The Soninke (also called Sarakole, Seraculeh, or 'Serahuli) are a Mandé people who descend from the Bafour and are closely related to the Imraguen of Mauritania. They speak the Soninke language, a Mande language. They were the founders of the ancient empire of Ghana c. 750-1240 CE. Subgroups of Soninke include the Maraka and Wangara.

After contact with Muslim Almoravid traders from the north around 1066, Soninke nobles of neighboring Takrur were among the first ethnic groups from Africa to embrace Islam. When the Ghana empire dispersed, the resulting diaspora brought Soninkes to Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. This diaspora included Wangara, famous traders who spread far from traditionally Mande areas. Hence the term Wangara is used today in Ghana and Burkina Faso to describe the Soninke populations in cities and towns. Today, Soninke number around 1 million.

Soninke people today live throughout West Africa, but remain centered around the former homelands of the Ghana Empire and the valley of the upper Senegal river and along the Mali - Senegal border between Nara and Nioro du Sahel. Migrations seeking labor, encouraged under French colonial rule have led many Soninke to build communities in Dakar and other large cities in Africa and beyond. There is a large and growing Soninke community in Paris, France. Trade networks, famously led by the Wangara mercantile confederations, spread Soninke people and culture throughout most of Mali and Senegal, southern Mauritania, northern Burkina Faso, as well as parts of The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. The Maraka - Soninke merchant communities and plantations (centered just north of the city of Segou, Mali) were an economic mainspring under the Bambara Empire, and built trade routes throughout the region. Today the Soninke number above 1 million.

The Ese Ejja are an indigenous people of Bolivia and Peru, in the southwestern Amazon. 1,300 Ese Ejja live in Boliia, in the Pando and Beni Departments, in the foothills along the Beni and the Madre de Dios Rivers. In Peru, they live along the Tambopata and Heath Rivers, near Puerto Maldonado.

Their name derives from their autonym, Ece'je, which means "people." They are also known as the Chama, Ese Eja, Ese Exa, Ese’ejja, Huarayo, Tambopata-Guarayo, or Tiatinagua people.

The Ese Ejja language is a Tacanan language, spoken by all ages, and written in the Latin script. A dictionary has been produced for the language.

Ese Ejja people are hunter-gathers, farmers, and fishermen.

The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria or southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad or Sudan. Predominantly Hausa communities are scattered throughout West Africa and on the traditional Hajj route across the Sahara Desert, especially around the town of Agadez. A few Hausa have moved to large coastal cities in the region such as Lagos, Accra, Kumasi and Cotonou, as well as to countries such as Libya. However, most Hausa remain in small villages or towns, where they grow crops or raise livestock, including cattle. They speak the Hausa language, an Afro-Asiatic language of the Chadic group.

Kano, north Nigeria is considered the center of Ausahay trade or culture. In terms of cultural relations to other peoples of West Africa, the Hausa are culturally or historically close to the Fulani, Zarma, Kanuri and Gwari groups inhabiting the expansive Sahel region. Many Hausa have intermixed with other groups such as the Yoruba, Dagomba or Shuwa. Islamic Shari’a law is loosely the law of the land or is understood by any full time practitioner of Islam, known in Hausa as a Ma'allam (see Maulana).