A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Fulɓe 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Total population | |
| est. 38.6 million[citation needed] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| West Africa, North Africa and Central Africa | |
 Nigeria | 15,300,000 (6.6%)[1] |
 Senegal | 5,055,782 (27.5%)[2] |
 Guinea | 4,544,000 (33.4%)[3] |
 Cameroon | 3,000,000 (13.4%)[4][5] |
 Mali | 2,840,850 (13.3%)[6] |
 Burkina Faso | 1,800,000 (8.4%)[7] |
 Niger | 1,650,000 (6.5%)[8] |
 Benin | 1,182,900 (8.6%)[9] |
 Mauritania | 900,000 (18.3%)[10] |
 Guinea-Bissau | 623,646 (30%)[11] |
 Gambia | 449,280 (18.2%)[12] |
 Chad | 334,000 (1.8%)[13] |
 Sierra Leone | 310,000 (5%)[14] |
 CAR | 250,000 (4.5%)[15] |
 Sudan | 204,000 (0.4%)[16] |
 Togo | 110,000 (1.2%)[17] |
 Ghana | 4,240 (0.01%)[18] |
 South Sudan | 4,000 (0.02%)[19] |
 Algeria | 4,000 (0.01%)[citation needed] |
 Ivory Coast | 3,800 (0.02%)[15] |
| Languages | |
| Fula • French • Portuguese • English • Arabic • Hausa | |
| Religion | |
| Primarily Islam[20] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Toucouleur, Tuareg, Hausa, Tebu, Serer, Songhay, Berber Tribes[21] | |
| Person | Pullo 𞤆𞤵𞤤𞥆𞤮 |
|---|---|
| People | Fulɓe 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 |
| Language | Pulaar (𞤆𞤵𞤤𞤢𞥄𞤪, West), Fulfulde (𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤬𞤵𞤤𞤣𞤫, East) |
The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people[a] is an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region.[22] Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, South Sudan, Darfur, and regions near the Red Sea coast in Sudan. The approximate number of Fula people is unknown, due to clashing definitions regarding Fula ethnicity. Various estimates put the figure between 25[23][24] and 40 million people worldwide.[25]
A significant proportion of the Fula – a third, or an estimated 7 to 10 million[26] – are pastoralists, and their ethnic group has the largest nomadic pastoral community in the world.[27][28] The majority of the Fula ethnic group consisted of semi-sedentary people,[28] as well as sedentary settled farmers, scholars, artisans, merchants, and nobility.[29][30] As an ethnic group, they are bound together by the Fula language, their history[31][32][33] and their culture. The Fula are almost completely Muslims.[34][35]
Many West African leaders are of Fulani descent, including the former President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari; the first president of Cameroon Ahmadou Ahidjo; the former President of Senegal, Macky Sall; the President of Gambia, Adama Barrow; the President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló; the Vice President of Sierra Leone, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh; the Prime Minister of Mali, Boubou Cisse and the Wife of Vice President of Ghana Samira Bawumia. They also occupy positions in major international institutions, such as the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed; the 74th President of the United Nations General Assembly, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande; and the Secretary-General of OPEC, Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo.
Names
Ethnonyms
There are many names (and spellings of the names) used in other languages to refer to the Fulɓe. Fulani in English is borrowed from the Hausa term.[36] Fula, from Manding languages, is also used in English, and sometimes spelled Fulah or Fullah. Fula and Fulani are commonly used in English, including within Africa. The French borrowed the Wolof term Pël, which is variously spelled: Peul, Peulh, and even Peuhl. More recently the Fulfulde / Pulaar term Fulɓe, which is a plural noun (singular, Pullo) has been Anglicised as Fulbe,[37] which is gaining popularity in use. In Portuguese, the terms Fula or Futafula are used. The terms Fallata, Fallatah, or Fellata are of Arabic origins, and are often the ethnonyms by which Fulani people are identified by in parts of Chad and Sudan.
