The Fulɓe: Herders, Scholars and State-Builders of the Sahel

Key takeaways

• Where: from the Senegal River valley to Lake Chad and Cameroon, across the Sahel and the savanna belt.
• When: Fulfulde-speaking cattle herders are traced to the Senegal valley region and spread east and south between roughly the 11th and 15th centuries; clerical reform movements built states from 1725 to 1864. [1][2][3]
• Who: the Fulɓe (singular Pullo; also Fulani, Fula, Peul) are a cultural and linguistic community, not a biological group. [4]
• How society worked: herders, scholars and warriors, with caste groups and enslaved people at the base. [3][5]
• Why it changed: reformers, herders and slaves joined to overthrow rulers, but the new states also depended on slavery; French and British conquest ended their independence. [6][7]

The setting: a grassland belt across a continent

Follow the Sahel eastward from the Atlantic and you cross the Senegal valley, the inland delta of the Niger, the Hausa plains and the Borno basin. Cattle country runs the whole way. Fulani cattlemen are recorded wandering across it, from the Atlantic to the Niger Bend, and by the 14th century some groups were settling near Jenne and in Takrur. [8] Herders lived outside the towns, and tension with farmers was practical: taxes, fines, and raids by Tuareg. [3] Where herders settled, they built new centers: Futa Jallon's highlands, the Massina floodplain, the Hausa emirates. [9] ^{[3, 8, 9]}

Chronology at a glance

• Before the 11th century CE: cattle rearers in southern Mauritania and the Senegal valley; Fulfulde-speakers present in Takrur. [1][10]
• c. 11th–15th centuries: gradual spread east and south toward Masina, Futa Jallon and Hausaland. [1][2]
• 15th century: Koly Tengella leads Fulɓe from the Malian Sahel to Futa Jallon; Denyanke dynasty founded in Futa Toro. [11]
• 1725: revolution in Futa Jallon. 1776: Torodbe revolution in Futa Toro. [11]
• 1804–1810s: Usman dan Fodio's jihad creates the Sokoto caliphate; Massina follows in 1818. [3][9]
• 1849: Umar founds a base at Dinguiraye; Hubbu revolt in Futa Jallon. [3][5]
• 1862–1864: Umar takes Hamdallahi and dies. 1889–1898: French conquest ends the Segu Tukulor empire. [7][9]

Names and identity

Fulɓe is the plural of Pullo and the people's own name; their language is Fulfulde (Pulaar in the Senegal valley, hence Haalpulaaren, "speakers of Pulaar"). Outsiders used Fulani, Fula, Fellata and Peul. [1] Colonial administrators split the community into "Fulbe" herders and "Tukulor" settled people. Scholars note that the differences were socio-economic, and that "Toucouleur" derives from Takrur, the old Senegal valley state. [1][8] One general account calls the Fulani a cultural, not a biological, group. [4] ^{[1, 4, 8]}

Origins: what the evidence supports

Most specialists now place the nucleus of the historical Fulɓe in the Senegal valley region and southern Mauritania, where cattle rearing is attested in the third and second millennia BCE. [1] Fulfulde belongs to the same West Atlantic language family as Wolof and Serer, and is closest to Serer. [1][4] Serer and Fulɓe ancestors are thought to have lived together in southern Mauritania before the Fulɓe moved into Futa Toro. [1] From there the spread was gradual, not a series of invasions. Most Fulɓe migrants were nomadic herders and were not numerous. [1][12] ^{[1, 4, 12]}

Debate: where did the Fulɓe come from?

Three views compete. The oldest theories looked for an outside origin: Gypsies, Pelasgians, Judaeo-Syrians, India, Iran, Berber-Arabs, Nubia or Ethiopia. Scholars find none convincing, and note that they share an assumption that a "white" or "Hamitic" pastoral people must have come from elsewhere; a linguistic label built on that idea is described as flimsy. [1][4] The second view, now most widely held, is the Senegal valley nucleus described above. [1] A third proposes that ancestors of the Fulɓe lived in the Sahara in Neolithic times before moving south. [13] Critics answer that tying Saharan cattle-herding rock art to the ancestors of one modern people is highly precarious, because it confuses race, ethnicity and way of life. [4] The sources name no winner between the second and third views. ^{[1, 4, 13]}

Takrur and the language of the clerics

By the 8th/14th century its people spoke Fulfulde and produced Torodbe clerics. [10] Whether that explains the name Takrur is unresolved, and ancient Takrur was probably Soninke-speaking. [10] The Torodbe later became a clerical society that drew people of Fulɓe, Wolof, Mande, Hausa, Berber, slave and caste origin. They were identified with the Fulɓe and spoke Fulfulde. [3] ^{[3, 10]}

