Sofa is a Mandinka

Mandinka language

The Mandinka language is a Mandé language spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau and Chad; it is the main language of The Gambia. It belongs to the Manding branch of Mandé, and is thus fairly...

 term for slave soldiers who served in the army of the Mali Empire

Mali Empire

The Mali Empire or Mandingo Empire or Manden Kurufa was a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I...

. Sofas would also fight, in varying capacities, in the armies of later Mandé states such as the Bamana and Wassoulou

Wassoulou Empire

The Wassoulou Empire, sometimes referred to as the Mandinka Empire, was a short-lived empire of West Africa built from the conquests of Dyula ruler Samori Ture and destroyed by the French colonial army....

 empires.

Etymology

The word sofa translates into English as "father of the horse" ("so" means horse, and "fa" means "father") or "guardian of the horse". This term stems from the original function of the sofa as a caretaker for the horse or horses of Mandinka

Mandinka people

The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....

 cavalry commanders called "farari".

Sofa in the Mandinka empire of Mali

Sofas make their first appearance in oral and written records during the formation of the Mali Empire. Sofas were recruited from "jonow" (slaves) captured in battle or bought from afar. They could be depended on in most instances for obedience, since their livelihood depended entirely on their master. The institution of slavery in the Mali Empire heavily rewarded loyalty, and jonow could rise to civil or military positions of prominence. Jonow became part of their master's clan, and were often freed after a certain amount of years. As part of the clan, jonow were expected to accompany their master's into battle and handle his horse and weapons. Initially forbidden from engaging in direct warfare, sofa eventually made up the majority of Mali's infantry army. As infantry, they were armed with bows and arrows by the state or, more accurately, royal clans devoted to the state. In the forest and swampy areas of the Mali Empire, cavalry was minimized or altogether abandoned making sofas the exclusive instrument of war. Sofas were equipped with two quivers, and their bow was small by European standards. It could not fire very far or even powerfully, so sofas utilized deadly poisons and fired in arcs to give the arrows strength. Sofas also used flaming arrows, especially against fortifications that were often little more than thatch or wooden palisades. Some sofas fought as cavalry, at least after being freed, such as Mansa Sakura whom started out his military career as a jonow of the Keita clan. He was freed by Sundjata Keita, became a cavalry commander of some renown and eventually usurped the throne of Mali.

Sofa in the Mané empire of Kquoja

During the 16th century, warriors from the crumbling Mali Empire invaded what is now Sierra Leone and Liberia. This resulted in the establishment of a loose federation of Mané states all paying homage to a single leader in a type of empire called Kquoja by visiting Europeans. The Mané came equipped with the tactics and equipment of the Mali Empire, but were forced to rely almost exclusively on infantry strategies in the jungle terrain. One of the many institutions they brought with them was that of the sofa. Conquered people were conscripted into Mané armies as "sumbas" to strengthen a force that was forever on the move. The sumbas were forced to engage in ritual cannibalism, which permanently alienated them the Mané ruling class. By the end of the 17th century, the Mané had conquered nearly all the indigenous cultures. This resulted in the spread of Mandé language and the end of a single Kquoja authority as the Mané were absorbed into the native landscape.

Sofa in the Bamana empire of Segou

The Bamana people inherited much from their close relations, the Mandinka, in civic and military culture. They formed their own empire 1640, which filled the vacuum left by the Mali and Songhai

Songhai Empire

The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire, was a state located in western Africa. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city...

 empires. By 1712, the state had crystallized into a formidable state that borrowed much in military structure from the Mali Empire. Sofas were used heavily in its armies as infantry and support troops, which allowed the Bamana to dominate much of modern-day Mali

Mali

Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

.

Sofa in the Dyula empire of Wassoulou

The institution of the sofa survived into the late 19th century among Dyula in the Wassoulou

Wassoulou

Wassoulou is an historic region in southwest Mali, northeast Guinea and the area west of the Sankarani river and south of the Niger River in Mali and Côte d'Ivoire...

 region between the modern states of Mali

Mali

Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

, Guinea

Guinea

Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

 and Ivory Coast. Under the leadership of Samori Ture, the Dyula formed the Wassoulou Empire

Wassoulou Empire

The Wassoulou Empire, sometimes referred to as the Mandinka Empire, was a short-lived empire of West Africa built from the conquests of Dyula ruler Samori Ture and destroyed by the French colonial army....

 and successfully challenged French ambitions in West Africa until 1898. The sofa under Samori were organized into standing armies of slaves, much like those in Mali six centuries earlier and armed by the state. However, instead of bows and arrows, Wassoulou sofas went to war armed with modern rifles, which they put to good use against African and European enemies.

See also

• Mali Empire
  Mali Empire
  The Mali Empire or Mandingo Empire or Manden Kurufa was a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I...
  
  
• Military history of the Mali Empire
  Military history of the Mali Empire
  The military history of the Mali Empire is that of the armed forces of the Mali Empire, which dominated Western Africa from the mid 13th to the late 15th century. The military culture of the empire’s driving force, the Mandinka people, influenced many later states in West Africa including...
  
  
• Kingdom of Kquoja
• Bamana Empire
• Wassoulou Empire
  Wassoulou Empire
  The Wassoulou Empire, sometimes referred to as the Mandinka Empire, was a short-lived empire of West Africa built from the conquests of Dyula ruler Samori Ture and destroyed by the French colonial army....
  
  
• History of West Africa
  History of West Africa
  The partial history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods:#Its prehistory, in which the first human settlers arrived, agriculture developed, and contact made with the Mediterranean civilizations to the north....