Editing Fula people (section)

== 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.<ref name = Kane/>{{rp|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 Africa]]n populations such as Berbers or Egyptians.<ref name="Ndukwe1996p92"/><ref name="Skutsch2013p474">{{cite book|author=Carl Skutsch|title=Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yXYKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA474|year=2005 |publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-19388-1|page=474}}, Quote: "Fulani oral traditions suggest an origin in Egypt or the Middle East, a common theme in West African Muslim traditions.</ref><ref name="Juang2008p492"/><ref name="Webster238"/>

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 (biblical figure)|Put]], son of [[Ham (son of Noah)|Ham]]. [[Josephus]] wrote of the Phutites, ancient inhabitants of what is now [[Libya]].<ref name = Kane>{{cite book |last1=Kane |first1=Oumar |title=La première hégémonie peule. Le Fuuta Tooro de Koli Teηella à Almaami Abdul |date=2004 |publisher=Karthala |location=Paris |isbn=978-2-84586-521-1 |url=https://www.cairn.info/la-premiere-hegemonie-peule--9782845865211-page-114.htm |access-date=12 July 2023}}</ref>{{rp|87}}

===Early Kingdoms===
[[File:Algerien Desert.jpg|thumb|left|[[Tassili n'Ajjer]] rock art]]

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.<ref name = Kane/>{{rp|56}} They migrated into the [[Senegal river]] valley from the east, pushed by [[Berbers|Berber]] raids and desertification.<ref>{{cite book|author=Unesco General History of Africa|title=Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century v. 3|year=1992|publisher=James Currey Publishers|page=204|isbn=978-0852550939|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qDFcD0BuekQC&q=Serer+neolithic&pg=PA67}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Creevey|first=Lucy|title=Islam, Women and the Role of the State in Senegal|journal=Journal of Religion in Africa|date=August 1996|volume=26|issue=3|pages=268–307|jstor=1581646|doi=10.1163/157006696X00299}}</ref> 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 people|Serer]]",<ref>{{cite book|last=Fage|first=John Donnelly|title=The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 3|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521209816|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qwg8GV6aibkC&q=Takrur%7CTekrur%20serer&pg=PA483|editor=Roland Oliver|chapter=Upper and Lower Guinea}}</ref><ref name = Kane/>{{rp|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]].<ref name=stantonfulawar/><ref>{{cite book|author=John Thornton|title=Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1800|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AVZDHeVEeywC |date=28 April 1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-62724-5|pages=91–92, xvii–xix}}</ref>

===Migration===
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2024}}
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.[[File:A fulani wedding bride.jpg|thumb|[[Ghanaians|Ghanaian]] Fulani wedding bride]]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, [[Kanem–Bornu Empire|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 people|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]], [[Inner Niger Delta|Massina]], [[Sokoto (city)|Sokoto]], and the [[Adamawa Region]]; ''Fuuta Jula'' is the diaspora of Fula traders and emigrants in other regions.<ref name = Kane/>{{rp|26}}

===Islam and the Fula Jihads===
{{Multi image
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{{main article|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.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Levinson|title=Encyclopedia of World Cultures: Africa and the Middle East, Volume 9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JcDMrQEACAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Gale Group|isbn=978-0-8161-1808-3|chapter=Fulani }}, Quote: "Their adoption of Islam increased the Fulanis' feeling of cultural and religious superiority to surrounding peoples, and that adoption became a major ethnic boundary marker."</ref>

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. [[Fula jihads|These jihads]] targeted other ethnic groups but also other Fulani who had not yet adopted Islam or who follows it too loosely.<ref name=stantonfulawar>{{cite book|author=Andrea L. Stanton|title=Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtCL2OYsH6wC |year=2012|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4129-8176-7|pages=147–148}}</ref><ref name="Manger2013p92">{{cite book|author=Knut Vikor| editor=Leif Manger|title=Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8WGOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA92| year=2013 |publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-81857-8|pages=92–93}}</ref> 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.<ref name=johnsonmasina/><ref name="Beek1988fulani"/> From the 18th century onwards, the frequency of jihads increased and the Fulani became politically dominant in many areas.<ref name=stantonfulawar/>

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.<ref name = Bruijn/>{{rp|53}}

====Bundu====
In 1690, [[Torodbe]] cleric Malick Sy<ref>Not to be confused with [[Malick Sy]], founder of the Tijanniyah Sufi order.</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Western Africa {{!}} Countries, History, Map, Population, & Facts {{!}} Britannica -The Islamic revolution in the western Sudan: The First Fulani Jihad |access-date=6 March 2013 |publisher=www.britannica.com |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/640491/western-Africa/54848/The-Islamic-revolution-in-the-western-Sudan |language=en |page=10}}</ref>

Under Sy, Bundu became a refuge for Muslims and Islamic scholars persecuted by traditional rulers in other kingdoms.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brooks |first1=George E. |title=WESTERN AFRICA TO c1860 A.D. A PROVISIONAL HISTORICAL SCHEMA BASED ON CLIMATE PERIODS |journal=Indiana University African Studies Program |date=August 1985 |page=209| url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/287/Western_Brooks.pdf |access-date=30 May 2023}}</ref> Sy was killed in 1699 caught in an ambush by the army of [[Gajaaga]].<ref name = Curtin/>{{rp|192}} Still, Bundu's growth that would set a precedent for later, larger, and more disruptive [[Fula jihads]].<ref name = Curtin>{{cite journal | last= Curtin  | first= Philip D. | year=1975 | title= The uses of oral tradition in Senegambia : Maalik Sii and the foundation of Bundu | journal= Cahiers d'études africaines | volume=15 | issue=58 | pages=189–202 | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4391387 | doi=10.3406/cea.1975.2592| jstor= 4391387 }}</ref>{{rp|192}}