Spreading east and south, 11th–15th centuries

Dates for the spread differ. A scholarly note puts the start of infiltration at about the 11th–12th century and its intensification after the 15th. [8] Another assessment sees the spread beginning most probably in the 11th century, perhaps earlier, possibly linked to zebu cattle. [14] A third dates Fulani infiltration into Futa Toro, Macina and Futa Jallon from the 13th century. [2] The honest summary is a long, uneven movement. In Hausaland, the first immigrants were Fulani herdsmen. Chronicles disagree on timing: Katsina's c. 1405–45 against the Kano Chronicle's 1452–63. [12] Their numbers grew in Massina from the 15th century in successive waves. [9] By the 14th century some groups were settling near Jenne and the Sankarani. [8] ^{[2, 8, 9, 12, 14]}

Koly Tengella and the Denyanke

In the 15th century Koly Tengella left the Malian Sahel with many Fulɓe and settled in Futa Jallon; his companions or son founded the Denyanke dynasty of Futa Toro in the 1490s. [11] Historians disagree on the route (Futa Toro to Futa Jallon, or the reverse) and on his death: 1511–12 in one chronicle, 1512–13 in another. [2] Wars with the Mali empire ran from 1481 to 1514. [2] ^{[2, 11]}

1725: revolution in Futa Jallon

By the 17th century the Fulɓe of Futa Jallon were the region's richest group, with grazing, cattle and hide trade, and a militant Islam. [11] The 1725 revolution was a reaction to the violence of the slave trade. [11] Its leaders were Muslim scholars, twelve Fulɓe and ten Mande (Jaxanke). Opponents included Jallonke chiefs and non-Muslim "bush" Fulɓe. [11] Karamokho Alfa of the Barry family of Timbo emerged as leader; the state was organized into nine provinces (diwal) with a Council of Ancients at Fugumba. [5][11] Around 1797–99 the Alfaya and Soriya families agreed to alternate the almamyship every two years. [5][11] ^{[5, 11]}

1776: the Torodbe revolution in Futa Toro

In Futa Toro, the Denyanke dynasty fell into crisis from about 1716 under Moorish pressure and the sale of Muslims into slavery. [11] In 1776 Torodbe clerics led by Sulayman Baal and then Abd al-Qadir Kan overthrew the dynasty. The victory at Mboya ended the old order. [11] Abd al-Qadir forbade the sale of Muslims and built schools and mosques; he was killed in 1807. The new elite hardened into an oligarchy that did not match the 1776 ideal. [3][11] ^{[3, 11]}

1804: the Sokoto caliphate

Usman dan Fodio and the Fulɓe scholar-warriors of Hausaland saw themselves as renewers of the faith for the 13th Hijra century. [3] The movement withdrew (hijra) to Degel and Gudu, and war was declared in 1804. [3][6] Its fighters came from Fulɓe, Hausa, Mande, Wolof and Tuareg communities, pastoralists and farmers, free people, caste groups and enslaved people. [3] Reprisal attacks on Fulɓe pastoralists, aimed at enslaving them or seizing cattle, pushed many toward the reformers. [6] Most emirs of the caliphate were Fulɓe. Pastoralists paid the jangali cattle tax. [6] The caliphate banned slave-raiding within the Muslim community and promoted schools and canonical taxation. [3] ^{[3, 6]}

1818: Massina and Hamdallahi

In Massina, Fulɓe lived under the suzerainty of Segu (Bambara) and its tribute demands. [3][9] Seku Ahmadu led a revolt, won at Nukuma (1816–17), took Jenne in 1819, and founded the capital Hamdallahi. [3][9] Many Fulɓe converted en masse. [9] His chief achievement was settlement: farming and stock-raising villages, with transhumance regulated. [9] Hamdallahi became the most centralized of the new states. [3] ^{[3, 9]}

Umar's jihad and the Tukulor empire

Al-Hajj Umar established a base at Dinguiraye in 1849. [3] His jihad was largely directed against Fulɓe political leaders. [3] In 1862 he entered Hamdallahi; the Hamdallahi ruler died on 10 May. A Timbuktu–Massina coalition resisted, and Umar died in a cave at Degembere on 14 February 1864. [9] His son Ahmadu ruled from Segu. His Bambara, Mandinka and Fulɓe subjects resented the Tukulor rulers. [7] French victories in 1889–91 ended the empire; Ahmadu died in Sokoto in 1898. [7] ^{[3, 7, 9]}

Society: herders, scholars, warriors

Before the warrior-noble era, Fulɓe communities were governed by master initiates (silatigi) rather than war leaders (ardo). [4] After the revolutions, the Fulɓe formed an aristocracy. [3] In Futa Jallon the victors held the land through the nine diwal. [5] Herders, clerics, farmers and rulers formed layers, but the lines blurred. The Torodbe were a clerical society of mixed origin. [3] Fulfulde became a written literary language, with poetic epics that circulated widely. [3][5] ^{[3, 4, 5]}

