1. Westermann, Diedrich and Bryan, M. A., Handbook of African Languages, II, Languages of West Africa (London, 1970), 18–20Google Scholar, classifies Fulani language (Fulfulde) as one of the West Atlantic Languages. See also Migeod, F. W. H., The Languages of West Africa (London, 2 vols.: 1911–1913), 1: 22–23Google Scholar; Greenberg, Joseph, “Studies in African Linguistic Classification: The Classification of Fulani,” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, (1949), 190-98.Google Scholar The names are listed in Westermann, /Bryan, , Handbook, 18.Google Scholar

2. Ibid., 19.

3. This figure was given by Jubril Aminu, Nigeria's Federal Minister of Education, while launching the year's nomadic education program in September of 1989.

4. For more details see Willis, John Ralph, “The Torodbe Clerisy: A Social View,” JAH, 19 (1978), 192–212CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Brenner, Louis and Last, Murray, “The Role of Language in West African Islam,” Africa, 55 (1985), 432-46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5. For a brief description of these jihad movements see Last, Murray, “Reform in West Africa: the Jihad Movements of the 19th Century” in Ade Ajayi, J. F. and Crowder, Michael, eds., History ofWest Africa, II (London, 1974), 1–29.Google Scholar

6. The Sokoto Caliphate has been studied by many, See, e.g., Last, Murray, The Sokoto Caliphate (London, 1967)Google Scholar; Adeleye, R. A., Power and Diplomacy in Northern Nigeria (Ibadan, 1971)Google Scholar; Usman, Y. B., ed., Studies in the History of the Sokoto Caliphate (New York, 1979)Google Scholar; Johnston, H.A.S., The Fulani Empire of Sokoto (London, 1967).Google Scholar

7. The basic document on Native Administration in Nigeria is Lugard, F. D., The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (Edinburgh, 1922).Google Scholar Studies of the administrative system as it applied in Northern Nigeria include Abubakar, Saad, “The Northern Provinces under Colonial Rule, 1900-1959” in Dcime, O., ed., Groundwork of Nigerian History (Ibadan, 1980), 447-81.Google Scholar For Indirect Rule in Western and Eastern Nigeria, see Asiwaju's, A. I. and Afigbo's, A. E. articles in Dcime, Groundwork, 440–446.Google Scholar Also see O. Dcime and Segun Osoba, eds., Indirect Rule in British Africa (special issue of Tarikh, 3/3 [1970]).

8. Hopen, C. E., The Pastoral Fulbe Family in Gwandu (London, 1958), 1.Google Scholar I should note here that the Fulani pastoralists are increasingly coming under Islamic influence. Thus it would not be entirely correct to describe all of them as animists. Nevertheless, the Muslims among them have not been noted for their peity. The study by Joseph Hickley and others has shown that most of the herdsmen lack a deep understanding of the Islamic tenets and that they perform the pilgrimage for both religious and extrareligious reasons. See Hickley, Joseph V., Staats, Gregory R., and McGaw, Douglas B., “Factors Associated with the Mecca Pilgrimage Among the Bokkos Fulani,” Journal of Asian and African Studies, 14 (1979), 217-29CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hickley, Joseph V. and Thompson, William E., “Politics and the Emergence of Alhajis among the Bokkos Fulani,” Journal of Asian and African Studies, 16 (1981), 212-22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9. Hopen, , Pastoral Fulbe Family, 24.Google Scholar This cattle complex has been noted among pastoralist groups in other parts of Africa. According to J. W. Burton, the myths of origin of the peoples and of cattle are often connected, and the belief is very strong among pastoralists that cattle was given to man by god. This ‘god-gave-cows-to-man’ mentality is noted among the Nuer, Dinka, and Atuot of northeastern Africa. See Burton, J. W., “The Wave is My Mother's Husband: A Piscatorial Theme in Pastoral Nilotic Ethnology,” Journal of Asian and African Studies, 14 (1979), 204-16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10. The main written document—an Arabic source—on the origin of the Fulani and their immigration into Hausaland and Bomo is Mohammed Bello's Infaku'l Maisuri. This has been translated and paraphrased by Amett, F. J. in his The Rise of the Sokoto Fulani (Kano, 1922).Google Scholar

