Fulani People
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Fulani People

Fulani, Fula
A Pullo (Fulani) man in Garibou village, Togo, West Africa
Total population
c. 25 million[1][2]
Regions with significant populations
West Africa and Central Africa
 Burkina Faso1,920,050[10]
 Ivory Coast479,000[13]
 Central African Republic287,187[16][17]
 Sierra Leone258,860[18]
Fulfulde / Pulaar
Vast majority: Islam
Small minority: Christianity[22]
LanguagePulaar (West), Fulfulde (East)

The Fula, Fulani, or Ful?e people (Fula: Ful?e; French: Peul; Hausa: Fulani or Hilani; Portuguese: Fula; Wolof: Pël; Bambara: Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region.[23] Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa but also in South Sudan, Sudan, and regions near the Red Sea coast. There are an estimated 40 million people of Fulani descent in West Africa in total.[24]

A significant proportion of the Fula - a third, or an estimated 12 to 13 million[25] - are pastoralists, and their ethnic group has the largest nomadic pastoral community in the world.[26][27] The majority of the Fula ethnic group consisted of semi-sedentary people[27] as well as sedentary settled farmers, artisans, merchants, and nobility.[28][29] As an ethnic group, they are bound together by the Fula language, their history[30][31][32] and their culture. More than 90% of the Fula are Muslims.[33]

Many West African Leaders are of the Fulani descent including the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari; the President of Senegal, Macky Sall; the President of Gambia, Adama Barrow; the Vice President of Sierra Leone, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh; and the Prime Minister of Mali, Boubou Cisse. They also lead Major international institutions, such as the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed; President-Elect of the United Nations General Assembly, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande; and the Secretary-General of OPEC, Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo.

Fulani herders in the arid region of Gao, Northern Mali


A Bodaado (singular of Wadaabe) Fula man

There are many names (and spellings of the names) used in other languages to refer to the Ful?e. Fulani in English is borrowed from the Hausa term.[34]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 Ful?e, which is a plural noun (singular, Pullo) has been Anglicised as Fulbe,[35] which is gaining popularity in use. In Portuguese, the terms Fula or Futafula are used. The terms Fallata, Fallatah, or Fellata are of Kanuri origins, and are often the ethnonyms by which Fulani people are identified by in parts of Chad and in Sudan.

Geographic distribution

A distribution map of Fula people. Dark green: a major ethnic group; Medium: significant; Light: minor.[23][36]

The Fula people are widely distributed, across the Sahel from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea, particularly in West Africa. The countries where they are present include Mauritania, Ghana, Senegal, Guinea, the Gambia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Niger, Chad, Togo, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Liberia, and as far east as the Red Sea in Sudan and Egypt. With the exception of Guinea,[37] where the Fula make up the largest ethnic group, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, and Fulas are either a significant or a minority ethnic group in nearly all other countries they live in. Alongside, many also speak other languages of the countries they inhabit, making many Fulani bilingual or even trilingual in nature. Such languages include French, Hausa, Bambara, Wolof, and Arabic.


Fulani woman with traditional hairstyle and jewellery

This is the area known as the Fombina, literally meaning "The South" in Adamawa Fulfulde, because it represented the most southern and eastern reaches of Ful?e 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,[38] 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 2 million people referred to as the Fellata.[39][40][41]

Fulani woman hawking milk and yoghurt

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 an estimated 20-25 million Fulani people.[2]

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 Ful?e families who happen to settle down temporarily at particular times of the year or Ful?e 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".[]

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 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, Gombe, Yola, Digil, Jalingo, Mayo Belwa, Mubi, Maroua, Ngaoundere, Girei, and Garoua in the countries of Cameroon and Nigeria. In most of these communities, the Fulani are usually perceived as a ruling class.