The Toucouleur people of the central Senegal River valley speak Fulfulde / Pulaar and refer to themselves as Haalpulaaren, or those who speak Pulaar. The supposed distinction between them was invented by French ethnographers in the 19th century who differentiated between supposedly sedentary, agricultural, fanatical, and anti-European Toucouleurs on one hand and nomadic, pastoralist, docile and cooperative Peulhs on the other, but the dichotomy is false.[38]
Surnames
Common Fulani family names in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau and Southern Senegal are: Diallo (French regions), Jallow or Jalloh (Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia), Djalo (Cap Verde and Guinea Bissau), Sow, Barry, Bah or Ba, Baldé, and Diouldé.[39] Other Fulani (Toucouleur) family names in Guinea and northern Senegal are: Tall, Sall, Diengue, Sy, Anne, Ly, Wann, Dia and others.
Although most Fulbe of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon mostly use their father's family name, there are some common Fulani last names such as Bello (likely from the Fulfulde word Ballo meaning “helper or assistant”),[40] Tukur (from Takrur), Gidado, Barkindo, Jallo, Ahidjo and Dikko.
In Mali, the most common Fulani family names are Diallo, Diakité, Dia, Sow, Sidibé, Sangaré, Ba, Dicko, Bocoum, Tall, Kah, etc. These names can be found among the Fulani populations of the following Malian regions and areas of Mopti, Macina, Nioro, Kidal, Tomboctou, Gao, Sikasso, and others.[41][42]
In the Wasulu (Wassoulou) region of Mali, the most common family names among the Fula are Diallo, Diakité, Sidibé and Sangaré. These names are also found among the Fula population of Burkina Faso,[43] along with other names like Barry, Dicko and Sankara (derived from Sangaré). Many of the Fula people from the Wasulu region have lost their ability to speak their native tongue due to multiple generations of intermingling and intermarriage with the Mandé (primarily the Bambara) tribes of the region. Though many of them no longer speak the Fula language, they have still managed to retain various aspects of their Fula cultural identities.[44]
One of the most famous people of Wasulu Fula origin is Oumou Sangaré, a popular singer from Mali who is nicknamed the “Songbird of Wasulu”[45] due to her powerful voice accompanied by her melodiously unique way of singing. Most of Sangaré’s songs pertain to women’s rights in Africa and the union of different tribes within Mali. She has traveled to many parts of West Africa, including Cameroon, to work with various Fula artists and to promote the Fulani cultural heritage of Wasulu.
Bocoum, Dia (in English as "Jah"), Kah, and Kane are some common family names among the Diawambe/Jawambe (Singular: Dianwando/Jawando and Diokoramé/Jokoromeh in Bambara) of Mali. The Jawambe are a small sub-group of Fulanis from Mali and they are primarily known for trading.[46] Some famous Jawando Fula singers are Afel Bocoum and Inna Modja.
In Mopti, apart from the common Fula surnames like those previously mentioned, you will find surnames like Cissé and Touré. Though these names are commonly associated with the Manding tribes, some in Mopti have adopted the Fula culture and language through centuries of coexistence, and thus now consider themselves as part of the Fula ethnic group. A notable example of this is Amadou Toumani Touré, the former president of Mali.
Geographic distribution
The Fula people are widely distributed, across the Sahel from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea, particularly in West Africa. In addition, many also speak other languages of the countries they inhabit, making many Fulani bilingual or even trilingual. Such languages include French, Hausa, Bambara, Wolof, Soninke, and Arabic.
Major concentrations of Fulani people exist in the Fouta Djallon highlands of central Guinea and south into the northernmost reaches of Sierra Leone; the Futa Tooro savannah grasslands of Senegal and southern Mauritania; the Macina inland Niger river delta system around Central Mali; and especially in the regions around Mopti and the Nioro Du Sahel in the Kayes region; the Borgu settlements of Benin, Togo, and west-central Nigeria; the northern parts of Burkina Faso in the Sahel region's provinces of Seno, Wadalan, and Soum; and the areas occupied by the Sokoto Caliphate, which includes what is now southern Niger and northern Nigeria (such as Adamawa, Tahoua, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zinder, Bauchi, Diffa, Yobe, Gombe, and further east, into the Benue River valley systems of north eastern Nigeria and northern Cameroon).
