Niominka people

The Niominka people (also called Niuminka or Nyominka) are an ethnic group in Senegal living on the islands of the Saloum River delta. They are currently classified as a subgroup of the Serer.

Population

The territory of the Niominka is called the Gandoul. Most of the Niominka live in its eleven large villages, which include Niodior, Dionewar, and Falia. They represent a little less than 1% of the population of Senegal.

Being island-dwellers, they participate in both agriculture and aquaculture. The primary agricultural produce is made up of rice, millet, and peanuts. As for the aquaculture, the men fish and the women gather shellfish, although environmental problems have become an aquacultural threat.

The Niominka are also beginning to look into tourism.

History

Black people

Black people is a term used in certain countries, often in socially based systems of racial classification or of ethnicity, to describe persons who are perceived to be dark-skinned compared to other given populations. As such, the meaning of the expression varies widely both between and within societies, and depends significantly on context. For many other individuals, communities and countries, "black" is also perceived as a derogatory, outdated, reductive or otherwise unrepresentative label, and as a result is neither used nor defined.

Different societies apply differing criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and these social constructs have also changed over time. In a number of countries, societal variables affect classification as much as skin color, and the social criteria for "blackness" vary. For example, in North America the term black people is not necessarily an indicator of skin color or majority ethnic ancestry, but it is instead a socially based racial classification related to being African American, with a family history associated with institutionalized slavery. In South Africa and Latin America, for instance, mixed-race people are generally not classified as "black." In South Pacific regions such as Australia and Melanesia, European colonists applied the term "black" or it was used by populations with different histories and ethnic origin.