Main Fulani Sub-Groups, National and Subnational Locations, Cluster group and dialectal variety
Fulbe Adamawa  Nigeria: Adamawa State, Taraba State, Borno State,  Cameroon: Adamaoua Region, Northern Region, Far North Region, Centre Region,  Chad: Mayo-Kebbi Est, Mayo-Kebbi Ouest Region, Logone Oriental, Logone Occidental Etc.,  Central African Republic: Nana-Mambéré, Ouham-Pendé, Mambéré-Kadéï,  Sudan Eastern Fulfulde

Adamawa (Fombinaare)

Fulbe Mbororo  Nigeria: All across the northern, central and some southern states of the country as transient herders,  Cameroon: All over the country in 9 of the country's 10 regions/provinces as transient herders,  Chad: All across southern and central Chad as herders,  Central African Republic: Ubiquitous across the countryside,  Sudan,  Niger: All across the country south of the Sahara as herders and nomads. Note that the Wo?aa?e are themselves an even smaller subgroup of the Mbororo'en. Thus: All Wo?aa?e are Bororos, but not every Bororo is a Bo?aa?o (Wo?aa?e person) Eastern Fulfulde

Sokoto (Woylaare) & Adamawa (Fombinaare)

Fulbe Bagirmi  Central African Republic,  Chad: Chari Bagirmi Region, Mandoul Region, Moyen Chari, E.tc Eastern Fulfulde

Adamawa (Fombinaare)

Fulbe Sokoto  Nigeria: Sokoto State, Kebbi State, Katsina State, Kano State, Zamfara State, Jigawa State, Niger State Etc.  Niger: Tahoua Region, Maradi Region, Dosso Region, Zinder Region Eastern Fulfulde

Sokoto (Woylaare)

Fulbe Gombe  Nigeria: Gombe State, Bauchi State, Yobe State, Borno State, Plateau State Eastern Fulfulde Woylaare-Fombinaare Transitional
Fulbe Borgu  Nigeria: Niger State, Kebbi State, Kwara State (As herders),  Benin: Borgou Department, Atakora Department, Alibori Department, Donga Department,  Togo: Savanes Region, Kara Region, Centrale Region Central Fulfulde Borgu & Jelgoore
Fulbe Jelgooji  Mali  Niger: Tillabéri Region, Dosso Region  Burkina Faso: Sahel Region, Est Region, Centre-Nord Region, All across the country, most especially in the countryside Central Fulfulde

Jelgoore & (Massinakoore)

Fulbe Massina  Mali: Mopti Region, Gao Region, Segou Region, All over the country  Ivory Coast: Mostly concentrated in the Northern regions  Ghana: in the Northern and Central Regions Central Fulfulde


Fulbe Nioro  Mali: Kayes Region, Koulikoro Region,  Senegal: Tambacounda Region,  Mauritania: Assaba Region Western Pulaar - Fulfulde

Fuua Tooro -Massinakoore Transitional

Fulbe Futa Jallon  Guinea: Labé Region, Mamou Region, Boké Region, Kindia Region, Faranah Region, Conakry, All across the country as traders and merchants,  Guinea Bissau: Gabu Region, Tombali Region, Bafatá Region,  Sierra Leone: North-West, Northern Province, Western Area, All across the country's major urban centres as a trading population,  Mali: Extreme Southwest of country in the Kéniéba Cercle Western Pular Fuuta Jallon
Fulbe Futa Tooro  Senegal: Matam Region, Saint-Louis Region, Louga Region, Tambacounda Region, Kaffrine Region, All over the country,  Mauritania: Trarza Region, Gorgol Region, Guidimaka Region, Brakna Region, Nouakchott Western Pulaar

Fuuta Tooro

Fulbe Fuladu  Senegal: Kolda Region, Sédhiou Region, South of Tambacounda Region,  Guinea Bissau: Gabu Region, Bafatá Region, Oio Region,  Gambia All across the country Western Pulaar - Pular

Fuuta Tooro - Fuuta Jallon Transitional

Typically, Ful?e belonging to the same affinity bloc tend to cluster together in culture, customs, and dialectal variety. Eastern Ful?e sub-groups tend to be more similar to each other than to other sub-groups, and the same applies to most Western groups. Culturally speaking, the Central Ful?e sub-groups are roughly in between the Western and Eastern Fulani cultural niches.

For example, the Massina Ful?e share similarities both dialectally and culturally to Nigeria/Cameroonian (Eastern) (Both of which end interrogative questions with "na?"), as well as Senegalese/Guinean (Western) Ful?e cultures (who do not end interrogative questions in 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.


