According to Stanley Delano Quaye (1985-), a Liberian Historical Economist and Banker and grandson of John Gbatu, the Mano belongs to the Mande speaking group and has had a long history.

He narrated that the tribe migrated from Sudan and settled in the Mali empire and subsequently to the republic of Guinea where they formed a Kingdom in the Youmou area.

Stanley Delano Quaye has done research in anthropology and the political structure of the Mano and Gio tribes.

They travelled to Mano/Dan land part of present-day Liberia Guinea and Cote D'Ivoire at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, occupying the Nimba Range.

As Christianity spread to Northern Liberia during the 19th century, many Mano abandoned their traditional practices and took to western religious groups such as the Methodist and Catholic churches.

Dr. George Way Harley, a missionary from the United States settled in Ganta and started the Ganta United Mission which later grew to high schools, hospitals and colleges (the mission station now houses the Winifred J. Harley School of Nursing named after his wife).

Today, the region they occupied have common bustling towns in terms of trade and commerce mainly by their Dan brothers.