Susu people

Susu (Soso, Soussou)

Susu people with musical instruments in 1935
Total population
(2.2 million)
Regions with significant populations
2,042,287 in Guinea 192,000 in Sierra Leone
Languages
Susu
Religion
99% Islam
Related ethnic groups
Yalunka people

The Susu people, also called Soso or Soussou, are a West African ethnic group, one of the Mandé peoples living primarily in Guinea. Influential in Guinea, smaller communities of Susu people are also found in the neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau.

The Susu are a patrilineal society, predominantly Muslim, who favor endogamous cross-cousin marriages with polygynous households common. They have a caste system like all Manding-speaking peoples of West Africa, where the artisans such as smiths, carpenters, musicians, jewelers and leatherworkers are separate castes, and believed to have descended from the medieval era slavery.

Their language, called Sosoxui by native speakers, serves as a major trade language along the Guinean coast, particularly in its southwest, including the capital city of Conakry. It belongs to the Niger-Congo family of languages.

In old Susu language, "Guinea" means woman and this is the derivation for the country's name.

The Susu are descendants of their Manding ancestors who lived in the mountainous Mali-Guinea border. They were once ruled by Sumanguru Kanté – a Susu leader, but thereafter they were ruled by the thirteenth century Mali Empire. In the 15th century, they moved to Fouta Jalon plateau of Guinea, as the Mali empire disintegrated. Susu people were traditionally animist.

The Fula people (Fulani) dominated the region from the Fouta Djallon. The Fulani created an Islamic theocracy, thereafter began slave raids as a part of Jihad that impacted many West African ethnic groups including the Susu people. In particular, states Ismail Rashid, the Jihad effort of Fulani elites starting in the 1720s theologically justified enslavement of the non-Islamic people and also led to successful conversion of previously animist peoples to Islam. The political environment led the Susu people to convert to Islam in the 17th and 18th-century, along with further westward and southward migration towards the plains of Guinea.

The colonial era Europeans arrived in the Guinea region of resident Susu people in late 18th-century for trade, but got politically involved during the era of Temne wars that attacked the Susu people along with other ethnic groups. While Temne sought British support, the Susu sought the French. The region split, with Temne speaking Sierra Leone regions going with the British colonial empire and Susu speaking Guinea regions becoming a part of the French colonial empire in late 19th-century during the Scramble for Africa.