Mangani

Mangani
	;
Members	See Below
First Appearance	Tarzan of the Apes (1912)
Original Publisher	A. C. McClurg
Created by	Edgar Rice Burroughs

Origin[]

Mangani is the name of a fictional species of great apes in the Tarzan novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and of the invented language used by these apes. In the invented language, Mangani (meaning "great-ape") is the apes' word for their own kind, although the term is also applied (with modifications) to humans. The Mangani are represented as the apes who foster and raise Tarzan.

The Mangani are described by Burroughs as approximately man-sized, and appear to be a species intermediate between gorillas and chimpanzees. He also described them as “man-like apes which the natives of the Gobi speak of in whispers; but which no white man ever had seen [before Tarzan]” (Jungle Tales of Tarzan: "The Battle for Teeka") implying a connection to the Almas or Yeti.

As described by Burroughs, Mangani are organized in tribal bands ruled by dominant males, or "kings", which subsist by foraging for fruit, grubs, insects, and sometimes meat, in localized territories. Tribes are generally identified by the names of their kings. Burroughs portrays the Mangani (and indeed most jungle animals) as susceptible to occasional bouts of madness in which they will lash out violently and unpredictably at other living creatures in their vicinity. Tarzan is raised in the tribe of Kerchak, based in the coastal jungle of equatorial Africa, as shown in Tarzan of the Apes and Jungle Tales of Tarzan. As an adult he comes to lead this tribe; later, he becomes accepted in other tribes of Mangani, such as the tribe of Molak in The Beasts of Tarzan. Tarzan continued to associate occasionally with his original tribe until cast out in Tarzan and the Golden Lion, as the result of a Tarzan impersonator having murdered one of its members.

The Mangani language is represented in the books as a primal universal language shared by many primate species in addition to the Mangani themselves, including monkeys, gorillas, and the more man-like Sagoths of Pellucidar (Tarzan at the Earth's Core).

Other jungle animals are described as having their own bestial languages, but also as being able to understand Mangani to varying degrees. Whether the Mangani in turn understand any other animal languages is uncertain; Tarzan, at least, comprehends to some extent at least a few. In Tarzan of the Apes, before learning any spoken human languages, he avers "I speak only the language of my tribe—the great apes who were Kerchak's; and a little of the languages of Tantor, the elephant, and Numa, the lion, and of the other folks of the jungle I understand."

The word "mangani" is a compound, with man meaning "great" or "large" and gani meaning "ape" (or perhaps "people"). With modifications, the term is also applied to humans, gomangani ("dark-great-ape") for black-skinned humans and tarmangani ("light-great-ape") for white-skinned humans, suggesting that the Mangani regard human beings as variations on their own type. Notably, gorillas do not seem to be regarded as "man" gani, but as a different type of "ape," bolgani ("flat" or "earth-bound ape").

Known Mangani tribes[]

A list of tribal groups of Mangani and individual named Mangani associated with them as portrayed in the Tarzan novels follows, together with the titles of the books in which they appear or are referenced. Individuals associated with more than one tribe may be listed more than once.

Tribe of Go-lat[]

Go-lat ("Black-eye") (m.), king – Tarzan the Untamed
Zu-tag ("Big-neck") (m.) – Tarzan the Untamed

Tribe of Kerchak (later of Tarzan, Terkoz, Karnath, Pagth)[]

Chulk ("?") (m.) – Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
Gazan ("Red-skin") (m.) – Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Gobu ("Black-male") (m.) – Tarzan and the Golden Lion
Go-yad ("Black-ear") (m.), later of the tribe of Toyat – Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle; Tarzan and the Lost Empire
Gozan ("Black-skin") (m.) – Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Gunto ("?-purple") (m.) – Tarzan of the Apes; Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Kala ("Milk-light") (f.) – Tarzan of the Apes; Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Kama ("Milk-child") (f.) – Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Karnath ("?") (m.), king after Tarzan – The Return of Tarzan
Kerchak ("?") (m.), king – Tarzan of the Apes; Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Mamka ("?-milk") (f.) – Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Mumga ("?-red") (f.) – Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Mungo ("?-black") (m.) – Tarzan of the Apes
Neeta ("Duck-little") (f.) – Tarzan of the Apes; Tarzan and the Golden Lion
Numgo ("?-black") (m.) – Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Pagth ("?") (m.), king after Karnath – Tarzan and the Golden Lion
Taglat ("Neck-nose") (m.) – Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
Tana ("Warrior-light") (f.) – Tarzan of the Apes
Taug ("Tall-bottom") (m.) – Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Teeka ("?") (f.) – Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Terkoz ("?") (m.), king between Tarzan's stints as king – Tarzan of the Apes
Thaka ("?") (m.) – Tarzan of the Apes, Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Tublat ("Broken-nose") (m.) – Tarzan of the Apes; Jungle Tales of Tarzan

Tribe of Molak[]

Akut ("Light-hole") (m.), later solitary – The Beasts of Tarzan; The Son of Tarzan
Molak ("Short-?") (m.), king – The Beasts of Tarzan

Tribe of Toyat[]

Gayat or Ga-yat ("Red-eye") (m.) – Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle; Tarzan and the Lost Empire
Go-yad ("Black-ear") (m.), formerly of the tribe of Kerchak – Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle; Tarzan and the Lost Empire
M'walot ("Blue-face") (m.) – Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle
Toyat or To-yat ("Purple-eye") (m.), king – Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle
Zutho or Zu-tho ("Big-mouth") (m.), later king of the tribe of Zutho, later of the tribe of Ungo – Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle; Tarzan and the Lost Empire

Tribe of Zutho (split from the earlier tribe of Toyat, possibly the same as the later tribe of Ungo)[]

Zutho or Zu-tho ("Big-mouth") (m.), king, formerly of tribe of Toyat, later of the tribe of Ungo – Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle; Tarzan and the Lost Empire

Rogue (tribeless) Mangani[]

Toog ("?") (m.) – Jungle Tales of Tarzan

Public Domain Appearances[]

All published appearances of the Mangani from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.

Some notable appearances are listed below:

Public Domain Literacy Appearances[]

Tarzan of the Apes (1912)
The Return of Tarzan (1913)
The Beasts of Tarzan (1914)
The Son of Tarzan (1915)
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (1916)
Jungle Tales of Tarzan (1916–1917)
Tarzan the Untamed (1919-1920)
Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1922)
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1927-1928)
Tarzan and the Lost Empire (1928-1929)

Public Domain Film Appearances[]

Tarzan of the Apes (1918 film)

Public Domain Comic Appearances[]

Tarzan Newspaper Comic Strip (1929)

Notes[]

There have been several attempts to identify the fictional Mangani with an actual primate species.
- Science fiction author Philip José Farmer speculated they might be a variety of australopithecines such as Australopithecus in his pseudo-biography of Tarzan, Tarzan Alive.
- Walt Disney Pictures' 1999 animated feature film Tarzan, its sequel Tarzan & Jane and prequel Tarzan II, and the television series The Legend of Tarzan based on it, portray the apes who raised Tarzan as gorillas, though in the books gorillas, called Bolgani by the Mangani, are explicitly stated to be a separate species.