Fulani woman from Niger and man in Nigeria.

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 other cultures. Skutsch notes that their oral histories point toward a start in Jordan or farther east, but also that their language comes from the Senegambian region. He concludes that the modern Fulani people began in the northern Senegambian region[2][42]

Walter Rodney in his book The History of the Upper Guinea Coast, argues that Fulbe are originally from North Africa and they conquered the Foota Djallon region led by the Fulani Koli Tenguella.

The ethnogenesis of the Fulani people may have begun as a result of interactions between an ancient West African population and North African populations such as Berbers or Egyptians.[31][42] Their West African roots may be in and around the valley of Senegal River.[29] They likely reflect a genetic intermix of people with West African, North African, and Arabian origins, and have been a part of many ruling dynasties particularly in the Sahel and West Africa.[23][43] Speculations about their origins started in the era of European conquest and colonization.

Timeline of Fulani history



the Fulani may have been involved in the formation of a state with its capital at Takrur which is suggested to have had influx of Fulani migrating from the east and settling in the Senegal valley.[46][47] although John Donnelly Fage suggests that Takrur was formed through the interaction of Berbers from the Sahara and "Negro agricultural peoples" who were "essentially Serer".[48]

Fulani culture continued to emerge in the area of the upper Niger and Senegal Rivers. 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. wth eastward and westward expansion being led by nomadic groups of cattle breeders or the Ful?e 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 Ful?e 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, and Macina, towards the east, between the eleventh and the fourteenth centuries. By the 15th century, there was a steady flow of Ful?e immigrants into Hausaland and, later on, Bornu. Their presence in Baghirmi was later recorded when Fulani fought as allies, to Dokkenge or Birni Besif, when he founded Massenya (a Chadian town), early in the 16th century.


Settlement and Islam

Fula people, with Arabic and North African roots, adopted Islam early. 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.[50] Settled and nomadic Fulani became political and warring entities, armed with horses and equipment of war from the north.[51] The wars were not merely between Fula people and other ethnic groups, but also internecine between the pastoral and sedentary Fulani, where sometimes they worked in cohesion, and other times the Muslim Fulani leaders attacked the nomadic Fulani as infidels.[51]

The Songhai Empire rulers had converted to Sunni Islam in the 11th-century and were a major trading partner of the Middle East and North Africa.[52] The Fulani warriors, in the 15th century, challenged this West African trading state near the Niger River, but were repulsed. In 1493, Askia Muhammad led the Fulani people from western Sudan, and over time gained control of much that was previously Songhai empire, removing Sonni Baru who had attempted to protect the interests of pastoralists.[52] Askia Muhammad won a control over the caravan trade routes in West Africa, but was overthrown by his own son, Askia Musa, in a coup in 1528.[52]

The Fulani, after being the first group of people in West Africa to convert to Islam, became active in supporting Islamic theology and ideology from centres such as Timbuktu. The Fula people who later became known as the Toroobe worked with Berber and Arabian Islamic clerics, charting out the spread of Islam in West Africa. The Fula people led many jihads, or holy wars, some of which were major.[53] These war efforts helped spread Islam in West Africa, as well helped them dominate much of the Sahel region of West Africa during the medieval and pre-colonial era history, establishing them not only as a religious group but also as a political and economic force.[54][55]

Rise to dominance in West Africa

Futa Toro was established in the 1500s, by Denianke dynasty built out of Fulani and Mandinka forces; the importance of Fula people to this rule led to this era known as Empire of Great Fulo.[51][56] The Fulani raided and violently disrupted the trade routes that accounted for the economic prosperity of older African kingdoms, and thus began their rise. Futa Bundu, sometimes called Bondu and located in Senegal and Faleme rivers confluence, became a centre for the rise of West Africa-wide Fula empire and influence in 17th century. From the 18th century onwards, the frequency of Jihads increased such as those led by Ibrahim Sori and Karamoko Ali in 1725, the Fulani became a hegemonic force and were politically dominant in many areas.[51] The region was engulfed in theocratic wars, with many Islamic lineages seeking political power and control. The Moroccans invaded the western Sahel adding to an anarchical situation. Food production plummeted, and during this periods famine plagued the region, negatively affecting the political situation and increasing the trigger for militant control of the economic activity.[57]

