Editing History of Sierra Leone (section)

==Mane invasions (16th century)==
{{further|Mane people}}
The Mane invasions of the mid-16th century had a profound impact on Sierra Leone. The [[Mane people|Mane]] (also called Mani) were members of the [[Mande languages|Mande]] language group. A warrior people, well-armed and well-organized, they lived east and somewhat north of present-day Sierra Leone. Sometime in the early 16th century they began moving south. According to some Mane who spoke to a Portuguese writer (Dornelas) in the late 16th century, their travels had begun as a result of the expulsion of their chief from the imperial city of [[Mali Empire|Mandimansa]], their homeland.{{sfn|Rodney|1967|pp=224}}

There are conflicting accounts among historians of how these invasions happened. Some historians place their first arrival at the coast east of Sierra Leone, at least as far as the [[River Cess]] and likely farther. They advanced northwest along the coast toward Sierra Leone, conquering as they went.{{sfn|Rodney|1967|pp=224-5}}{{sfn|Person|1971|pp=677}} Others contend that they arrived on the coast near [[Sherbro Island]].{{sfn|Massing|1985|pp=30-4}} They incorporated large numbers of the people they conquered into their army, with the result that the rank and file consisted mostly of coastal peoples, while the Mane were its commanding group.

By 1545, the Mane had reached [[Grand Cape Mount County|Cape Mount]]. Their conquest of Sierra Leone occupied the ensuing 15 to 20 years, and resulted in the subjugation of all or nearly all of the indigenous coastal peoples—who were known collectively as the [[Sape people|Sapes]]—as far north as the Scarcies. The present [[demographics]] of Sierra Leone is largely a reflection of these two decades. The degree to which the Mane supplanted the original inhabitants varied from place to place. The Temne partly withstood the Mane onslaught, and kept their language, but became ruled by a line of Mane kings. The present-day [[Loko people|Loko]] and [[Mende people|Mende]] are the result of a more complete submersion of the original culture: their languages are similar, and both essentially Mande. This is likely due to conquest by the Mane invaders.<ref>Little, pp 25, 28.
He cites F.W.H Midgeod, ''A View of Sierra Leone'', (1926) on the Mende racial mixture.</ref>{{sfn|Rodney|1967|pp=236-7}}

===Aftermath===
The Mane invasions militarised Sierra Leone. The Sapes had been un-warlike, but after the invasions, right until the late 19th century, bows, [[shield]]s, and knives of the Mane type had become ubiquitous in Sierra Leone, as had the Mane battle technique of using squadrons of archers fighting in formation, carrying the large-style shields.{{sfn|Rodney|1967|pp=238}}
Villages became fortified. The usual method of erecting two or three concentric palisades, each 4–7&nbsp;metres (12–20&nbsp;ft) high, created a formidable obstacle to attackers—especially since, as some of the English observed in the 19th century, the thigh-thick logs planted into the earth to make the palisades often took root at the bottom and grew foliage at the top, so that the defenders occupied a living wall of wood. A British officer who observed one of these fortifications around the time of the 1898 Hut Tax war ended his description of it thus:
{{blockquote|
No one who has not seen these fences can realize the immense strength of them. The outer fence at Hahu I measured in several places, and found it to be from 2 to 3 feet thick, and most of the logs, or rather trees, of which it was formed, had taken root and were throwing out leaves and shoots.
}}
He also said that English artillery could not penetrate all three fences.<ref>Lt. R.P.M. Davis, ''History of the Sierra Leone Battalion of the Royal West African Frontier Force''; in Little, p 50.</ref>
At that time, at least among the Mende, "a typical settlement consisted of walled towns and open villages or towns surrounding it."<ref>Abraham, ''Mende Government'', p 30.
He cites British Colonial Office 267/344/60 report by Lalonde, 1881.</ref>

After the invasions, the Mane sub-chiefs among whom the country had been divided began fighting among themselves. This pattern of activity became permanent: even after the Mane had blended with the indigenous population—a process which was completed in the early 17th century—the various kingdoms in Sierra Leone remained in a fairly continual state of flux and conflict.
Rodney believes that a desire to take prisoners to sell as slaves to the Europeans was a major motivation to this fighting, and may even have been a driving force behind the original Mane invasions. Historian Kenneth Little concludes that the principal objective in the local wars, at least among the Mende, was plunder, not the acquisition of territory.<ref>Little, p 30.</ref> Abraham cautions that slave trading should not be exaggerated as a cause: the Africans had their own reasons to fight, with territorial and political ambitions present.<ref>Abraham, ''Mende Government'', pp 4-14.</ref> Motivations likely changed over time during the 350-year period.

The wars themselves were not exceptionally deadly. Set-piece battles were rare, and the fortified towns so strong that their capture was seldom attempted. Often the fighting consisted of small ambushes.<ref>Abraham, ''Mende Government'', p 15.</ref>

In these years, the political system was such that each large village along with its satellite villages and settlements would be headed by a chief. The chief would have a private army of warriors. Sometimes several chiefs would group themselves into a confederacy, acknowledging one of themselves as king (or high chief). Each paid the king fealty. If one were attacked, the king would come to his aid, and the king could adjudicate local disputes.

Despite their many political divisions, the people of the country were united by cultural similarity. One component of this was the [[Poro]], an organisation common to many different kingdoms and ethnolinguistic groups. The Mende claim to be its originators, and there is nothing to contradict this. Possibly they imported it. The Temne claim to have imported it from the Sherbro or Bulom. The Dutch geographer Olfert Dapper knew of it in the 17th century.<ref>Fyfe, p 3.</ref> It is often described as a "secret society", and this is partly true: its rites are closed to non-members, and what happens in the "Poro bush" is never disclosed. However, its membership is very broad: among the Mende, almost all men, and some women, are initiates. In recent years it has not (as far as is known) had a central organisation: autonomous chapters exist for each chiefdom or village. However, it is said that in pre-Protectorate days there was a "Grand Poro" with cross-chiefdom powers of making war and peace.<ref>McCulloch, p 30.</ref> It is widely agreed that it has a restraining influence on the powers of the chiefs.<ref>Fyfe, p 11.</ref> Headed by a fearsome principal spirit, the ''Gbeni'', it plays a major role in the rite of passage of males from puberty to manhood. It imparts some education. In some areas, it had supervisory powers over trade, and the banking system, which used iron bars as a medium of exchange. It is not the only important society in Sierra Leone: the ''Sande'' is a female-only analogue of it; there is also the ''Humoi'' which regulates sex, and the ''Njayei'' and the ''Wunde''. The ''Kpa'' is a healing-arts collegium.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

Besides the political impact, there were economic effects as well: trade with the interior was interrupted, and thousands were sold as slaves to the Europeans. In industry, a flourishing tradition in fine ivory carving was ended; however, improved ironworking techniques were introduced.{{sfn|Rodney|1967|pp=240}}