The Mangayat (also, Bugwa and Bukwa) are an ethnic group living in the South Sudanese state of Western Bahr el Ghazal. They speak Mangayat, a Niger–Congo language. The number of persons in this ethnic group likely is below 1000.
The NameThe people call themselves Bugwa (Bukwa) but their official name is Mangayat. There is no account as to how they came to be called Mangayat. |
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The name Bugwa is assumed to be related to the hilly (Jababa, Bigira, Naada) habitat. These people live along Sopo, Kagulu rivers and Khor Luju about 20 miles east of the Raga –Deim Zubier road. Some of the Mangayat live scattered among the Kreish-Ndogo and in Dar Sila in Raga district of western Bahr el Ghazal.
The Mangayat hills have been described as truly ‘wondrous sight’, rising as solid and bare (without trees or grass) block of smooth granitic outcrops about several hundred feet in height. The economy is dominated by agriculture and trading with neighbouring communities.
Records indicate that Mangayat do not have an account of their history before the Turko-Egyptian domination. Latter developments linked to the Mahdiya, Anglo-Egyptian condominium, the first civil war (1955-1972) and the last war (1983 -2004) have caused great convulsions among the Mangayat and other small ethnic communities in western Bahr el Ghazal that may require further studies to establish the social and political changes.
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