Senoufo

The Senufo people, also known as Siena, Senefo, Sene, Senoufo, Syénambélé and Bamana, are a West African ethnolinguistic group. They consist of diverse subgroups living in a region spanning the northern Ivory Coast, the southeastern Mali and the western Burkina Faso. One sub-group, the Nafana, is found in north-western Ghana.

The Senufo people are predominantly animists, with some who are Muslims. They are regionally famous for their handicrafts, many of which feature their cultural themes and religious beliefs.

In the 1980s, estimates placed the total ethnic group population of Senufo people somewhere between 1.5 and 2.7 million. A 2013 estimate places the total over 3 million, with majority of them living in Ivory Coast in places such as Katiola, and some 0.8 million in southeastern Mali. Their highest population densities are found in the land between the Black Volta river, Bagoe River and Bani River.

The Senufo people are typically studied in three large subgroups which have been relatively isolated. The northern Senufo are called "Supide or Kenedougou", found near Odienne, and who helped found an important kingdom of West Africa and challenged Muslim missionaries and traders. The southern Senufo are the largest group, numbering over 2 million, who allowed Muslim traders to settle within their communities in the 18th century who actively proselytized, and about 20% of the southern Senufo are Muslims. The third group is very small and isolated from both northern and southern Senufo. Some sociologists such as the French scholar Holas mentions fifteen identifiable sub-groups of Senufo people, with thirty dialects and four castes scattered between them.

They speak the various Senufo languages. It belongs to the Gur-branch of the Niger-Congo language family, and consists of four distinct languages namely Suppire in Mali, and Palaka, Dyimini, and Senari in Côte d’Ivoire.Korhogo, an ancient town in northern Ivory Coast dating from the 13th century, is linked to the Senufo people. This separation of languages and sub-ethnic groups may be linked to the 14th-century migrations with its founding along with the Bambara trade-route.

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