Who are the Mandinka? The Mandinka are one of the most significant ethnic groups in Gambia, and they can trace their ancestry back to the first group of humans to settle in the Sudanese Belt, during the time period between the Stone and Iron Ages.

Who are the Mandinka? The Mandinka are one of the most significant ethnic groups in Gambia, and they can trace their ancestry back to the first group of humans to settle in the Sudanese Belt, during the time period between the Stone and Iron Ages.

These early humans were hunters who fashioned weapons out of stone and iron, such as knives, axes, scrapers, hammers, and needles, which they used to kill their prey. Later on, they developed spears, harpoons, clubs, shields, blowguns, bows, and arrows as means of defense against their enemies. Prior to the year 700, the black population that lived in the Sudanese Belt only took up residence in a very small fraction of the region. 

They persisted in agricultural practices, which allowed them to amass populations that were larger and more dense than those of their contemporaries, whose primary focus was on cattle breeding. In the end, they were successful in colonizing the forest regions of West Africa. During the early Islamic contact period, which began around 700 BCE and lasted for a few hundred years, long-distance trade played an increasingly important role in the economic, social, and political life of western Sudan.