Categories: Ethnicities
The Marka are a Mande people, an offshoot of the Soninke branch, living in the northwest of Mali. Traditionally merchants, they controlled the desert-side trade between the Berbers who crossed the Sahara and the Sahel. Their trading posts and plantations were integrated into, and flourished under, the reigning Bambara.
Synonyms:
Meka, Maraka, Maraxa, Marka Dafing, Marka Soninké