This is the area known as the Fombina/Hombina, literally meaning 'the south' in Adamawa Fulfulde, because it represented the most southern and eastern reaches of Fulɓe hegemonic dominance in West Africa. In this area, Fulfulde is the local lingua franca, and language of cross cultural communication. Further east of this area, Fulani communities become predominantly nomadic, and exist at less organized social systems. These are the areas of the Chari-Baguirmi Region and its river systems, in Chad and the Central African Republic, the Ouaddaï highlands of Eastern Chad, the areas around Kordofan, Darfur and the Blue Nile, Sennar, Kassala regions of Sudan,[48] as well as the Red Sea coastal city of Port Sudan. The Fulani on their way to or back from the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, settled in many parts of eastern Sudan, today representing a distinct community of over two million people referred to as the Fellata.[49][50][51]
While their early settlements in West Africa were in the vicinity of the tri-border point of present-day Mali, Senegal, and Mauritania, they are now, after centuries of gradual migrations and conquests, spread throughout a wide band of West and Central Africa. The Fulani People occupy a vast geographical expanse located roughly in a longitudinal east–west band immediately south of the Sahara, and just north of the coastal rain forest and swamps. There are estimates of more than 25 million Fulani people.[24]
There are generally three different types of Fulani based on settlement patterns, viz: the nomadic-pastoral or Mbororo, the semi-nomadic, and the settled or "town" Fulani. The pastoral Fulani move around with their cattle throughout the year. Typically, they do not stay around for long stretches (not more than 2–4 months at a time). The semi-nomadic Fulani can either be Fulɓe families who happen to settle down temporarily at particular times of the year or Fulɓe families who do not "browse" around past their immediate surroundings, and even though they possess livestock, they do not wander away from a fixed or settled homestead not too far away, they are basically "in-betweeners".[52]
Settled Fulani live in villages, towns, and cities permanently and have given up nomadic life completely, in favor of an urban one. These processes of settlement, concentration, and military conquest led to the existence of organized and long-established communities of Fulani, varying in size from small villages to towns. Today, some major Fulani towns include: Labé, Pita, Mamou, and Dalaba in Guinea; Kaedi, Matam and Podor, Kolda in Senegal and Mauritania; Bandiagara, Mopti, Dori, Gorom-Gorom, and Djibo in Mali and Burkina Faso, on the bend of the Niger; and Birnin Kebbi, Katsina, Gombe, Yola, Digil, Jalingo, Bauchi, Misau, Jama'are, Mayo Belwa, Mubi, Maroua, Ngaoundere, Azare ,Dukku, Kumo, Girei, Damaturu, Bertoua, and Garoua in the countries of Cameroon and Nigeria. In most of these communities, the Fulani are usually perceived as a ruling class.
Fulani communities are sometimes grouped and named based on the areas they occupy. Although within each region, there are even further divisions and sub-groupings as well. Below is a list of the main Fulɓe groups.
