Introduction
Indigenous is a slippery term that is defined differently by different groups of people all over the world. It is clearly stated that many people consider indigenous as being different from native.
This issue has raised a global concern on what are indigenous people, how are they indigenous, what rights do they have and how different are they from non-indigenous others.
From both social and political point of view, indigenous people refer to those ethnic people who are considered native to either land or region more probably before the intrusion of foreign or other dominating cultures.
Indigenous people can also be regarded as a group of people with commonalities in terms of cultural identity which are said to have been shaped by their geographical region or land. In the world, various nations use wide range of names to identify indigenous people. However, indigenous people are regarded as the original inhabitants of a land, region or territory (Coastes, 2004).
Politically, indigenous people refer to a group of people with historical ties to ethnic group that inhabited a certain region prior to colonization meaning that colonization has led or impaired with the existence of indigenous people in the world.
It is of much interest to understand the concept of indigenous people so that one can be able to trace back the struggle such people encountered during the colonial period. The issue is that before colonial era, each ethnic group was indigenous or native to its land or region (Coastes, 2004).
The need to colonize other people brought struggle between the indigenous people and the colonial nations. For instance, indigenous people resisted colonial forces from colonial nations because it came into realization that the main objective of colonialism was to extract natural resources from nations being colonized.
This actually indicates the struggle experienced by the indigenous people during colonial era. The implication is that all indigenous population they once encountered struggle as they resisted foreign groups or ethnic groups (Langton, 2006).
Discussion
According to Niezen (2004) in his book “The origins of Indigenism: Human rights and the politics of identity”, indigenous people like any other group of people have their own rights and such rights need to be preserved by other ethnic groups in the world.
As mentioned earlier, every nation has indigenous group of people for instance we have Native American and Pacific Islander Inhabiting the United States, Hill tribes in South East Asia, Aborigines in Australia and Adivasi in India among others.
These groups have something in common for instance; they depend on subsistence production that includes pastoralist, horticulture, hunting and gathering as away of earning living. However, many people consider ethnic groups that are made up of indigenous people as remote society that have never been urbanized.
The Mandinka Empire is an example of indigenous group in West Africa that experienced severe struggle from French colonialism (Stokes, 2009).
According to Lisa Lindsay, before and after the colonial period, 16 nations of sub-Saharan West Africa comprised of Muslims people. Islam was founded in Saudi Arabia country in 610 C.E by a prophet by the name Muhammad.
Lack of unity was witnessed among the Muslims communities of West Africa hence giving way for French invasion. To counter attack the French invasion, Samori Toure a Muslim Merchant Founded Mandinka Empire that comprised of Indigenous people in West Africa.
He thought that the best way to hinder French from advancing or entering his Empire was to form and train a force of soldiers for security purposes in Mandinka. French wanted to colonize Mandinka Empire with an aim of capturing gold and cattle that were traded by Mandinka people.
It was evident that Mandinka people under the leadership of Samori Toure traded gold and cattle in exchange for firearms from the coast region. The trade played critical role because it strengthened the Mandinka Army (Stokes, 2009).
In addition, the trade brought about modernization in the Army whereby the soldiers were taught new tactics and skills that were of much important when resisting French invasion in their territory. In addition, gold and cattle trade resulted to powerful Mandinka Kingdom with a potential to conquer other states that surrounds it.
This happened in the period between 1865 and 1875 with its end result being political unity among the Mandinka Empire which was dominated by Muslims thought French wanted to spread Christianity to Mandinka people or community.
It is from this reason that Samori Toure as a King or ruler of Mandinka Empire exerted pressure against French Army. Samori Toure as a young and wise ruler, he converted all Mandinka people into Muslims with an aim of enhancing unity among them.
He thought that if he converts the indigenous people of Mandinka into Muslims, he would strengthen his empire hence being in a position to counter attack the French Army. As a king, Samori Toure enhanced the spread of Muslim in the region by erecting of Mosques and Islamic schools.
Begging of 1880s, Mandinka Empire was the third largest Empire in West Africa. The first two largest kingdoms were Sokoto and Tukolor respectively. However, Mandinka Empire has been considered as a major center of resistance against the French conquest in the last decade of the 19th century in West Africa (Wright, 2005.P.41).
During the start of 1880 African continent had experienced scramble for Africa kind of colonization from the western countries that include the British, European and French. In, addition to this most of West Africa nations such as Niger and Mali came under the French rule meaning that they were converted into French Empire.
Samori Toure as the King or ruler of Mandinka Empire was defeated by French because his Army used inferior weapons and lacked tactics and skills that were possessed by their opponents. French Army had superior weapons and soldiers that were fully trained for attack.
It was also noted that Mandinka Army faced severe drought that led to the death of many soldiers. This clearly states why Samori Toure as a king was defeated by French Army during their invasion. To make things easier, French Army had collaborated with some communities in the Western Africa that offered support to them (Wright, 2005.P.57).
The invasion of French in Mandinka Empire led to struggler between two religions that include the Muslims and Christianity. These two groups were complex hence assimilation was considered difficulty among the indigenous people of Mandinka Empire.