Studies on the origin of the Fulani under review here are: Hopen, Pastoral Fulbe Family, Awogbade, M. O., Fulani Pastoralism (Zaria, 1983)Google Scholar; Koslov, C., “The Myth of the Origin of the Fulani,” Sovetskaya Etnografiia, (Jan/Feb. 1967)Google Scholar; Berzina, C., “Material on the Ethnohistory of Fulbe,” Sovetskaya Etnografiia (June/August 1971), 43–52Google Scholar; Jeffries, M., “Speculative Origins of the Fulani Lanauge” Africa, 17 (1947), 47–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Stenning, D. J., Savanna Nomads (London, 1964)Google Scholar; Croix, W. F., The Fulani of Northern Nigeria (Lagos, 1946).Google Scholar Anthropological notes compiled by colonial officials in northern Nigeria in the first three decades of the twentieth century also contain useful references on the origin of the Fulani. The few that were published included Boyle, C. V., “Historical Notes on the Yola Fulanis,” Journal of the African Society, 10 (1910/1911), 73–92Google Scholar; Brackenbury, E. A., “Notes on the ‘Bororo Fulbe’ or Nomad ‘Cattle Fulani’,” Parts I & II, Journal of the African Society, XXII (1923-1924), 208-217, 271–277Google Scholar; Reed, L. N., “Notes on Some Fulani Tribes and Customs,” Africa, 5 (1932), 422-54CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Wilson-Haffenden, J., “Ethnological Notes on the Shuwalbe Group of the Bororo Fulani,” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 57 (1927), 275-93.Google Scholar There are also studies conducted on the Fulani by French scholars. Among these are Dupire, Marguerite, Peuls nomades: études descriptive de WoDaaBe du Sahel nigérien (Paris, 1962)Google Scholar; idem, L'organisation sociale des Peuls: étude d'ethnographie comparée (Paris, 1970); Diara, M.S., “Les problèmes de contact entre les pasteurs Peul et les agriculteurs dans le Niger Central” in Monod, Theodore, éd., Pastoralism in Tropical Africa (London, 1975), 284-97Google Scholar; Boutrais, Jean, “Les savanes humides, dernier refuge pastoral: l'exemple de WoDaaBe, Mbororo de Centrafrique,” Genève-Afrique, 28 (1990), 65–90.Google Scholar

11. Biodun Adediran, personal discussion, January 1990.

12. Awogbade, M.O., Fulani Pastoralism, 1.Google Scholar

13. Among other groups in Nigeria who claim an eastern origin are the Yoruba and Hausa.

14. For a critical evaluation of these traditions see Sutton, J. E. G., ‘Towards a Less Orthodox History of Hausaland,” JAH, 20 (1979), 179–201CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Duffill, M. B., “Hausa Poems as Sources for Social and Economic History,” HA, 13 (1986), 35–88.Google Scholar

15. F. J. Amett, Sokoto Fulani.

16. Ibid.

17. Hopen, C. E., Pastoral Fulbe Family, 6–7Google Scholar, states that “[t]oday it is very rarely that one meets Fulbe na'i in Western Sokoto Province who have knowledge of any myth of origin. A few among them know one or more details or variations of the above myth; some of them for example may know only Ukuba's name and perhaps that he was an Arab, others may not know his name, but they ‘heard' he came from the East (or that he was an Arab)’”

18. It is tempting to suggest, as has been suggested by Amett and D. F. Heath, ADO of Gashaka in Adamawa Province (NAK, SNP, 17/8, K. 2055, v. 1), that the place between two rivers was the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates. There are, however, countless places between two rivers, one of which could be the valley between the Senegal and Niger rivers. Other traditions tend to suggest the Futa valley as the place of origin of the Fulani.

19. Yet another account says Ukuba had four sons; the firstborn, Muusa, was the primogenitor of the Toroodbe. See Hopen, , Pastoral Fulbe Family, 7.Google Scholar

20. Amett, Sokoto Fulani, contains the story of the migration of the race in west Africa. See as well NAK, SNP. 17/8, K. 2055 v. 1 and 2 for more details on the traditions.

21. This has come up as one of the main points to which most writers on the adoption of oral tradition as a veritable source of history have agreed. See Vansina, Jan, “Is Elegance Proof? Structuralism and African History,” HA, 10 (1983), 307-48Google Scholar; Spear, Thomas, “Oral Traditions: Whose History?” HA, 8 (1981), 165-81Google Scholar; Newitt, M. D. D., “The Early History of the Maravi,” JAH, 23 (1982), 145-62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

22. There are many culture heroes in the traditions of origin of many African societies. Among the Yoruba, Oduduwa is held with such reverence as the father of the people. Our view of Ukuba here corresponds to Sutton's view of Bayajida, the mythical founder of the Hausa states. According to Sutton, Bayajida has been used in the tradition of origin of the Hausa states in a fashion akin to political machination. However, ‘Bayayida may be mythical, but certainly not nonsensical.’ See Sutton, “Towards.”

23. Pouwels, Randall L., “Oral Historiography and the Shirazi of the East African Coast,” HA, 11 (1984), 237-67.Google ScholarSpear, Thomas, “The Shirazi in Swahili Traditions, Culture and History,” HA, 11 (1984), 291–305.Google Scholar

24. Ibid., 292.

25. Tunde Oduleye, “Blood Groups and their Historical Significance,” Department of History, O.A.U., Seminar Series, March, 1985.

