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FULA (FULBE, FELLATAH or PEULS)

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 292 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FULA (FULBE, FELLATAH or PEULS)  , a numerous and powerful See also:African See also:people, spread over an immense region from See also:Senegal nearly to See also:Darfur . Strictly they have no See also:country of their own, and nowhere See also:form the whole of the See also:population, though nearly always the dominant native See also:race . They are most numerous in Upper Senegal and in the countries under See also:French sway immediately See also:south of See also:Senegambia, notably Futa Jallon . Farther See also:east they See also:rule, subject to the See also:control of the French, Segu and See also:Massena, countries on both See also:banks of the upper See also:Niger, to the south-See also:west of See also:Timbuktu . The districts within the See also:great See also:bend of the Niger have a large See also:Fula population . East of that See also:river See also:Sokoto and its tributary emirates are ruled by Fula princes, subject to the control of the See also:British Nigerian See also:administration . Fula are settledin See also:Bornu, See also:Bagirmi, See also:Wadai and the upper See also:Nile Valley,' but have no See also:political See also:power in those countries . Their most southerly emirate is See also:Adamawa, the country on both sides of the upper See also:Benue . In this vast region of See also:distribution the Fula populations are most dense towards the west and See also:north, most scattered towards the east and south . Originally herdsmen in the western and central See also:Sudan, they extended their sway east of the Niger, under the leadership of See also:Othman See also:Dan Fodio, during the See also:early years of the 19th See also:century, and having subdued the See also:Hausa states, founded the See also:empire of Sokoto with the See also:vassal emirates of See also:Kano, See also:Gando, See also:Nupe, Adamawa, &c . The question of the ethnic See also:affinities of the Fula has given rise to an enormous amount of See also:speculation, but the most reasonable theory is that they are a mixture of See also:Berber and See also:Negro . This is now the most generally accepted theory .

Certainly there is no See also:

reason to connect them with the See also:ancient Egyptians . In the See also:district of Senegal known as Fuladugu or " Fula See also:Land," where the purest types of the race are found, the people are of a reddish See also:brown or See also:light See also:chestnut See also:colour, with See also:oval faces, ringlety or even smooth See also:hair, never woolly, straight and even aquiline noses, delicately shaped lips and See also:regular features quite differentiating them from the Negro type . Like most conquering races the Fula are, however, not of See also:uniform physique, in many districts approximating to the See also:local type . They nevertheless maintain throughout their widespread territory a certain See also:national solidarity, thanks_ to See also:common speech, traditions and usages . The ruling See also:caste of the Fula differs widely in See also:character from the herdsmen of the western Sudan . The latter are peaceable, inoffensive and abstemious . They are mainly monogamous, and by rigidly abstaining from See also:foreign marriages have preserved racial purity . The ruling caste in See also:Nigeria, on the other See also:hand, despise their See also:pastoral brethren, and through generations of See also:polygamy with the conquered tribes have become more See also:Negroid in type, See also:black, burly and coarse featured . Love of lu eury, pomp and finery is their See also:chief characteristic . Taken as a vt hole, the Fula race is distinguished by great intelligence, frankness of disposition and strength of character . As soldiers they are renowned almost exclusively as See also:cavalry; and the race has produced several leaders possessed of much strategical skill . Besides the See also:ordinary Negro weapons, they use See also:iron spears with leatherbound handles and swords .

They are generally excellent rulers, stern but patient and just . The Nigerian emirs acquired, however, an evil reputation during the 19th century as slave raiders . They have See also:

long been devout Mahommedans, and mosques and See also:schools exist in almost all their towns . Tradition says that of old every Fula boy and girl was a See also:scholar; but during the decadence of their power towards the See also:close of the 19th century See also:education was not highly valued . Power seems to have somewhat spoilt this virile race, but such authorities as See also:Sir See also:Frederick See also:Lugard believe them still capable of a great future . The Fula See also:language has as yet found no See also:place in any African linguistic See also:family . In its rudiments it is akin to the Hamito-Semitic See also:group . It possesses two grammatical genders, not masculine and feminine, but the human and the non-human; the See also:adjective agrees in assonance with its noun, and euphony plays a great See also:part in verbal and nominal inflections . In some ways resembling the Negro dialects, it betrays non-Negroid influencesin the use of suffixes . The name of the people has many See also:variations . Fulbe or Fula (sing . Pullo, Peul) is the Mandingan name, Follani the Hausa, Fellatah the See also:Kanuri, Fullan the Arab, and Fulde on the Benue .

Like the name Abate, "See also:

white," given them in Kororofa, all these seem to refer to their light reddish See also:hue . See F . Ratzel, See also:History of Mankind (See also:English ed., See also:London, 1896-'1898); Sir F . Lugard, " See also:Northern Nigeria," in See also:Geographical See also:Journal (See also:July 1904); Grimal de Guirodon, See also:Les Pula (1887); E . A . Bracken-See also:bury, A See also:Short Vocabulary of the Fulani Language (Zungeru, 19o7); the articles NIGERIA and SoxoTo and authorities there cited . ' Sir Wm . See also:Wallace in a See also:report on Northern Nigeria (" Colonial See also:Office " See also:series, No . 551, 1907) calls See also:attention, to the See also:exodus " of thousands of Fulani of all sorts, but mostly Mellawa, from the French See also:Middle Niger," and states that the See also:majority of the emigrants are settling in the Nile valley .

End of Article: FULA (FULBE, FELLATAH or PEULS)
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