Society: slavery and rank

Slaves and caste groups backed the reformers, who offered manumission and a share of booty, and some enslaved people reached high office. [3] After the jihads, however, those who joined were freed while others were re-enslaved. [3] In Futa Jallon, enslaved people were almost half the population by the mid-19th century in one estimate, and at least three-quarters of the population on another reckoning that counts conquered Jallonke subjects. [3][5] The Fulani state of Futa Jallon and Mandinka Kaabu were among those most involved in manhunting, with expeditions against Wassolon, Sankaran, Solima and Bassari. [15] In Central Africa, Fulani were key figures in enslavement, met by resistance and collaboration; Nyem-Nyem forces routed Fulani cavalry. [15] The descendants of the enslaved (maccudo) remained at the bottom of the Pulaar hierarchy. [15] ^{[3, 5, 15]}

Debate: ethnic war or reform movement?

Some historians read the jihads as ethnic wars for Fulɓe domination, and the labels "Fellata war" and "Fulbe empire" reflect that reading. [3][6] Others point out that many Fulɓe fought against the jihads and that the movements drew diverse coalitions; the Futa Jallon revolution was led by Fulɓe and Mande scholars and opposed by non-Muslim Fulɓe. [3][11] One chapter nevertheless calls the Islamic reaction a national revolution of the most oppressed people of the age, the Fulɓe. [9] The sources do not settle the matter; each reading fits some regions better than others. ^{[3, 6, 9, 11]}

Debate: how central was slavery?

Earlier accounts of the jihads stressed reform and liberation. More recent scholarship says that older narrative downplayed how much internal slavery fuelled the conquests. [15] The evidence supports both facts: slaves joined and some were freed, and the new states raided and imported slaves on a large scale. [3][5] Of the Labe expansion in 1810–20, one assessment uses the word genocide for the Tanda and Badiar peoples. [5] ^{[3, 5, 15]}

Resistance within: the Hubbu

In 1849 Modi Mamadu Jue launched the Hubbu revolt in Futa Jallon: a puritan Qadiri sect of marginal Fulɓe, serfs and slaves. [5] The fortress of Boketto fell in 1884 with help from Samori, who bought cattle for slaves. [5] Researchers say basic research on the Hubbu has not been done. [5] The Futa Jallon state itself offered weak resistance to colonial conquest. [5] ^[5]

Colonial conquest and indirect rule

French victories of 1889–91 ended the Segu Tukulor empire. [7] Fulani around Saint-Louis migrated toward Ahmadu's empire. [7] Meanwhile the French fostered the disintegration of the Tukulor state. [7] ^[7]

Debate: was the caliphate abolished or kept?

One chapter states that the British abolished the Sokoto caliphate. [7] Another shows the opposite: indirect rule in northern Nigeria kept the Fulani emirs in place as legitimate rulers. [7] Both can be true: sovereignty ended, titles and local authority continued. ^[7]

Writers, scholars and a diaspora

The Fulɓe jihad leaders were among the most productive authors of their century. Al-Hajj Umar's rhymed chronicle in Fulfulde is one example. [4] Fulfulde poetic epics of the Fudi family circulated widely. [3] Fulɓe herders were also taken across the Atlantic: in colonial Louisiana, some were recorded as "Nègres de nation Poullard". [16] ^{[3, 4, 16]}

What may never be known

• Whether Saharan rock-art herders were ancestors of the Fulɓe. [4]
• Exactly when and why the first Fulfulde-speakers left the Senegal valley region. [1][8]
• How many enslaved people lived in Fulɓe-led states, since estimates differ. [3][5]
• The inner history of the Hubbu, whose basic research is missing. [5]

Questions for discussion

• Why do older origin theories share the idea that a pastoral people must have come from elsewhere?
• What does the Futa Jallon coalition of Fulɓe and Mande scholars suggest about ethnic readings of the jihads?
• How can a reform movement free some enslaved people and enslave others?
• Is the Fulɓe community best described by language, way of life or political history?
• How did the colonial split between "Fulbe" and "Tukulor" shape later identities?
• What would count as evidence to decide between the Senegal valley and Saharan origin views?

Why it matters

The Fulɓe story ties together pastoral mobility, Islamic scholarship, Atlantic and Saharan trade, state-building and slavery across the Sahel. It also shows how colonial labels ("Fellata", "Tukulor") froze fluid identities. Reading it well means holding the reformers' ideals and the states' violence in the same frame. [3][15] ^{[3, 15]}