Over time, the Ful?e empire split among the later descendants and developed into many emirates. The main nuclei of Ful?e power were the polities in the Senegal River Valley, the Fuuta Jallon mountains, in Guinea, the Inland Delta of the Niger in Mali (Maasina), the north of Nigeria and the Adamawa Plateau in Cameroon. In between these big centres there were numerous small polities dominated by the Ful?e in the central Gourma of present-day Mali and the north and west of Burkina Faso (Jelgoji, Boboola, Dori, Liptako), northern Benin (Borgu), the Sene-Gambia, northern Senegal (Bundu), and the southern and western parts of present-day Niger (Dallol Bosso, Birni N'konni).

Imamate of Futa Jallon

The Emirate / Imamate of Timbo in the Fuuta Jallon was the first of the Ful?e emirates in West Africa. It developed from a revolt by Islamic Ful?e against their oppression by the pagan Pulli (non-Islamic Ful?e), 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. 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.

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, ?uuriya, Koyin, Kollaa?e, Keebaali, Labe, Fode-Hajji, and Timbi. After the Muslim Ful?e 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 Ful?e lost all freedom of movement, and thus, began to settle en-masse. The Jalonke lost their noble status and became slaves (maccu?e).

Later, due to strife between two branches of the Seediayanke royal lineage, (the Soriya and the Alphaya),[58] 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.

The Empire of Massina

Fula people have helped formed several historic Islamic theocracies and led many Jihad states such as the 19th-century Masina.[54][55]




The Futanke / Toucouleur Empire



The noblemen consisted of the ruling class of political overlords and Islamic clerics, as well as the pastoral Fulbe populations, who helped them come to power. Together, they formed a group of vassals to the political elite and were considered noblemen, although, in reality, their political influence was minimal. The conquered populations were reduced to servitude or slavery and more slaves were captured to provide enough labour for the functioning of the economy. Also, there were groups of bards, courtiers and artisans who occupied lower political and social positions.

The Sokoto Caliphate and its various emirates



There appears to be considerable resistance to the forced acceptance of Islam by these emirates. For example, many nomadic Fulbe, predominantly Wodaabe fled northern Nigeria when their liberty was curtailed and they were forced to convert to Islam following the jihads instigated by Usman Dan Fodio from Sokoto. 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.


Fulbe woman at the Sangha market, Mali 1992
Fulbe woman at the Sangha market, Mali 1992

The Fulani and Hausa people have taken some influences from each other's cultures. Upon the success recorded in the 1804 Fulani War of Usman dan Fodio, many of Ful?e subsequently joined the ruling classes of the Northern Nigerian Emirate. They dress and speak like their Hausa neighbours and live in the same form (see Hausa-Fulani). The Ful?e who didn't settle during this period and their descendants, however, still keep an obvious distinct identity from that of the Hausa and other surrounding groups of the region. This Hausa-Fulani interaction is uncommon outside the eastern subregion of West Africa.[]


In Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal for instance, those within the ful?e cultural sphere, but who are not ethnically Fula, are referred to as yim?e pulaaku, i.e. (people of the Fula culture). As such, Fulani culture includes people who may or may not be ethnic Fulani.[60] Although slavery is now illegal, memories of the past relationship between Ful?be and Rimay?e are still very much alive in both groups. Paul Riesman, an American ethnographer who resided among the Jelgooji Ful?be of Burkina Faso in the 1980s, states that the Ful?e are tall, slim, and light-skinned; they have thin straight noses, and their hair tends to be long and curly. In contrast, the Rimay?e are stocky, tending towards corpulence, dark-skinned with flat 'squashed' noses, and short kinky hair.[61][62][63]

Slavery and caste system

Fula society features the caste divisions typical of the West African region.[64][65] The fairly rigid caste system of the Fula people has medieval roots,[64] was well established by the 15th-century, and it has survived into modern age.[23] The four major castes, states Martin Kich, in their order of status are "nobility, traders, tradesmen (such as blacksmith) and descendants of slaves".[23] According to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Fulani people have held on to "a strict caste system".[66]

