Price: $32
Liberia is the second oldest black republic in the world, after Haiti. It is the oldest republic in Africa. There are sixteen ethnic groups (tribes) that make up Liberia's indigenous population. These groups include the Kpelle, Bassa, Gio, Kru, Grebo, Mandingo, Mano, Krahn, Gola, Gbandi, Loma Kissi, Vai, Belleh, Mende, and Dey people.
The Gbandi’s are from the largest tribal group in Liberia called the Mende. These Mende speakers are believed to have migrated from the Sudan empire. The first wave of the Mende group immigrated to what is now Liberia in the 1400’s. One group moving to what is now known as DR Congo and the other in Liberia.
A second, larger group of the Mende immigrants settled in northern Liberia in the mid 1500’s pushing the Mel and the Kwa groups southward. The Mende group is divided into seven tribal divisions- Gbandi, Loma, Mandingo, Via, Gio, Kpelle, and Marno.
Tha Gbandi’s where among two tribes that fiercely resisted the rule of government from Monrovia in the early 1900s when the government of Liberia decided to extend control to that part of the country. In order to disrupt the Gbandi’s System of governance thus crushing their resistance the Liberian frontier force executed seven chiefs of the Gbandi’s in 1911 in Kolahun.
A Gbandi Paramount chief was installed over the entire tribe and the tribal area was divided in six clans according to dialects. Our Gbandi people live in the northern part of Liberia, Lofa county. Gbandi has six dialects: Lukasa, Tahamba, Hembeh, Hasala, Wulukoha, and Wawana. The Gbandi people practice traditional beliefs; as well as Islam and Christianity.
