding the Gambia where they are also present, as part of the Serer ethnic group, they collectively make up the third largest ethnic group in Senegal numbering over 1.8 million. The Laalaa are mostly found in the north of Thies around the villages of Pambaal, Bargaro and Duuña. They have about 18 villages namely, Baam, Bapat, Bargaro, Besi, Bicoona, Duuñë, Gogona, Haak, Jalkin, Jëëfuñ, Joy, Kaadaan, Kii, Kolobaan, Pambal, Sowaaboon, Tuuba, the Laalaa are also found outside the region of Thies. A large Laalaa community migrated between 1984 and 1986 to Saal Ngeen in the Tambacounda Region and they practice the Serer religion which involves ancestor veneration, covering all dimensions of life, death and space. Some Serer-Laalaas are Christians or Muslims whose conversion is very recent, both the Christian and Muslim groups mix it with the old Serer religion whilst the Ultra orthodox follow orthodox Serer religion. Serer people Serer-Noon Saafi people Niominka people Serer-Ndut people Palor people Gambian Studies No.17, with notes on the Serer and Lebou” By David P. Gamble & Linda K. Salmon with Alhaji Hassan Njie. San Francisco 1985 Senegambian Ethnic Groups, Common Origins and Cultural Affinities Factors and Forces of National Unity, Peace, All Africa, All its political entities of independent or other status
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Niominka people
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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, the territory of the Niominka is called the Gandoul. Most of the Niominka live in its eleven large villages, which include Niodior, Dionewar and they represent a little less than 1% of the population of Senegal. Being island-dwellers, they participate in agriculture and aquaculture. The primary agricultural produce is made up of rice, millet, 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, the origins of the Niominka are obscure and uncertain. They were overlooked in the process of the organization of the Sine, 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, 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, through much of their history, the Niumi Bato, 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, 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. Tristão had ventured up the Diombos river on a longboat with his crew intending to find a settlement to raid. 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. Cadamosto reports the fierceness of the Niumi people rested on their belief that the Portuguese were cannibals, but the very next year, 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 memoirs, Portuguese captain Diogo Gomes reports he was personally responsible for negotiating a peace treaty c.1456 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 Niumimansa died in 1861, and an offshoot marabout rising ensued in the coastal area. Le Mbissa, a film by Alexis Fifis and Cécile Walter. Brooks Landlords and Strangers, ecology, society and trade in West Africa, cormier-Salem Rivières du Sud, sociétés et mangroves ouest-africaines, vol.1 Virginia Coulon
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Serer-Noon
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The Serer-Noon also called Noon are an ethnic people who occupy western Senegal. They are part of the Serer people though they do not speak the Serer-Sine language natively and they are found primarily in Senegal in the region of Thies in areas like Fandène, Peykouk, Silman, Diankhène and Dioung. As well as being present in Senegal, they are found in the Gambia. In the Thies area alone, their population is 32,900, collectively, the Serer people make-up the third largest ethnic group in Senegal. In his Sketches of Senegal, Abbé Boilat described them as the most beautiful black people, in the 1860s, Pinet Laprade, then the French governor of Senegal, and Captain Vincent described the Serer-Noon men as fierce and cruel to foreigners. They only traded with other Serers through barter and recented the authority of foreigners, of all the Senegambian ethnic groups, the Noons were among the most independent during the colonial period. The Noons also refused to pay taxes to the French administration of Senegal in the 19th century and launched many wars, to force them to pay tax to the French administration in Senegal, sometimes violence was used against them. In Noon country, their head of state were the Lamanes, the Lamane managed the Noon towns and villages, and each village was an independent republic. The Lamanes in Noon country were the oldest men chosen from particular families, although these Lamanes must not be confused with the ancient Serer Lamanes, the Lamanes in Noon country were very powerful during the colonia period. The Serer-Noon are mostly farmers who grow millet, peanuts, cotton etc, like many of the Serer group, the Noons rarely marry out. They usually marry among themselves or other groups of the Serer race, where a young Serer-Noon has left his or her village for more than three months, on their return, they were subjected to prove their sexual purity. The head griot would offer them a beverage that they must drink, if vomit after drinking it, they were found guilty and sentence to celibacy. This test was just one of many carried out by the head griot. The head male griot would test the young man whilst the head griot would test the young woman. They speak the Noon language, which is one of the Cangin languages rather than a dialect of the Serer-Sine language and their language is closely related to Saafi and the Laalaa language. Like many of the Serer group to which belong, the Noon were very resistant to Islamization. The Serer religion involves cosmology, making offerings to Serer ancestral spirits and saints, the Noon refer to the supreme being as Kokh Kox. Serer people Serer-Ndut people Saafi people Niominka people Serer-Laalaa Palor people Issa Laye Thiaw, la Religiosite de Seereer, Avant et pendant leur Islamisation
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Palor people
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The Palors also known as Serer-Palor, among other names, are an ethnic group found in Senegal around the west central, west southwest of Thiès. They are a sub-group of the Serer ethnic group found in Senegal, although ethnically Serers, they do not speak the Serer language but one of the Cangin languages. Other names for the Palor people include Waro, Palors-Sile, Waro-Waro, Falor, the word Sili is a Palor word for Serer. According to Atlas National du Sénégal, their population was 5000, by 2007, their population was 10,700. They are found in the area of Diander, such as, Gorom, Sébikotane, Tieudem, Mbidjeum, the Palors are a member of the Cangin people and a sub-group of the Serer people. In their oral history, the Palor and Ndut accepts a common origin and their tradition went on to say that, the Palors moved southwards from the village of Palo. In similarity, the Saafi and Noon traditions states a common ancestral heritage, the Noon people used to return and pray at the Sacred wood they left behind in the Safen Region after they had migrated north. The Palors, like many of the Cangin speakers residing on the Cayor and its borders, have a reputation for waging wars against the Damel of Cayor. The name of their king was the Fara Ndout and he was elected by the Damel from the royal family, and a candidate to the throne of Cayor. He had authority over the Nduts, the Palors and the region of Diander, in some cases, he was hardly listened to. They are among the oldest inhabitants of Senegal, especially around Pout area, the Palor language is classified as one of the Cangin languages which is closely related to the Ndut language and distantly related to Serer proper. Many Palors are farmers who grow millet and they also grow and sell peanuts, manioc, mangoes, tomatoes, bissap, etc. Many Palors also work in the cities of Thiès and Dakar and even further afield at Kaolack in order to earn income. Unlike the other Serer groups, the Palors, especially those from families, are at a disadvantage educationally. As a result, they have to send their children to boarding schools in Safene country, such as Sangué, lack of educational facilities has resulted in Palor children not receiving formal education. Like many of the Cangin language speakers such as the Safene and they make offerings of the harvest firstfruits to the ancestral spirits and retain the chef coutumier. Their traditional and religious songs are preserved, usually sung in the Ndut language. Some Palors are Christians or Muslims, like most Serer Muslims, their conversion to Islam is very recent
._19th_Century._Jung-Jung_From_The_Kingdom_of_Sine_(in_modern_day_Senegal).jpg){kind=small}
