Balanta
Balanta , especially in the French-speaking area, also Balante , are an ethnic group with an Atlantic language of the same name in West Africa in the countries of Senegal , Gambia and Guinea-Bissau . In Guinea-Bissau, the Balanta are the second largest ethnic group with a good quarter of the population.
The total number of Balanta is estimated at 442,000, including 420,000 in Guinea-Bissau.
history
Archaeologists believe that the Balanta migrated to what is now Guinea-Bissau in small groups between the 10th and 14th centuries. During the 19th century they spread all over Guinea-Bissau and southern Senegal to avoid the expansion of the Kaabu Kingdom . Oral tradition of the Balanta itself says that they moved westward from the region of modern-day Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia in order to avoid conflicts there. Today the Balanta mainly settle south of the Geba River and in the center of Guinea-Bissau.
Culture
The Balanta can do without a chief or recognized leader. All important decisions are made by a council of wise men among the Balanta. In order to be accepted as a member of the community, the person to be accepted has to face an initiation ceremony. Overall equality prevails among the Balanta. As a result, the Portuguese colonialists had trouble with them. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Portugal launched several pacification campaigns against insurgent Balanta and subjugated them to appointed chiefs of the Fulani . Because of the Portuguese repression, Balanta allowed themselves to be recruited in large numbers as soldiers by the PAIGC during the struggle for independence in the 1960s and 1970s . After independence, however, nationalists took power and the Balanta, with their difficulty in setting up village committees and other administrative structures because of their decentralized social organization, were left out. Many Balanta resented her exclusion from the government. In the 1980s, the army made several coup attempts.
language
Balanta is a North Atlantic language belonging to the Bak branch . The majority of its speakers are illiterate and use Portuguese Creole, which is common in Guinea-Bissau, when dealing with members of other ethnic groups .
religion
The Balanta are generally followers of a traditional religion . Otherwise, Islam outweighs Christian beliefs. Djon Cago is the name of one of the deities. Balanta believe that the gods are very far away. The believers try to reach them through necromancy and sacrifice.
swell
- ↑ Ulrich Schiefer : Dissipative economy and development cooperation and the collapse of African agricultural societies using the example of Guinea-Bissau . IAK, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-928049-83-6 , p. 70 ( ssoar.info ).