There are the Fulani proper, also referred to as the Ful?e, including the Pullo (also called the Rim?e (singular)) and the Dimo, meaning "noble". There is the artisan caste,[65] including blacksmiths, potters, griots,[67] genealogists, woodworkers, and dressmakers. They belong to castes but are free people. Then there are those castes of captive, slave or serf ancestry: the Maccu?o, Rimmay?e, Dimaajo, and less often ?alee?e, the Fulani equivalent of the Tuareg Ikelan known as Bouzou (Buzu)/Bella in the Hausa and Songhay languages respectively.[68][69][70] The Fulani rulers and merchants were, like many other ruling ethnic groups of Africa, also involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, sourcing the enslaved people through raids and from captives they took by waging war.[28][51][71] Many Fulani were enslaved and raided by ethnic groups who adhere to Traditional African religions.[72]

The Fulani castes are endogamous in nature, meaning individuals marry only within their caste. This caste system, however, wasn't as elaborate in places like northern Nigeria, Eastern Niger or Cameroon. According to some estimates, by the late 19th century, slaves constituted about 50% of the population of the Ful?e-ruled Adamawa Emirate, where they were referred to as jeya?e (singular jeyado). Though very high, these figures are representative of many other emirates of the Sokoto Caliphate, of which Adamawa formed a part.[73] The castes-based social stratification among the Fula people was widespread and seen across the Sahel, such as Burkina Faso,[74] Niger,[75] Senegal,[76] Guinea,[65] Mali,[75][77] Nigeria,[43] Sudan,[78] and others.[79]


Traditional livelihood

The Fulani are traditionally a nomadic, pastoralist trading people. They herd cattle, goats and sheep across the vast dry hinterlands of their domain, keeping somewhat separate from the local agricultural populations. They are the largest nomadic ethnic group in the world and inhabit several territories over an area larger in size than the continental United States.

The Fulani follow a code of behaviour known as pulaaku, which consists of the qualities of patience, self-control, discipline, prudence, modesty, respect for others (including foes), wisdom, forethought, personal responsibility, hospitality, courage, and hard work. Among the nomadic Fulani, women in their spare time make handicrafts including engraved gourds, weavings, knitting, beautifully made covers for calabashes known as mbeedu, and baskets. The Fulani men are less involved in the production of crafts such as pottery, iron-working, and dyeing, unlike males from neighbouring ethnic groups around them.

In virtually every area of West Africa, where the nomadic Ful?e reside, there has been an increasing trend of conflicts between farmers (sedentary) and grazier (pastoral nomadic). There have been numerous such cases on the Jos Plateau, the Western High Plateau, the Central/Middle Belt regions of Nigeria,[80] Northern Burkina Faso, and Southern Chad. The rearing of cattle is a principal activity in four of Cameroon's ten administrative regions as well as three other provinces with herding on a lesser scale, throughout the North and Central regions of Nigeria, as well as the entire Sahel and Sudan region.[81]

Several Wodaabe clans in Niger have gathered for a Gerewol festival

For decades there have been intermittent skirmishes between the Wo?aa?e Bororo (graziers) and sedentary farmers such as the Jukun, Tiv, Chamba, Bamileke,Wurkum,Bachama,Jenjo,Mbula,Berom,Mumuye,Kare Kare, and sometimes even the Hausa. Such conflicts usually begin when cattle have strayed into farmlands and destroyed crops. Thousands of Fulani have been forced to migrate from their traditional homelands in the Sahel, to areas further south, because of increasing encroachment of Saharan desertification. Nigeria alone loses 2,168 square kilometres (837 sq mi) of cattle rangeland and cropland every year to desertification, posing serious threats to the livelihoods of about 20 million people.[81]