| Main Fulani sub-groups, national and subnational locations, cluster group and dialectal variety | |||||||||||
| Fulbe Adamawa 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 𞤀𞤣𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤱𞤢 |
Fulfulde Adamawa (Fombinaare) | Eastern | |||||||||
| Fulbe Bagirmi 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 𞤄𞤢𞤺𞤭𞤪𞤥𞤭 |
|||||||||||
| Fulbe Sokoto 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 𞤅𞤮𞤳𞤮𞤼𞤮 |
Fulfulde Sokoto (Woylaare) | ||||||||||
| Fulbe Gombe 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 𞤘𞤮𞤲'𞤦𞤫 |
Nigeria: Gombe State, Bauchi State, Yobe State, Borno State, Plateau State
|
Fulfulde Woylaare-Fombinaare transitional | |||||||||
| Fulbe Mbororo 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 𞤐'𞤄𞤮𞤪𞤮𞤪𞤮 |
|
Fulfulde Sokoto (Woylaare) & Adamawa (Fombinaare) | |||||||||
| Fulbe Borgu 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 𞤄𞤮𞤪𞤺𞤵 |
Fulfulde Borgu & Jelgoore | Central | |||||||||
| Fulbe Jelgooji 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 𞤔𞤫𞤤𞤺𞤮𞥅𞤶𞤭 |
|
Fulfulde Jelgoore & (Massinakoore) | |||||||||
| Fulbe Massina 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 𞤃𞤢𞤧𞥆𞤭𞤲𞤢 |
|
Fulfulde Massinakoore | |||||||||
| Fulbe Nioro 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 𞤻𞤮𞥅𞤪𞤮 |
Pulaar – Fulfulde
Fuua Tooro -Massinakoore transitional |
Western | |||||||||
| Fulbe Futa Jallon 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 𞤊𞤵𞥅𞤼𞤢 𞤔𞤢𞤤𞤮𞥅 |
|
Pular Fuuta Jallon | |||||||||
| Fulbe Futa Tooro 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 𞤊𞤵𞥅𞤼𞤢 𞤚𞤮𞥅𞤪𞤮 |
|
Pulaar Fuuta Tooro | |||||||||
| Fulbe Fuladu 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤩𞤫 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤢𞤣𞤵 |
|
Pulaar – Pular
Fuuta Tooro – Fuuta Jallon transitional | |||||||||
Typically, Fulɓe belonging to the same affinity bloc tend to cluster together in culture, customs, and dialectal variety with the Eastern Fulɓe sub-groups tending to be more similar to each other than to other sub-groups, and the same applies to most western groups. Culturally speaking, the central Fulɓe sub-groups are roughly in between the western and eastern Fulani cultural niches.[citation needed]
For example, the Massina Fulɓe share similarities both dialectally and culturally to Nigerian or Cameroonian (Eastern) (both of which end interrogative questions with "na?"), as well as Senegalese and Guinean (western) Fulɓe cultures (who do not end interrogative questions with such mannerism). Accordingly, the western groups are the most divergent from the eastern groups and vice versa. Overall, however, all share most cultural practices to a large extent.
In Ghana, the exact number of Fulani is unknown due to systematic oppression that includes not counting the Fulani in the Ghanaian census. This reflects widespread discrimination and negative stereotypes about the Fulani.[53]
History
Historiography
The origins of the Fulani people are unclear and various theories have been postulated. As a nomadic herding people, they have moved through and among many cultures, making it difficult to trace their relationships and history with other peoples. Speculations about their origins started in the era of European conquest and colonization because of their oftentimes fair skin, wavy long hair and facial features.[54]: 25
Fulani oral histories suggest that their origins lie in North Africa. Their ethnogenesis likely arose as a result of interactions between an ancient West African population and North African populations such as Berbers or Egyptians.[32][55][22][56]
The earliest mention of the Fula in history may go back to the Bible. Maurice Delafosse speculated that they may correspond to the descendants of Put, son of Ham. Josephus wrote of the Phutites, ancient inhabitants of what is now Libya.[54]: 87
Early Kingdoms
The precursors of the Fulani likely migrated out of the Sahara desert, at the time much wetter than today, as it progressively dried beginning in the 7th century BC.[54]: 56 They migrated into the Senegal river valley from the east, pushed by Berber raids and desertification.[57][58] The kingdom of Tekrur in what is now Futa Toro was formed through the interaction of the Fula (and perhaps Berber) migrants with the native "Negro agricultural peoples" of the valley who were "essentially Serer",[59][54]: 56 Dominated first by Wagadu and later by the Lamtuna, the Mali Empire and the Jolof Empire, in the early 16th century the area was conquered by Koli Tenguella, who founded the Empire of Great Fulo.[60][61]
Migration
 |
The Fulani were cattle-keeping farmers who shared their lands with other nearby groups, like the Soninke, who contributed to the rise of ancient Ghana, with eastward and westward expansion being led by nomadic groups of cattle breeders or the Fulɓe ladde. While the initial expansionist groups were small, they soon increased in size due to the availability of grazing lands in the Sahel and the lands that bordered it to the immediate south.
