 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2020) |
Sosso | |
|---|---|
 Susu men with traditional musical instruments in 1935 | |
| Total population | |
| c. 2.98 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Guinea | 2,730,114 (21.2%)[1] |
 Sierra Leone | 203,779 (2.9%) [2] |
 Guinea Bissau | 5,318 (0.36%) [3] |
| Languages | |
| Susu, French, English, Krio | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Yalunka people | |
The Susu people are a Mande-speaking ethnic group living primarily in Guinea and northwestern Sierra Leone, particularly in Kambia District.[4][5] Influential in Guinea, smaller communities of Susu people are also found in the neighboring Guinea-Bissau and Senegal.[citation needed]
The Susu are a patrilineal society, predominantly Muslim, who favor endogamous cross-cousin marriages with polygynous households.[4] They have a caste system like all Manding-speaking peoples of West Africa. The artisans such as smiths, carpenters, musicians, jewelers, and leatherworkers are separate castes and believed to have descended from the medieval era of slavery.[4][6]
- ^ "Guinea - The World Factbook". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ "Sierra Leone 2015 Population and Housing Census National Analytical Report" (PDF). Statistics Sierra Leone. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ "Recenseamento Geral da População e Habitação 2009 Características Socioculturais" (PDF). Instituto Nacional de Estatística Guiné-Bissau. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ a b c Susu people, Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ Bankole Kamara Taylor (2014). Sierra Leone: The Land, Its People and History. New Africa Pres. p. 147. ISBN 978-9987-16-038-9.
- ^ Tal Tamari (1991). "The Development of Caste Systems in West Africa". The Journal of African History. 32 (2). Cambridge University Press: 221–250. doi:10.1017/s0021853700025718. JSTOR 182616. S2CID 162509491.