A brief history of the Fuuta-Jallon Fulåe You may hear a lot of stories about the origin of The Fulåe1: they came from Ethiopia, they came From Australia, they’re the lost tribe of Israel, and So on. There are several causes for this speculation: The French wondered about their light skin and Fine features and their language seemed unrelated to any of the surrounding languages; add to this the fact that there are credible historical sightings of the Fulåe as far east as Libya and Egypt. And the Fulåe themselves like the idea that they are somehow mysterious, different from (and perhaps superior to) their neighbors. More recent research in anthropology and linguistics lends support to the following story: The Fulåe originated north of the Senegal river, in what is now Mauritania. They traveled widely; some wandered east, where they were islamicized by Arabs or Berbers, and eventually returned west. The Fuuta Jallon was settled by the Fulåe in two waves: the first, possibly as early as the 13th century, consisted of pagan (non- Islamic) Fulåe, known as Pulli. The second began in the 16th century and consisted of Moslem Fulåe from Macina in what is now the republic of Mali. This clan of Fulåe originally shared the Fuuta Jallon with its other inhabitants, non- Muslim Fulåe and Jallonke. Sometime in the 17th century, though, they became fed up with the pagans’ drinking and dancing, and declared holy war. This jihad was long and bloody and featured a number of atrocities, if the Fulåe’s own oral history is to be believed. When the dust settled (around 1725), the Muslim Fulåe had established a federal theocracy under Islamic law, with a central ruler in Timbo (near present-day Mamou), a holy city in Fougoumba, and seven other provinces (diwe) with a certain amount of autonomy. Labe quickly became the wealthiest and most powerful of these, expanding its borders to the north and west until it encompassed an area nearly as long as the rest of the kingdom put together. From the outset this kingdom was plagued by power struggles. The descendants of the first Almaami (Imam/king) quickly split into two houses, the Alfaya and the Soriya, which fought more or less incessantly throughout the history of the kingdom. For a while a system of bicephalism was formalized, in which there were always two Almaamis, one from each house, who would trade off power every two years. In practice this didnt work out very well, as one might expect; and reigning Almaamis stood a good chance of having their heads cut off and delivered in a gourd to the Almaami- in-waiting. The French were able to establish themselves in all the surrounding areas long before they made any headway in the Fuuta. They were finally able to capitalize on internal power struggles, and on Labe’s hopes for greater autonomy. In 1896, at the battle of Pore-Daka, the French, along with the armies of Alfa Yaya, chief of Labe, defeated the last Almaami, Buubakar Biro. The colonial authorities moved quickly to consolidate their power over the area, putting puppet chiefs in place, dividing the Fuuta in order to strengthen leaders favorable to them, and little by little diluting the role of the Almaami. As Alfa Yaya watched his authority slip away, he tried to organize an uprising against the colonists; but his plot was discovered, and he was sent into exile. He died in a prison colony in Mauritania. ALLAH WALLLU PULLO!
Posted on: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 11:46:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015