Agricultural expansions led to a division among the Fulani, where individuals were classified as belonging either to the group of expansionist nomadic agriculturalists or the group of Fulani who found it more comfortable to abandon traditional nomadic ways and settle in towns or the Fulɓe Wuro. Fulani towns were a direct result of nomadic heritage and were often founded by individuals who had simply chosen to settle in a given area instead of continuing on their way.
Evidence of Fulani migration as a whole, from the Western to Eastern Sudan is very fragmentary. Delafosse, one of the earliest enquirers into Fulani history and customs, principally relying on oral tradition, estimated that Fulani migrants left Fuuta-Tooro heading east between the eleventh and the fourteenth centuries. By the 15th century, there was a steady flow of Fulɓe immigrants into Hausaland and, later on, Bornu. Their presence in Baghirmi was recorded early in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, Fulani settlements were dotted all along the Benue River valley and its tributaries. They spread eastwards towards Garoua and Rey Bouba, and southwards towards the Faro River, to the foot of the Mambilla Plateau, which they would later ascend in subsequent years. The heaviest concentrations of their settlements were at Gurin, Chamba territory, Cheboa, Turua and Bundang.
Today, Fula oral historians recognize three different Fuuta, or Fula lands: Fuuta Kingi, meaning 'Old Fuuta', encompassing the Tagant Plateau, the Assaba Region, the Hodh, Futa Toro and the area around Nioro du Sahel; Fuuta Keyri, 'New Fuuta', includes Futa Djallon, Massina, Sokoto, and the Adamawa Region; Fuuta Jula is the diaspora of Fula traders and emigrants in other regions.[54]: 26
Islam and the Fula Jihads
The Fula, living on the edge of the Sahara, were among the first sub-Saharan groups to adopt Islam. According to David Levison, adopting Islam made the Fulani feel a "cultural and religious superiority to surrounding peoples, and that adoption became a major ethnic boundary marker" between them and other African ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa.[62]
Armed with horses and weapons from the north and inspired by Fula, Berber and Arab clerics, Fulani political units would play a central role in promoting Islam in West Africa through peaceful and violent means. These jihads targeted other ethnic groups but also other Fulani who had not yet adopted Islam or who follows it too loosely.[60][63] These wars helped the Fula dominate much of the Sahel region of West Africa during the medieval and pre-colonial era, establishing them not only as a religious group but also as a political and economic force.[64][65] From the 18th century onwards, the frequency of jihads increased and the Fulani became politically dominant in many areas.[60]
While establishing their hegemony, the Fulbe defined a strict social hierarchy and imposed limitations on economic and trading activities, the purpose of which was to ensure a constant flow of tax revenue and commodities to the state apparatus and the standing army, especially for the cavalry. The freedom for pastoralists to move around was curtailed to ensure the smooth functioning of other production activities, such as cereal cultivation and, in the case of Maasina, of fishing activities.There was considerable resistance to the forced acceptance of Islam. Conversion to Islam meant not only changing one's religion but also submitting to rules dealing with every aspect of social, political and cultural life, intrusions with which many nomadic Fulbe were not comfortable.[66]: 53
Bundu
In 1690, Torodbe cleric Malick Sy[67] came to Bundu, in what is now eastern Senegal, from his home near Podor. Sy settled the lands with relatives from his native Futa Toro and Muslim immigrants from as far west as the Djolof Empire and as far east as Nioro du Sahel.[68]
Under Sy, Bundu became a refuge for Muslims and Islamic scholars persecuted by traditional rulers in other kingdoms.[69] Sy was killed in 1699 caught in an ambush by the army of Gajaaga.[70]: 192 Still, Bundu's growth that would set a precedent for later, larger, and more disruptive Fula jihads.[70]: 192