====Imamate of Futa Jallon====
{{main|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 [[Mandé peoples|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, Guinea|Timbo]], near the modern-day town of [[Mamou]].<ref name = Bruijn/>{{rp|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|date=November 2022}}

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'').<ref name = Bruijn>{{cite book |last1=de Bruijn |first1=Mirjam |last2=van Dijk |first2=Han |editor1-last=Abbink |editor1-first=Jon |editor2-last=van Walraven |editor2-first=Klaas |editor3-last=de Bruijn |editor3-first=Mirjam |title=Rethinking resistance : revolt and violence in African history |date=2003 |publisher=Brill |pages=43–68 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28646643 |access-date=9 January 2024 |chapter=Resistance to Fulbe Hegemony in nineteenth-century West Africa}}</ref>{{rp|53}}

Later, due to strife between two branches of the Seediayanke royal lineage, (the [[Soriya]] and the [[Alfaya (party)|Alphaya]]),<ref>{{cite book |author=J. D. Fage |author2=Roland Anthony Oliver |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q3mx8aAo6x0C&pg=PA208 |title=The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 4 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1975 |access-date=2014-02-27 |isbn=9780521204132 |page=208 }}</ref> 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.<ref name = Bruijn/>{{rp|54}}

====Imamate of Futa Toro====
A jihad in Futa Toro between 1769 and 1776 led by [[Sulayman Bal]] threw out the ruling Denianke Dynasty.<ref name = Klein>{{cite book |last=Klein|first=Martin A.|title=Encyclopedia of African History|url=http://www.webpulaaku.net/defte/shillington_encyclopedia/fuuta_tooro_19thcent.html
 |access-date=13 February 2013 |volume=1|year=2005|publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn|isbn=978-1-57958-245-6|page=541|chapter=Futa-Tooro: Early Nineteenth Century}}</ref>{{rp|541–2}} Sulayman died in 1776 and was succeeded by [[Abdul Kader (almami)|Abdul Kader]] ('Abd al-Qadir), a learned teacher and judge who had studied in [[Cayor]].<ref name = Lapidus>{{cite book|last=Lapidus|first=Ira M.|title=A History of Islamic Societies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3mVUEzm8xMC&pg=PA418|access-date=2013-02-13
 |date=2002-08-22|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-77933-3}}</ref>{{rp|419}}

Abdul Kader became the first ''[[Almamy]]'' of the theocratic Almamyate of Futa Toro.<ref name = Klein/>{{rp|541–2}} He encouraged construction of mosques, and pursued an aggressive policy towards his neighbors.<ref name = Lapidus/>{{rp|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 people|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.<ref name = Klein/>{{rp|541–2}}

====Sokoto Caliphate and its various emirates====
{{main|Sokoto Caliphate}}
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 Emirate|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, Nigeria|Muri Emirate]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Last |first=Murray |url=http://archive.org/details/sokotocaliphate0000last |title=The Sokoto Caliphate |date=1967 |publisher=[New York] Humanities Press |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>
[[File:Fulani in the Sokoto Caliphate.jpg|thumb|Depiction of a Fulani man from the [[Sokoto Caliphate]] by [[G. T. Bettany|G.T. Bettany]] (1888)]]

====Empire of Massina====
{{main|Massina Empire}}
[[File:Fula jihad states map general c1830.png|thumb|Fula people have helped form several historic Islamic theocracies and led many [[Jihad]] states such as the 19th-century Masina.<ref name=johnsonmasina>{{cite journal | last=Johnson | first=Marion | title=The Economic Foundations of an Islamic Theocracy – The Case of Masina | journal=The Journal of African History | publisher=Cambridge University Press | volume=17 | issue=4 | year=1976 | pages=481–495 | doi=10.1017/s0021853700015024 | s2cid=162679554 }}</ref><ref name="Beek1988fulani">{{cite book|author=Walter van Beek|title=The Quest for Purity: Dynamics of Puritan Movements|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NvpMSDSeqwMC&pg=PA149|year=1988|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-011382-2|pages=149–177|chapter=Purity and statecraft: The Fulani Jihad}}</ref>]]
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.<ref name = Bruijn/>{{rp|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.<ref name = Bruijn/>{{rp|56}}

====Toucouleur Empire====
{{main|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 du Sahel|Nioro]], [[Segou]] and [[Bandiagara]]. Within 30 years, all three had been conquered and colonized by the French.<ref name = Bruijn/>{{rp|63}}

===Timeline of Fulani history===
{{unreferenced section|date=July 2018}}

{| class="wikitable"
! style="width:120px" |Time|| style="width:400px" |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|date=December 2022}}
|-
| '''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''' || [[Almoravid dynasty|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 {{convert|4|lb||abbr=}} 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 {{convert|50|and|300|lb|abbr=}} 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 (city)|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 people|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'''|| Bornu successfully repel Fulani forces
|-
| '''1893'''|| The French conquer the Fouta-Toro 
|-
| '''1903'''|| The British conquer the Sokoto Caliphate<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jamtan.com/jamtan/fulani.cfm?chap=2&linksPage=219 |title=Time line |publisher=Jamtan |access-date=2013-12-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122114622/http://www.jamtan.com/jamtan/fulani.cfm?chap=2&linksPage=219 |archive-date=2012-11-22 }}</ref>
|}