The Loma people, sometimes called Loghoma, Looma, Lorma or Toma, are a

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

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 ...

living primarily in mountainous, sparsely populated regions near the border between

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

and

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

. Their population was estimated at 330,000 in the two countries in 2010. They are closely related to the

Mende people The Mende are one of the two largest ethnic groups in Sierra Leone; their neighbours, the Temne people, constitute the largest ethnic groups in Sierra Leone, ethnic group at 35.5% of the total population, which is slightly larger than the Mende ...

. The Loma speak a language in the Southwestern branch of the

Mande languages The Mande languages are a family of languages spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé peoples. They include Maninka (Malinke), Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Kpelle, Jula (Dioula), Bozo, Mende, Susu, and Vai. There are ar ...

, belonging to the Niger-Congo family of languages. The language is similar to the Kpelle, Mende, Vai, and Bandi languages. The Loma refer to their language as Löömàgòòi , or Löghömàgòòi in Guinea. They refer to themselves as Löömàgìtì , or Löghömagiti in Guinea. The Loma people, led by Wido Zobo and assisted by a Loma weaver named Moriba, developed a writing script for their language in the 1930s. This writing script contains at least 185 characters. The

Mandinka Mandinka, Mandika, Mandinkha, Mandinko, or Mandingo may refer to: Media * Mandingo (novel), ''Mandingo'' (novel), a bestselling novel published in 1957 * Mandingo (film), ''Mandingo'' (film), a 1975 film based on the eponymous 1957 novel * ''Man ...

, Koniaka, and Kissi refer to the Loma as ''Toma''. The Loma have retained their traditional religion, and resisted the Islamic incursion. The Loma people called the religious conflict with

Mandinka people The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, The Gambia, southern Senegal and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the List of ethn ...

a historic 'rolling war'. The Loma people are notable for their large wooden masks that merge syncretic animal and human motifs. These masks have been a part of their ''Poro'' secret rites of passage. The largest masks are about six feet high, contain feather decorations and believed by Loma to have forest spirits. The Loma people farm rice, but in shifting farms. They are exogamous people, with patrilineal social organization in matters related to inheritance, succession and lineage affiliations with one-marriage rule. Joint families, or virilocal communities are common, wherein families of brothers settle close to each other. The Loma people are also referred to as Buzi, Buzzi, Logoma, Toale, Toali, Toa, or Tooma.RAMEAU, BnFbr>
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Loma patronyms

Notable Loma people

* Louis Lansana Béavogui, former prime minister of Guinea from 1972 to 1984 * Joshua Guilavogui, French footballer * K. Guilavogui, Guinean politician * Michel Guilavogui, Guinean footballer * Mohamed Guilavogui, Malian footballer * Morgan Guilavogui, French footballer * Pépé Guilavogui, Guinean footballer * Balla Onivogui, Guinean trumpet player

References

External links

Ethnologue report for Loma languageVideo by Yale Linguistics Department on Loma last namesVideo by Yale Linguistics Department on a story about jealousy delivered in Loma
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loma People Ethnic groups in Guinea Ethnic groups in Liberia Mandé people