[[File:Grave of Kanté Soulemane, inventeur de l'alphabet N'Ko.jpg|thumb|Grave of Solomana Kanté. The French at the bottom reads "Inventor“Inventor of the N'Ko alphabet"alphabet”.]]
Kanté created NKoN’Ko in response to erroneous beliefs that no indigenous African writing system existed, as well as to provide a better way to write Manding languages, which had for centuries been written predominantly in [[Ajami script|Ajami]] script, which was not perfectly suited to the [[Tone (linguistics)|tones]] unique to Mandé and common to manyother [[West African languages]]. AAn widelyanecdote toldpopular storywith among NKoN'Ko proponents is that Kanté was particularly challenged to create athe distinct system when, he,while in [[Bouake]], stumbledhe uponfound a book by a [[Kamel Mrowa|Lebanese author]] who dismissively equateddismissed African languages "likeas “like those of the birds, impossible to transcribe"transcribe”<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oyler|first=Dianne White|date=2001|title=A Cultural Revolution in Africa: Literacy in the Republic of Guinea since Independence|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3097555|journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies|volume=34|issue=3 |pages=585–600|doi=10.2307/3097555|jstor=3097555|issn=0361-7882}}</ref> despite said Ajami history.<ref name="Donaldson">{{Cite journal|last=Donaldson|first=Coleman|date=2020|title=The Role of Islam, Ajami writings, and educational reform in Sulemaana Kantè's N'ko|journal=African Studies Review|volume=63|issue=3|language=en|pages=462–486|doi=10.1017/asr.2019.59|issn=0002-0206|doi-access=free}}</ref> Kanté then devised NKoN’Ko aswhile he was in [[Bingerville]], [[Côte d'Ivoire]] and later brought it to Kanté'shis natal region ofnative [[Kankan]], [[Guinea]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=The N'ko Alphabet as a Vehicle of Indigenist Historiography |first=Dianne White |last=Oyler |journal=History in Africa |volume=24 |date=January 1997 |pages=239–256 |doi=10.2307/3172028}}</ref>
NKoN’Ko began to be used in many educational books, whenand the script is believed to have been finalized<ref>{{cite book|last=Oyler|first=Dianne White|title=The History of N'ko and its Role in Mande Transnational Identity: Words as Weapons|date=November 2005|publisher=Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers|isbn=978-0-9653308-7-9|page=1}}</ref> on April 14, 1949 (– a date now NKocelebrated as N’Ko Alphabet Day);.<ref>• {{cite web |url=https://anydayguide.com/calendar/1899 |title=N'Ko Alphabet Day |website=Any Day Guide |quote=N'Ko Alphabet Day is celebrated on April 14 in some West African countries, where the Manding languages are spoken. It marks the anniversary of the date the alphabet is believed to have been finalized.}}<br>• {{cite web |first=Tapiwanashe S. |last=Garikayi |title=Afrikan Fonts: The N'Ko Alphabet |url=https://www.nan.xyz/txt/designing-afrikan-fonts/ |website=nan.xyz|quote=N'Ko started to be utilized in numerous instructive books when the script is believed to have been finalized on April 14, 1949 (presently N'Ko Alphabet Day)....}}</ref> Kanté hadinitially transcribedused fromthe religioussystem to transcribe religious, scientific, and philosophical literature, and even a dictionary.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Oyler |first=Dianne White |date=2001 |title=A Cultural Revolution in Africa: Literacy in the Republic of Guinea since Independence |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3097555 |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=585–600 |doi=10.2307/3097555 |issn=0361-7882 |jstor=3097555}}</ref> These materialstexts were giventhen distributed as gifts intoacross otherthe Manding-speaking parts of West Africa. The script received its first specially madededicated [[typewriter]] from [[Eastern Europe]] back whenas [[Guinea]] had ties withto the [[Soviet Union]] in the 1950s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine|last=Rosenberg|first=Tina|date=9 December 2011|title=Everyone Speaks Text Message|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/magazine/everyone-speaks-text-message.html?|magazine=The New York Times Magazine|page=20}}</ref>
TheThis introduction of the script led to a movement promoting N’Ko literacy in NKo among Mandé speakers in both Anglophone and Francophone West Africa. NKoN’Ko literacy was thus instrumental in shaping the Maninka cultural identity in Guinea, and it has also strengthened the Manding identity in other parts ofwider West Africa.<ref>Oyler, Dianne White (1994) ''Mande identity through literacy, the N'ko writing system as an agent of cultural nationalism''. Toronto: African Studies Association.</ref>
On June 7, 2024, the [[N'Ko language|NKoN’Ko literary standard]] was added to [[Google Translate]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://blog.google/products/translate/google-translate-new-languages-2024/ |title=110 new languages are coming to Google Translate |access-date=2024-06-27 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://support.google.com/translate/answer/15139004?visit_id=638550958236798747-1807070892&p=TranslateNewLanguages2024&rd=1 |title=What’s new in Google Translate: More than 100 new languages |access-date=2024-06-27 }}</ref>