In contrast most of the Western Africans sided with the French missionaries but in Mandinka Empire this was not the case because Islam expanded rapidly than it was before the colonial period. French missionaries opened up missionary schools and churches with an aim of spreading Christianity in the region.
In contrast to this, a half of the West Africa population was converted into Muslims by the begging of 1940. This clearly indicates that though Western Africa Communities had been colonized by French, the traditional beliefs and values still exists or holds (Lea, 2008).
However, the expansion of Islamic was made easier due to the fact that the colonial administrators had made some arrangements that were geared toward preserving of the power of Muslims elites mainly to serve as kind of appreciation from their cooperation with French power or rule.
The growth of cities and increase of the trade during the twentieth century was another reason as to why Islamic grew rapidly with the coming of the colonialism in West Africa communities because it gave Muslims the opportunity to shift from one area to another with ease hence being in apposition to promote faith that was free from cultural imperialism practiced by the colonialists.
For instance, leaders of Islamic brotherhood in Mali became prominent businessmen in the area thus advancing their enterprises into other areas (Lea, 2008).
Reasons or Causes of French Invasion in West Africa communities (the Mandinka Empire)
There are several reasons that led to the French colonization of Mandinka Empire which is a West Africa community. For instance, French’s intention to colonize Mandinka Empire was first, to search for market for their goods.
French came into realization that it had been producing goods that had little demand in the country therefore to avoid wastage of resource; it decided to colonize Mandinka aiming at advancing its market. Another reason is that French wanted to explore Mandinka Empire with an agenda of capturing resources that were scarce in French.
Over production of goods in French led to exploitation or deterioration in levels of natural resource meaning that in order for the French to continue producing such goods, it had to look for new resources from other communities including Mandinka Empire.
From the historical point of view, French’s intention to colonize Mandinka Empire was to look for a land for settlement. This was in line with the diminishing of resources in French as it has been mentioned earlier in the study.
Based on this reason, French thought that it would be more helpful if it would get control over Mandinka Empire in which it can build-up new industries and factories for production of their goods and services (Langton, 2006).
By doing this, French would up-lift its levels of economic growth as being able to achieve the required standard of development. For instance, French invasion In West Africa communities led to civilization of African through the spread of Christianity and education that were aimed at eradicating the traditional belief system practiced among the Africa communities.
West Africa communities were indigenous people because they consider Africa as their original land whereby their ancestors had lived before the coming of the colonists. They share common characteristics for instance; they were pastoralists, subsistence farmers, hunters and gatherers.
They resisted against the colonists because they believed that they came to distort their belief system which they considered critical in their lives meaning that the contemporary struggle was both cultural and material oriented (Langton, 2006).
Results of French colonialism in Mandinka Empire in West Africa
As the saying goes conflict results into peace, this was evident during the colonial era with French invasion to Mandinka Empire. Truly Samori Toure was defeated by French Army, the fact that led to interaction between the French and Africa people of Mandinka Empire.
Such kind of interaction between the two communities led to the exchange of cultures among the people hence creating avenues for intermarriages. The implication is that French people and Africa people from west married each other. This activity of intermarriages led to the strengthening of ties between the two communities which later resulted to unity which is an indicator of peace.
Based on this argument, the two communities were free to trade without fear or barriers from each other. Moreover, they were able to exchange goods and service an action that made French community to get access to scarce resources of production (Stokes, 2009).
On other hand, African people were able to learn news skills that were deemed necessary for living. For instance, Africans were in a position to learn new methods of productions, to acquire superior weapons and to enjoy goods and services produced in French industries in West Africa (Mandinka Empire).
New infrastructures were developed that eased transport of both goods and people. The other critical result of French colonialism on Mandinka Empire is that it led to modernization of Africans by replacing the traditional belief system with modernity.
The negative side of the French rule on Mandinka was that it led to mass killing of African soldiers as they resisted against the French colonialism though the French’s main objective was to colonize but not to kill. The struggle between the two communities led to onset of drought because it paralyzed the production process in the region (Stokes, 2009).
Conclusion
Based on the UN’s Declaration of the Rights of indigenous people of the Mandinka Empire which is a ethnic group comprised of indigenous people, they can now enjoy the region because through French rule the west Africa community was able to realize the rights of land ownership as being able to take control of the land by calling for a decolonization process that would give way for African rulers.
Through such declarations, Africans were able to preserve their traditional belief system that was considered crucial in their lives because it focuses on the way people should live.
References
Coastes, K. (2004). A global history of indigenous peoples: Struggle and survival. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Langton, M. (2006). Settling with indigenous people: Modern treaty and agreement-making. New York, NY: Federation Press.
Lea, D. (2008). Property rights, indigenous people and the developing world: issues from aboriginal entitlement to intellectual ownership rights. London: BRILL.
Niezen, R. (2003). The origins of indigenism: human rights and the politics of identity. California, CA: University of California Press.
Stokes, J. (2009).Encyclopedia of the peoples of Africa and the Middle East. London: Infobase Publishing.
Wright, R. (2005). Stolen continents: Five hundred years of conquest and resistance in the Americas. Maryland, ML: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.