The Bainuk people (also called Banyuk, Banun, Banyun, Bainouk, Bainunk, Banyum, Bagnoun, Banhum, Banyung, Ñuñ, Elomay, or Elunay) are an ethnic group that today lives primarily in Senegal as well as in parts of Gambia and Guinea-Bissau.
The Bainuk are believed to have been the first inhabitants of the lower Casamance.
The Bainouk of Senegal are numbering 35,500. They are part of the Atlantic people cluster within the Sub-Saharan African affinity bloc. Globally, this group totals 66,000 in 2 countries.
They lived between the southern bank of the Gambia River and the northern shores of the Casamance River, ie in the West Coast region in the border area of Casamance, a region in Senegal. Perhaps, these were the earliest settlers in the Senegambian coast region. In the 19th century, the Bainunka, similar to the Manjago, almost completely mixed with the ethnic groups of the Diola and Mandingo had, in the censuses of 1973 and 1983 they were no longer listed as a separate ethnic group. The history and culture of Bainounkas is therefore described only a little.
Their primary language is Bainouk-Gunyaamolo. Your language - the dialects Samik, Gunyamolo and Gunyuño - are threatened with extinction.
The primary religion practiced by the Bainouk is ethnoreligion.
So should the name of the second largest city of the Gambia Brikama from the language of Bainounka come, meaning " City of Women ". In the past, had the female ruler of the ancient matriarchal society their seat of government.
Also, they are often like the Jola and Manjago brought into connection with it, that they produce palm wine. To this end, they climb sent only with an elliptical belt, palms up. You can tap into the pedicel of the oil palm ( Elaeis guineensis ) and collect the juice in vessels of ferments there and a drink similar to Federweissen is.
The name Banyun is attributed to the Portuguese, who derived the word from Mandinka and applied it as a collective name for a number of groups settled at strategic sites along waterways, portages, and trade paths between the Gambia and Cacheu rivers.... Possibly Banyun served as a generic term for "trader," much as dyula identifies Mande traders engaged in long-distance commerce..
In the fifteenth century, there were at least five Bainuk states including Bichangor, Jase, Foni, and Buguando. The Bainuk were also a major component of the population of Kasa.
In modern times the Bambe have often become absorbed into the Mande or Jola cultures.
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