ABSTRACT
The Diola inhabit the larger part of the abundantly watered Lower Casamance region in southwest Senegal. They are proud and capable farmers with a strong sedentary tradition. Their villages are large and predominantly endogamous. In the nineteenth century, on the eve of the imposition of colonial rule, the villages had a high degree of political and social independence. There was no political organization above the level of the individual villages. Relations between neighbouring villages were sometimes marked by outright hostility. Consequently, the Diola preferred not to venture outside the territory of their own villages for fear of being captured and sold as slaves. But the Diola villages did have trade relations with the outside world. These relations were maintained by traders belonging to the ethnic groups surrounding the Diola, mainly the Islamic Malinke; these travelled to the Diola villages with their wares.