Fulani in Nigeria have often requested for the development of exclusive grazing reserves, to curb conflicts.[82] All the leading presidential aspirants of previous elections seeking Ful?e votes have made several of such failed promises in their campaigns. Discussions among government officials, traditional rulers, and Fulani leaders on the welfare of the pastoralists have always centred on requests and pledges for protecting grazing spaces and cattle passages. The growing pressure from Ardo'en (the Fulani community leaders) for the salvation of what is left of the customary grazing land has caused some state governments with large populations of herders (such as Gombe, Bauchi, Adamawa, Taraba, Plateau, and Kaduna) to include in their development plans the reactivation and preservation of grazing reserves. Quick to grasp the desperation of cattle-keepers for land, the administrators have instituted a Grazing Reserve Committee to find a lasting solution to the rapid depletion of grazing land resources in Nigeria.[83]




An alphabet system called ADLaM (an acronym that translates to 'the alphabet that will prevent a people from being lost') was created in 1989 to express the sounds of the Pulaar language properly and provide a reading and writing system for the speakers of the language. Previously, the Fulbhe people never developed a script for their language, instead using Arabic and sometimes Latin characters to write in their native tongue. In recent times, ADLaM has been learnt by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide; is been taught in learning centers in Africa, Europe and the U.S; and has apps and computer programs created to assist in adoption of the language.[85]

Moral code

Central to the Fulani people's lifestyle is a code of behavior known as pulaaku or laawol Ful?e in Fulfulde, literally meaning the "Fulani pathways" which are passed on by each generation as high moral values of the Fulbe, which enable them to maintain their identity across boundaries and changes of lifestyle. Essentially viewed as what makes a person Fulani, or "Fulaniness", pulaaku includes:

  • Munyal: Patience, self-control, discipline, prudence
  • Hakkille: Wisdom, forethought, personal responsibility, hospitality
  • Sagata / Tiinaade: Courage, hard work


The traditional hat (Tengaade) of the Fulani people worn in diverse slightly different variations among every Fula subgroup


Antique Fulani Blanket, Mali, estimated to be from the 1920s courtesy the WOVENSOULS collection

It is not uncommon to see the women decorate their hair with bead hair accessories as well as cowrie shells. Fula women often use henna for hand, arm and feet decorations. Their long hair is put into five long braids that either hang or are sometimes looped on the sides. It is common for women and girls to have silver coins and amber attached to their braids. Some of these coins are very old and have been passed down in the family. The women often wear many bracelets on their wrists. The women can also be seen wearing a colorful cloth (modjaare) around, the waist, head or over one shoulder.[86]







An N'Dama herd in West Africa





Fulani herders in Mali



The crossing is more than a search for pastures; it is also a competition to show craftsmanship as a herdsmen. The cattle are driven into the river, and each herder, with no help from others, loudly encourages the animals to move forward as he stands or swims between them, holding on to the horns of the bulls. The smaller animals don't have to swim, but are lifted into pirogues. When all the cattle are back, they are judged by a panel, which decides whose animals are the "fattest". That herder is awarded "best caretaker", and he is awarded by the community.[89][90][91] The worst caretaker ends up with a shameful "prize" - a peanut.



Fulani dancers in their full traditional regalia.









Fulani "grass house" in Mali



Genomic studies

The paternal lineages of the Fula/Ful?e/Fulani tend to vary depending on geographic location. According to a study by Cruciani et al. (2002), around 90% of Fulani individuals from Burkina Faso carried haplotype 24, which corresponds with the E-M2 that is common in West Africa. The remainder belonged to haplotype 42/haplogroup E-M132. Both of these clades are today most frequent among Niger-Congo-speaking populations, particularly those inhabiting Senegal. Similarly, 53% of the Fulani in northern Cameroon bore haplogroup E-M132, with the rest mainly carrying other African clades (12% haplogroup A and 6% haplogroup E1b1a). A minority carried the West Eurasian haplogroups T (18%) and R1 (12%).[93] Mulcare et al. (2004) observed a similar frequency of haplogroup R1 subclades in their Fulani samples from Cameroon (18%).[94]

A study by Hassan et al. (2008) on the Fulani in Sudan observed a significantly higher occurrence of the West Eurasian haplogroup R1 (53.8%). The remainder belonged to various Afro-Asiatic associated haplogroup E-M215 subclades, including 34.62% E-M78 and 27.2% E-V22.[95]


MtDNA (maternal)



Autosomal DNA (overall)


Notable Fulanis

See also


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General references

  • Almanach de Bruxelles (now a paying site)

Further reading

External links




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