Imamate of Futa Jallon
The Emirate / Imamate of Timbo in the Fuuta Jallon developed from a revolt by Islamic Fulɓe against their oppression by the pagan Pulli (فُلِی or 𞤆𞤵𞤤𞥆𞤭, non-Islamic Fulɓe), and the Jallonke (the original Mande inhabitants of the Fuuta-Jallon), during the first half of the 18th century. The first ruler took the title of Almaami and resided in Timbo, near the modern-day town of Mamou.[66]: 53 The town became the political capital of the newly formed Imamate, with the religious capital was located in Fugumba. The Council of Elders of the Futa Jallon state were also based in Fugumba, acting as a brake on the Almami's powers.[citation needed]
The newly formed imamate was mostly located mainly in present-day Guinea, but also spanned parts of modern-day Guinea Bissau, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. This emirate was, in fact, a federal state of nine provinces: Timbo, Fugumbaa, Ɓuuriya, Koyin, Kollaaɗe, Keebaali, Labe, Fode-Hajji, and Timbi. After the Muslim Fulɓe victory, other ethnic groups who had resisted the jihad were deprived of their rights to land except for a small piece for their subsistence and were reduced to servitude. The nomad Pulli Fulɓe lost all freedom of movement, and thus, began to settle en-masse. The Jalonke lost their noble status and became slaves (maccuɓe).[66]: 53
Later, due to strife between two branches of the Seediayanke royal lineage, (the Soriya and the Alphaya),[71] a system for the rotation of office between these branches was set up. This led to an almost permanent state of civil strife since none of the parties was inclined to respect the system, which considerably weakened the power of the political centre.[66]: 54
Imamate of Futa Toro
A jihad in Futa Toro between 1769 and 1776 led by Sulayman Bal threw out the ruling Denianke Dynasty.[72]: 541–2 Sulayman died in 1776 and was succeeded by Abdul Kader ('Abd al-Qadir), a learned teacher and judge who had studied in Cayor.[73]: 419
Abdul Kader became the first Almamy of the theocratic Almamyate of Futa Toro.[72]: 541–2 He encouraged construction of mosques, and pursued an aggressive policy towards his neighbors.[73]: 419 The Torodbe prohibited the trade in slaves on the river. In 1785 they obtained an agreement from the French to stop trading in Muslim slaves and to pay customs duties to the state. Abdul Kader defeated the emirates of Trarza and Brakna to the north, but was defeated and captured when he attacked the Wolof states of Cayor and Waalo around 1797. After his release the jihad impetus had been lost. By the time of Abdul Kader's death in 1806 the state was dominated by a few elite Torodbe families.[72]: 541–2
The Sokoto Caliphate and its various emirates
The Sokoto Caliphate was by far the largest and most successful legacy of Fulani power in Western Africa. It was the largest, as well as the most well-organized, of the Fulani Jihad states. Throughout the 19th century, Sokoto was one of the largest and most powerful empires in West Africa until 1903, when defeated by European colonial forces. The Sokoto Caliphate included several emirates, the largest of which was Adamawa, although the Kano Emirate was the most populated. Others included, but are not limited to: Gombe Emirate, Gwandu Emirate, Bauchi Emirate, Katsina Emirate, Zazzau Emirate, Hadejia Emirate, and Muri Emirate.[74]
The Empire of Massina
The Maasina Emirate was established by the Fulbe jihad led by Seku Amadu in 1818, rebelling against the Bamana Empire, a political power that controlled the region from Segou. This jihad was inspired by Usman Dan Fodio and his jihad in Sokoto.[66]: 56 This state appears to have had tight control over its core area, as evidenced by the fact that its political and economic organization is still manifested today in the organization of agricultural production in the Inland Delta. Despite its power and omnipresence, the hegemony of the emirate was constantly threatened. During the reign of Aamadu Aamadu, the grandson of Sheeku Aamadu, internal contradictions weakened the emirate until it fell to the Toucouleur in 1862.[66]: 56
