The Bozo ()
are a
Mande ethnic group
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
located predominantly along the
Niger River
The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Nige ...
in
Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...
. The name ''Bozo'' is thought to derive from
Bambara ''bɔ-so'' "bamboo house"; the people accept it as referring to the whole of the ethnic group but use more specific clan names such as ''Sorogoye'', ''Hain'', and ''Tieye'' themselves. They are famous for their fishing and are occasionally referred to as the "masters of the river".
The
Bozo language, which belongs to the Soninke-Bozo subgroup of
Northwestern Mande, have traditionally been considered dialects of one language though there are at least four distinct varieties.
Aspects of Bozo culture took shape under the 10th century
Ghana Empire, when the Bozo took possession of the banks of the Niger. The Bozo were the founders of the Malian cities of
Djenné and
Mopti.
Though the Bozo are predominantly
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, they preserve a number of
animist traditions as well. Their animal
totem is the bull, whose body represents the Niger and whose horns represent the Bozo fishing
pirogues.
A 2000 census counted the Bozo population of Mali to be 132,100.
Bibliography
*
* in : Geo Special Westafrika, Article: Sexualkunde am Fluss
References
External links
{{Authority control
Ethnic groups in Mali
Muslim communities in Africa
Mandé people
West African people