 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2017) |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 472,000–510,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Liberia | 357,000–408,000 |
 Guinea | 102,000–115,000 |
| Languages | |
| Yacouba Mano Dialects | |
| Religion | |
| Animism, Ancient Yahwism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Dan people, Kpelle people, Mende people | |
Mano known also as Mano-Dan, Yacouba is an ethnic group of Liberia and Guinea. The group speaks the Mano language, which belongs to the Mande language family. [1]
The Mano ethnic group occupy the northeastern part of Liberia known as Nimba County and some parts of modern-day Guinea, in the forest section of that republic. [2] According to John Gbatu, (1919-2010), a prominent Mano tribal leader, the name Nimba originates with the Mano dialect which in Mano is Niemba/Nyamba Tun (Mount Nimba). The meaning is "hills on which young maidens will slip and fall".
This is so because the Mano used to worship Wala/Ya'ala/Nyamba (the Creator God) up what is today known as Mt. Nimba in Liberia. They occupied major cities and towns in Niemba such as Ganta, Yekepa, Sanniquellie, and Scalepea amongst others.
According to Stanley Delano Quaye (1985-), a Liberian Historical Economist and Banker and grandson of John Gbatu, the Mano belongs to the Mande speaking group and has had a long history. He narrated that the tribe migrated from Sudan and settled in the Mali empire and subsequently to the republic of Guinea where they formed a Kingdom in the Youmou area. They later migrated to what is Liberia during the term of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a larger portion arrived during the turn of the sixteenth and seventeen centuries.
Stanley Delano Quaye has done research in anthropology and the political structure of the Mano and Gio tribes. His noted paper discusses the political and economic governance of the tribes. The Manos are also skilled musicians, warriors and excellent in the arts and crafts. In modern day Liberia, they occupy positions in national government, banking and engineering. They are among Liberia's best doctors and engineers.
The mano alongside their Dan brothers descend from the Mandé peoples. The Dan are known as the "small brothers" of the Mano. They subsequently emigrated from the Mali empire, where they were known as the Soumano/Danhou Maghan clan of the Gbara. They travelled to Mano/Dan land part of present-day Liberia Guinea and Cote D'Ivoire at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, occupying the Nimba Range. They helped defend the empire against invaders from mainly North Africa. The Mano have two traditional schools: the poro for men and the sande for women.
As Christianity spread to Northern Liberia during the 19th century, many Mano abandoned their traditional practices and took to western religious groups such as the Methodist and Catholic churches. Dr. George Way Harley, a missionary from the United States settled in Ganta and started the Ganta United Mission which later grew to high schools, hospitals and colleges (the mission station now houses the Winifred J. Harley School of Nursing named after his wife). Dr. Harley was also amused by the Mano culture mask ceremony. He bought many masks from the locals and established a museum in Cleveland, United States. He died on November 7, 1966. His ashes were flown to Ganta to be buried near the mission station having spent over 35 years in Ganta.
The Mano are excellent in arts and crafts; they are also gifted musicians and farmers. Mano are also in Guinea; it is common to see Mano towns in Guinea to have similar names cultures with that of their Liberian brothers. This is why during the Liberian Civil War, most Liberian Manos were welcomed and treated with great pity and hospitality by their Guineans brothers. In fact, during the great siege of Ganta, high ranking Manos in the Guinean Army provided military aid to Mano defenders in Liberia.
Today, the region they occupied have common bustling towns in terms of trade and commerce mainly by their Dan brothers. The Manos have close culture and language similarity with the Gios (Dan). They are the two major tribes in Nimba county.
As of 2006, Liberia had the highest population growth rate in the world. This has declined since, however, and stood at 2.37 percent in 2023.
The Mali Empire was an empire in West Africa from c. 1226 to 1670. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa. At its peak, Mali was the largest empire in West Africa, widely influencing the culture of the region through the spread of its language, laws, and customs.
The Krahn are an ethnic group of Liberia and Ivory Coast. This group belongs to the Kru language family and its people are sometimes referred to as the Wee, Guéré, Sapo, or Wobe. It is likely that Western contact with the Kru language is the primary reason for the development of these different names.
The Bambara are a Mandé ethnic group native to much of West Africa, primarily southern Mali, Ghana, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal. They have been associated with the historic Bambara Empire. Today, they make up the largest Mandé ethnic group in Mali, with 80% of the population speaking the Bambara language, regardless of ethnicity.
The Poro, or Purrah or Purroh, is a men's secret society in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast, introduced by the Mane people. It is sometimes referred to as a hunting society and only males are admitted to its ranks. The female counterpart of the Poro society is the Sande society.
