Fouta Djallon
Fouta Djallon is a highland region in the centre of Guinea, West Africa. The indigenous name is Fuuta-Jaloo (sometimes spelled Fuuta Jalon; Fouta Djallon is a French spelling; in English it is sometimes also written Futa Jalon). The origin of the name is from the Fula word for the region and the name of the original inhabitants, the Jalonke or Djallonké.
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[edit] Geography
Fouta Djallonke consists mainly of rolling grasslands, at an average elevation of about 900m (3,000 ft). The highest point, Mount Loura, rises to 1,515m (4,970 ft). The plateau consists of thick sandstone formations which overlie granitic basement rock. Erosion by rain and rivers has carved deep jungle canyons and valleys into the sandstone.The word Djallonke originated from the people who originally occupied highlands of Guinea commonly known as SUSU.Djallonke and SUSU are interchangeable.
It receives a great deal of rainfall, and the headwaters of three major rivers, the Niger River, the Gambia River and the Senegal River, have their sources on it. It is thus sometimes called the watertower (chateau d'eau in French literature) of West Africa. Some authors also refer to Fouta Jallonke as the Switzerland of West Africa.[citation needed]
[edit] Population
The population consists predominantly of Fula or Fulani people (who call themselves Fule [sing. Pullo] and are known in French as Peul). In Fuuta-Jaloo their language is called Pular, which is a dialect of Fula like Pulaar in Senegambia and Fulfulde further east in West Africa, but with some particular characteristics.
[edit] History
Since the 17th century it has been a stronghold of Islam, when in 1690 jihad against Muslim aristocrats who were selling their own subjects to European slave traders began.[1] The revolutionaries set up a federation divided into nine provinces of Futa Jallonke. When the last revolutionary leaders died in 1751, new leaders took their place and joined slave trading. Several succession crises weakened the central power located in Timbo until 1896, when the last Almamy, Bubakar Biro, was defeated by the French army in the battle of Poredaka.
The Fulɓe of Fouta Djallonke spearheaded the expansion of Islam in Guinea. Fulɓe Muslim scholars developed an indigenous literature using the Arabic alphabet. Known as Ajamiyya, this literary achievement is represented by such great poet-theologians as Tierno Muhammadu Samba Mombeya, Tierno Saadu Dalen, Tierno Aliou Boubha Ndyan, Tierno Jaawo Pellel etc.[citation needed] In its heyday, Fuuta-Jaloo was "a magnet of learning, attracting students from Kankan to the Gambia, and featuring Jakhanke clerics at Tuba as well as Fulbhe teachers. It acted as the nerve centre for trading caravans heading in every direction. The more enterprising commercial lineages, of whatever ethnic origin, established colonies in the Futanke hills and along the principal routes. It served their interests to send their sons to Futanke schools, to support the graduates who came out to teach, and in general to extend the vast pattern of influence that radiated from Futa Jalon" [2] Amadou Hampâté Bâ has called Fuuta-Jaloo "the Tibet of West Africa" in homage to the spiritual and mystic (Sufi) tradition of its clerics.
[edit] Economy
[edit] Rural
The Fulɓe in Fouta Djallonke are sedentary. Animal husbandry is important, and cattle, sheep and goats graze in open areas.
The main field crop is fonio, although rice is grown in richer soils. Most soils degrade quickly and are highly acidic with aluminum toxicity, which limits the kind of crops that can be grown without significant soil management. A traditional system of gardening, notably women's or kitchen gardens called cuntuuje (sing. suntuure) in Pular or tapades in French, involves addition of various organic inputs (kitchen scraps, harvest residues, mulching, manure). These produce a significant quantity and variety of agricultural products. The gardens are always fenced-in to protect against free-grazing animals.
The region's main cash crops are bananas and other fruits.
[edit] Urban
The largest town in the region is Labé.
[edit] Outmigration
Fouta Djallon has historically had a high degree of emigration, usually short-term, and mainly to Senegal and Sierra Leone.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Joseph Earl Harris (1965) The Kingdom of Fouta-Diallon
- Thierno Diallo (1972) Les institutions politiques du Fouta-Djallon au XIXè siècle
- Boubacar Barry Bokar Biro, le dernier grand almamy du Fouta-Djallon
- Thierno Diallo Alfa Yaya : roi du Labé (Fouta Djalon)
- David Robinson (1985) The Holy War of Umar Tal: the Western Sudan in the mid-nineteenth century
- Paul Marty L'Islam en Guinée. Fouta-Diallon
- Terry Alford Abdul-Rahman. Prince Among Slaves
- Kevin Shillington Fuuta-Jalon: Nineteenth Century
- Shaikou Baldé L'élevage au Fouta-Djallon (régions de Timbo et de Labé
- Gustav Deveneaux. Buxtonianism and Sierra Leone: The 1841 Timbo Expedition
- A. Demougeot Notes sur l'organisation politique et administrative du Labé avant et après l'occupation française
- J. Suret-Canale The Fouta-Djallon chieftaincy
- J. Suret-Canale La fin de la chefferie en Guinée
- J. Suret-Canale Essai sur la signification sociale et historique des hégémonies peules (XVII-XIXèmes siècles)
- Louis Tauxier Moeurs et Histoire des Peuls, Livre III. Les Peuls du Fouta-Djallon
- D. P. Cantrelle, M. Dupire L'endogamie des Peuls du Fouta-Djallon
- Marguerite Verdat. Le Ouali de Gomba. Essai Historique
- Christopher Harrison French Islamic policy in the Fuuta-Jalon 1909-1912
- Hanson, John H. (1996) Migration, Jihad and Muslim Authority in West Africa: the Futanke colonies in Karta Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, ISBN 0-253-33088-2
[edit] Further reading
- De Sanderval, La conquête du Fouta-Djallon (Paris, 1899)
- Dölter, Ueber die Capverden nach dem Rio Grande und Futa Dschallon (Leipzig, 1884)
- Noirot, A travers le Fouta-Djallon et le Bamboue (Paris, 1885)
- Marchat, Les rivières du sud et le Fouta-Djallon (Paris, 1906)