26. Greenberg, “Studies.”

27. Indeed, many users of oral tradition in the reconstruction of the history of preliterate communities have come to conclusions similar to this. Donald Wright, for example, has found that after some time traditions of origin which are widely accepted become fact, whereas they might not have originally begun as fact or truth. See his “Beyond Migration and Conquest: Oral Traditions and Madinka Ethnicity in Senegambia,” HA, 12 (1985), 335-48.Google Scholar Also see Spear, Thomas, “Oral Traditions: Whose History,” HA, 8 (1981), 165-81.Google Scholar

28. Baker, Randall, “‘Development’ and the Pastoral People of Karamoja, North-East Uganda: An Example of the Treatment of Symptoms” in Monod, , Pastoralism, 187.Google Scholar

29. NAK, SNP, 17/8 K. 2055, vol. 1, 1-10.

30. For instance D. F. Heath, ADO Gashaka Division, Adamawa Province, was unable to collect any tangible information from the Bororo. He then relied on the settled Fulani in the area who claimed to know the Bororo very well. He was still unable to collect any valuable information. He then resorted to blackmail, and in the end he was told what he himself immediately recognized as lies. He stated thus: “I am now certain of only two things about the Bororo. They have extraordinary sexual habits and they are the best and most persistent liars I have ever met.” See D. F. Heath to Resident, Adamawa Province, No. 118/9 of 6 November 1927, NAK, SNP. 17/8 K. 2055, vol. 1, 96-101.

31. Resident, Sokoto Province to Secretary, Northern Provinces, No. 194/1926/29 of 9 July 1927, NAK, SNP. 17/8 K. 2055 Vol. 1, 58-67.

32. Jacob Burckhardt had warned that “[o]f all scholarly disciplines history is the most unscientific, because it possesses or can possess least of all an assured, approved method of selection… Every historian will have a special selection, a different criterion for what is worth communicating, according to his nationality, subjectivity, training and period.” See his Judgements on History and Historians (London, 1958), 158.Google Scholar Of course, the situation is not as confused as Burckhardt would have us believe, for certain rules of the game would still have to be followed in the selection and dissemination of knowledge. Afigbo, A. E., “Oral Tradition and the History of Segmentary Societies,” HA, 12 (1985), 1.Google Scholar

33. With the help of a Hausa interpreter, Danladi Yakubu, resident in Jos, Plateau State, I spoke to six Fulani herdsmen in October 1989. The information I received confirmed the main story. But the details are fading in the memory of many pastoralists. M. O. Awogbade and I. L. Bashir, in separate audiences, agreed that there is much truth in the traditions, but there are too many gaps. The Fulani herdsmen I spoke to were: Ruwa d. Ardo, Barkin Ladi, 19 October 1989; Naman d. Jango, Bar kin Ladi, 19 October 1989; Aliyu d. Umani, Kachia, 24 October 1989; Ardo d. Zumbu Haliru, Kachia, 24 October 1989; Garba d. Wakaro, Kagoro, 27 October 1989; and Sheku Chindo, Kagoro, 27 October 1989.

34. NAK, SNP. 17/8 K. 2055, vols. 1 and 2.

35. Hopen, , Pastoral Fulbe Family, 98–115Google Scholar; Stenning, Savanna Nomads.

36. NAK, SNP. 17/8 K. 2055, vol. 1, 64-65.

37. Ibid., 66. It is interesting that the myths of origin and the world views of pastoral peoples could be so similar, even where the distance separating them precludes the possibility of diffusion. For example, water and fire have been mentioned in the myths of origin of cattle among the Maasai. Burton has noted the centrality of water, the giver of life and its multiplier, a feminine symbol, in the myths of Nilotic peoples. See his “Wave,” 206-09.

38. NAK, SNP. 17/8 K. 2055 vol. 1, 63-64.

39. Ibid., 66.

40. See Schmidt-Neilsen, K., Desert Animals (Oxford, 1964).Google Scholar

41. Greenberg, “Studies.”

42. Some events and names mentioned in oral traditions have been known to be metaphorically used. Murray Last has stated this very clearly in his work on Kano Chronicle. See “Historical Metaphors in the Kano Chrinicle,” HA, 7 (1980), 161-78.Google Scholar

43. Mabogunje, , “The Land and Peoples of West Africa” in Ajayi, /Crowder, , History, 3.Google Scholar See also the accounts of Arab travellers like Ibn Battuta, and al-Idrisi.

44. Murdock, G. P., Africa, Its Peoples and Their Culture (New York, 1959), 415-16.Google Scholar

45. Horton, Robin, “Stateless Societies in the History of West Africa,” Ajayi, /Crowder, , History, 98.Google Scholar

46. Vansina, “Is Elegance Proof?”

47. Nicholson, S. E., “The Methodology of Historical Climate Reconstruction and Its Application to Africa,” JAH, 20 (1979), 31–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See as well her “Climatic Variation in the Sahel and Other African Regions During the Past 5 Centuries,” Journal of Arid Environments, (1978), 3–24.Google Scholar

48. Late Quaternary refers to the past one million years or so.

49. Mabogunje, , “Land and Peoples,” 3.Google Scholar