Susu people

Susu
Sosso
Susu men with traditional musical instruments in 1935
Total population
c. 2.98 million
Regions with significant populations
 Guinea2,730,114 (21.2%)[1]
 Sierra Leone203,779 (2.9%) [2]
 Guinea Bissau5,318 (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]

  1. ^ "Guinea - The World Factbook". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Sierra Leone 2015 Population and Housing Census National Analytical Report" (PDF). Statistics Sierra Leone. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ a b c Susu people, Encyclopædia Britannica
  5. ^ Bankole Kamara Taylor (2014). Sierra Leone: The Land, Its People and History. New Africa Pres. p. 147. ISBN 978-9987-16-038-9.
  6. ^ 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.