Bassa (West Africa)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bassa women (1922)

The Bassa are the second largest people in Liberia and live in Grand Bassa County , River Cess County and Montserrado County .

A total of 350,000 Bassa live in Liberia (1991 census). But there are also 5,000 Bassa in Sierra Leone . They speak the Bassa language , a Kru language , and have developed their own script - called " Bassa" or "Vah ", which developed in the 19th century. Traditionally, the Bassa have their own West African religion, but they have also practiced Christianity since the 18th century.

history

The Bassa (besides the Dei, Bassa, Kru, Krahn and Grebo), also known as Kwa speakers, can trace their historical roots back to Egypt . When the Adbassa Empire collapsed in the 6th century, they migrated from Egypt to Bassa-ri, which included parts of what is now Senegal, Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo and Cameroon. The Adbassa empire resided for three centuries alongside the Bornu empires , the house states and the Yoruba kingdoms.

literature

  • Somah, Syrulwa (2003) Nyanyan Gohn-Manan History, Migration and Government of the Bassa .; Lightning Source Inc
  • Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages ​​of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex .: SIL International. Online version .

Individual evidence

  1. Molefi K. Asante; Ama Mazama: Bassa . In: Encyclopedia of African religion, Sageverlag 2009, Volume 1, ISBN 978-1-4129-3636-1 , page 109 ( online in the Google book search)