Sanniquellie is a city and the capital of Nimba County and Sanniquellie-Mahn District, Liberia. It is located in the north-east of the country at coordinates 07°21'49" N 008°42'40" W. The average altitude of the city is 420 metres above the sea level. As of the 2008 national census, the population stood at 11,415. The most represented tribes are Mano, Gio and Mandingo.
Ganta, also known as Gompa City, is a town approximately 323 kilometres (201 mi) from Monrovia in Nimba County of northern Liberia. It is located just south of the Guinea border. It is the second-most populous city in Liberia, with an estimated population of 41,106 as of 2008. A bustling market town, it contains a prominent white mosque, noted for its decorated minarets of carved stars.
The First Liberian Civil War was the first of two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia. It lasted from 1989 to 1997. President Samuel Doe established a regime in 1980 but totalitarianism and corruption led to unpopularity and the withdrawal of the support of the United States by the late 1980s. The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor invaded Liberia from the Ivory Coast to overthrow Doe in December 1989 and gained control over most of the country within a year. Doe was captured and executed by the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), a splinter faction of the NPFL led by Prince Johnson, in September 1990. The NPFL and INPFL fought each other for control of the capital city, Monrovia and against the Armed Forces of Liberia and pro-Doe United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy. Peace negotiations and foreign involvement led to a ceasefire in 1995 but fighting continued until a peace agreement between the main factions occurred in August 1996. Taylor was elected President of Liberia following the 1997 Liberian general election and entered office in August of the same year.
The Mandé peoples are an ethnolinguistic grouping of native African ethnic groups who speak Mande languages. Various Mandé-speaking ethnic groups are found particularly in the western regions of West Africa. The Mandé languages are divided into two primary groups: East Mandé and West Mandé.
Guinée forestière is a forested mountainous region in southeastern Guinea, extending into northeastern Sierra Leone. It is one of four natural regions into which Guinea is divided and covers 23% of the country. It includes all of the Nzérékoré administrative region, and shares a border with Sierra Leone and Liberia. Its rocky topology contains several mountain ranges and has an average elevation of 460m. Forested Guinea contains important areas of biological diversity such as the UNESCO World Heritage site Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve and biosphere reserve Ziama Massif. The Guéckédou prefectures also recorded the initial case of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Meliandou, a rural village. The virus subsequently spread to urban areas and neighbouring countries Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Nimba County is a county in northeastern Liberia that shares borders with the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire in the East and the Republic of Guinea in the Northwest. Its capital city is Sanniquellie and its most populous city is Ganta. With the county's area measuring 11,551 square miles (29,920 km2), Nimba is the largest of Liberia's 15 counties. The county has six statutory districts. As of the 2022 Census, it had a population of 621,841, making it the second most populous county in Liberia.
The diverse culture of Ivory Coast, a coastal West African country bordered by Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea, is exemplified by a multitude of ethnic groups, events, festivals, music, and art.
The Baga are a West African ethnic group who live in the southern swampy lands of Guinea Atlantic coastline. Traditionally animist through the pre-colonial times, they converted to Islam during the mid-eighteenth century under the influence of Muslim Mandé missionaries. Some continue to practice their traditional rituals.
The Kpelle people are the largest ethnic group in Liberia. They are located primarily in an area of central Liberia, extending into Guinea. They speak the Kpelle language, which belongs to the Mande language family.
The Dan or Mano-Dan are a Mande ethnic group from northwestern Ivory Coast and neighbouring Liberia. There are approximately 700000 members of the group and their largest settlement is Man, Ivory Coast. Neighboring peoples include the Krahn, Kpelle and Mano. They are officially known as Yacouba.
The Manes, Mani or Manneh were invaders who attacked the western coast of Africa in what is now Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone throughout much of the sixteenth century.
Sierra Leone is home to about sixteen ethnic groups, each with its own language. In Sierra Leone, membership of an ethnic group often overlaps with a shared religious identity.
George Way Harley was an American Methodist medical missionary. He spent 35 years in Ganta, Liberia, where he established Ganta Hospital, a school and a church. He was known for his research into the local culture, and received many honors from the Liberian government and from American and British institutions. Major collections of ceremonial masks purchased by Harley in Liberia are held in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University and the Anthropology Department of the College of William & Mary.
The Monrovia Church massacre, also referred to as the St. Peter's Lutheran Church massacre, was the worst single atrocity of the First Liberian Civil War. Approximately 600 people were killed at the church, on 14th Street, in the Sinkor district of Monrovia on 29 July 1990. The massacre was carried out by approximately 30 government soldiers loyal to President Samuel Doe. The perpetrators were of Doe's Krahn tribe while most of the victims were from the Gio and Mano tribes, which were in support of the rebels.
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