The Toucouleur Empire
The founder of the Toucouleur Empire, El Hadj Umar Tall, was an Islamic reformer originating from Fuuta Tooro. Beginning in Futa Jallon, he led an army that conquered Massina, Segou, and Kaarta, but he died fighting against rebels in 1864. At that point the emirate was divided into three states, each ruled by one of his sons. These three states had their capitals respectively in the towns of Nioro, Segou and Bandiagara. Within 30 years, all three had been conquered and colonized by the French.[66]: 63
Timeline of Fulani history
|
| Time | Events |
|---|---|
| 4th century | The Ghana Empire emerges in modern-day southeastern Mauritania and western Mali, as the first large-scale Sudano-Sahelian empire |
| 5th century | The Ghana Empire becomes the most important power in West Africa |
| 5th century (?) | The Fulbe migrate southwards and Eastwards from present-day Morocco and Mauritania[dubious – discuss] |
| 9th century | Takrur founded on the lower Senegal River (present-day Senegal) upon the influx of Fulani from the east and north settling in the Senegal River valley |
| 11th century | Kingdoms of Tekruur and the Gao Empire flourish in West Africa due to gold trade |
| 1042 | Almoravids, Berber Muslims from southern Morocco and Mauritania, attack Takrur, after defeating the Sanhaja in 1039 |
| 1050s | Islam gains a strong foothold in West Africa |
| 1050–1146 | Almoravids take over Morocco, Algeria, and part of al-Andalus; they invade Ghana in 1076 and establish power there. |
| 1062 | Almoravids found capital at Marrakesh |
| 1100 | The Empire of Ghana starts to decline in influence and importance |
| 1147 | The Almohad Caliphate, ruled by Berber Muslims opposed to the Almoravids, seize Marrakesh and go on to conquer Almoravid Spain, Algeria, and Tripoli |
| 1150 | An unprecedented resurgence of the Ghana Empire sees it reach its height, controlling vast areas of western Africa as well as Saharan trade routes in gold and salt |
| 1200 | Empire and themselves set out on a road of conquest, they take its capital Koumbi Saleh in 1203 |
| 1235 | Great warrior leader Sundiata Keita of the Mandinka people founds the Mali Empire in present-day Mali, West Africa; it expands under his rule |
| 1240–1250 | Mali absorbs Ghana, Tekruur |
| 1324 | 10th Emperor of Mali, Musa I of Mali regarded as the richest individual in recorded history, goes on his famous pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. his procession reported to include 18,000 workers who each carried 4 pounds (1.8 kg) gold bars, heralds dressed in silks who bore gold staffs, organized horses and handled bags. Musa provided all necessities for the procession, feeding the entire company of men and animals. Also in the train were 80 camels, which varying reports claim carried between 50 and 300 pounds (23 and 136 kg) of gold dust each |
| 1325 | The Empire of Mali reaches its height of power, covering much of Northern West Africa. |
| 1352 | Ibn Battuta, Berber scholar, travels across Africa and writes an account of all he sees |
| 1462 | Sonni Ali becomes ruler of the Songhai people and goes on to build the Songhai Empire |
| 1490 | The Mali empire is overshadowed by the Songhai Empire |
| 16th century | Songhai Empire enters a period of massive expansion and power under Askia Mohammad I. Askia Mohammad strengthened his country and made it the largest contiguous territory ever in West African history. At its peak, the Empire encompassed the Hausa states as far as Kano (in present-day Nigeria) and much of the territory that had belonged to the Songhai empire in the west neighbouring Bornu Empire of the Kanuri |
| 1515 | The Songhai Empire reaches its zenith and pinnacle of power |
| 1590 | Songhai Empire is defeated by invading Moroccans from further North |
| 1650 | Another wave of Fulbe migrations sees them penetrate even further in the Southern Senegal and Fouta Jallon highlands of middle Guinea |
| 1670 | Fulani people gain control of Bhundu in Senegal with Malick Sy, and the Sissibhe |
| 1673 | First unsuccessful Fulani jihad in the Fuuta Tooro |
| 1808 | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Pulaar_people