Manjago

year	Census in Gambia	Share in the total population
1973	5596	1.05%
1983	10741	1.45%
1993	7458	0.7%

The Manjago (spelling variants: Manjack , Man'yago , Manjaku , Manjaco and Manjaca ) are an ethnic group in the West African Guinea-Bissau , in southern Senegal , in Casamance , they are called Mandjak . A numerically small ethnic group also lives in the West African state of Gambia . There they live south of the Gambia River in the West Coast Region . Their origins go back to Guinea-Bissau, where they still make up around 9 percent of the population.

In the 19th century, the Gambian Manjago, like the Bainounka , almost completely mixed with the Diola and Mandinka ethnic groups ; they hardly play a role in the Gambia's censuses of 1973, 1983 and 1993.

Little is known about the history and culture of the Manjagos. However, like the Diola and Bainounka , they are often associated with the fact that they produce palm wine during the entire dry season , after the main agricultural work has been completed . For this purpose, the owners of oil palms ( Elaeis guineensis ) climb the palm trees every day in the morning and evening with the help of an elliptical belt, the kandab , using a certain climbing technique, sometimes more than 20 meters high. They tap the flower stalks and collect the sugar-containing juice in vessels, which then ferments and becomes an alcoholic drink similar to Federweiss . Since climbing is a dangerous activity away from the villages and accidents are frequent, people use a special whistling language to communicate with one another.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Arnold Gailey, Harry A. Hughes: Historical Dictionary of the Gambia . The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1999, ISBN 081083660-2
2. ^ Fischer Weltalmanach 2012, page 212. Frankfurt / Main 2011
3. ↑ Le palmier à huile en Basse Casamance (Sénégal). Gilles PESTAÑA, Octobre 1991 Page 17 of the PDF file on the production of palm wine (vin de Palme)