Fulbe pastoralists, known in Nigeria as Fulani,…
1396 CE to 1539 CE
The Fulani come from the Senegal River valley, where their ancestors had developed a method of livestock management and specialization based on transhumance.
The movement of cattle along north-south corridors in pursuit of grazing and water follows the climatic pattern of the rainy and dry seasons.
Gradually, the pastoralists move eastward, first into the centers of the Mali and Songhai empires and eventually into Hausaland and Borno.
Some Fulbe had converted to Islam in the Senegal region as early as the eleventh century, and one group of Muslim Fulani had settled in the cities and mingled freely with the Hausa, from whom they have become racially indistinguishable.
Here, they constitute a devoutly religious, educated elite who have made themselves indispensable to the Hausa kings as government advisers, Islamic judges, and teachers.
Other Fulani, the lighter-skinned pastoral nomads, remain aloof from the Hausa and in some measure from Islam as well, herding cattle outside the cities and seeking pastures for their herds.
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West Africa
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