 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2021) |
 Portrait of a Yalunka (1861) | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Over 1.3 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Guinea | 128,000[1][unreliable source] |
 Senegal | 136,000[2] |
 Sierra Leone | 52,000[3] |
 Mali | 19,000[4][unreliable source] |
| Languages | |
| Yalunka, French, English | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Mandé-speaking peoples, especially the Susu people, Soninke people, Mikhifore people, Kuranko people and Mandinka people | |
The Yalunka, or Dialonké, are a Mandé-speaking people and the original inhabitants of Futa Jallon (French: Fouta Djallon), a mountainous region in Guinea, West Africa.[5] The Yalunka people live primarily in Guinea, particularly in Faranah, while smaller communities are found in Kouroussa. Additional Yalunka are also located in northeastern Sierra Leone, southeastern Senegal, and southwestern Mali.[6]
The Yalunka are a branch of the Mandé peoples and are closely related to the Susu people.[7][8] Some scholars classify the two as one group, The Yalunka are notable for having first converted to Islam, but then renouncing Islam en masse when Muslim Fula people began dominating their region. In the eighteenth century, many of the Yalunka's were displaced from the Futa Jallon.[9][10] The Yalunka fought against the Fula jihads, left Futa Jallon, migrating south to the foothills of the mountains in Mamou or east to live amongst the Mandinka people of Upper Guinea, others migrated and established new towns such as Falaba near the region where Rokel River starts, while the remaining of the Yalunka went further into the mountains to settle among the Kuranko, Limba and Kissi people. In the midst some were raided by Almamy Samori Toure during the Wassoulou Empire expansion. Ultimately, The Yalunka were subdued and absorbed by the Imamate of Futa Jallon.[9][6]
They speak the Yalunka language, which belongs to the Mande branch of the Niger–Congo language family. Yalunka is mutually intelligible with Susu language.[citation needed]
- ^ "Yalunka in Guinea". Joshua Project. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
- ^ Terakyts (2016)
- ^ "Sierra Leone 2015 Population and Housing Census National Analytical Report" (PDF). Statistics Sierra Leone. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ Project, Joshua. "Yalunka in Mali". Joshua Project. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
- ^ Bankole Kamara Taylor (2014). Sierra Leone: The Land, Its People and History. New Africa Pres. p. 150. ISBN 978-9987-16-038-9.
- ^ a b Harold D. Nelson (1975). Area Handbook for Guinea. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 67.
- ^ David Wheat (2016). Atlantic Africa and the Spanish Caribbean, 1570-1640. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 51–52. ISBN 978-1-4696-2380-1.
- ^ "Royal Gazette and Sierra Leone Advertiser", 24 April 1821, p 2. By Abraham Hazeley
- ^ a b Kevin Shillington (2013). Encyclopedia of African History 3-Volume Set. Routledge. p. 537. ISBN 978-1-135-45670-2.
- ^ S.J. Shennan, ed. (2003). Archaeological Approaches to Cultural Identity. Taylor & Francis. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-1348-6629-8.