## SONGHOY

The Songhai are a people of the Niger River Valley living mainly from working the land and handicrafts. They are a large ethnic group in Mali, Niger and northern Benin, also present as minorities in Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
The Songhai are an ancient people of West Africa. The Songhai Empire experienced an important influence at the end of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

## DOGON

The Dogon are an ethnic group indigenous to the central plateau region of Mali, in West Africa, south of the Niger bend, near the city of Bandiagara.They speak the Dogon languages, which are considered to constitute an independent branch of the Niger–Congo language family, meaning that they are not closely related to any other languages.
The Dogon are best known for their religious traditions, their mask dances, wooden sculpture, and their architecture.
Since the twentieth century, there have been significant changes in the social organisation, material culture and beliefs of the Dogon, in part because Dogon country is one of Mali's major tourist attractions.

## PEULH

The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa but also in South Sudan, Darfur, and regions near the Red Sea coast in Sudan.
The approximate number of Fula people is unknown due to clashing definitions regarding Fula ethnicity. Various estimates put the figure between 25 and 40 million people worldwide.

## BAMBARA

The Bambara are a Mandé ethnic group native to much of West Africa, primarily southern Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal.
They have been associated with the historic Bambara Empire. Today they make up the largest Mandé ethnic group in Mali, with 80% of the population speaking the Bambara language, regardless of ethnicity.

## TOUAREG

The Tuareg people are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso.
Traditionally nomadic pastoralists, small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria