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The Hausa and Fulani of Northern Nigeria
| Article
# : |
15974 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1989 |
5,005 Words |
| Author
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Robert W. Nicholls
Robert W. Nicholls is a media specialist with the Howard
University Research and Training Center in Washington, D.C. |
When discussion turns, as it occasionally does, to consideration of a lingua franca for Africa, Hausa and Swahili are the top contenders. Swahili is the most widely diffused African language, but because the population density is lower in East than in West Africa, it takes second place to Hausa, numerically. As a language of commerce and interethnic communication, Hausa has outgrown its ethnic base. In Nigeria it is spoken by about forty million people, or close to 45 percent of the population, but it is the mother tongue for only about half this number. The Hausa language is classified--like Tavinagh, the Tuareg language, and Amharic--as neo-Semitic or Afro-Asiatic. Some northern states, such as Borno, Gongola, and Plateau, have only a tiny Hausa population, yet Hausa is increasingly used for communication between disparate ethnic groups. Hausa's importance as a major African vernacular is underscored by the number of Hausa-language programs broadcast from non-African radio stations, including the BBC of London, Voice of America, West Germany, the Soviet Union, and China.
The Hausa and Fulani are often taken to be a single group. This perception is due in part to reciprocity between Hausa farmers and Fulani pastoralists, and in part to the fact that the Hausa have accepted the rule of Fulani emirs (kings) since the Fulani jihads of the early nineteenth century. Hausa depend on Fulani herdsmen for dairy products and most of their meat. Seasonal visits by Fulani cattle herds to Hausa farmland are encouraged so manuring can take place. In turn, Fulani obtain supplies of grain, salt, cloth, and other goods and services. Through these exchanges, the lives of the Hausa and Fulani have become interwined.
The Hausa are of mixed origins
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