1.
Mali
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Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of just over 1,240,000 square kilometres, the population of Mali is 14.5 million. The countrys economy centers on agriculture and fishing, some of Malis prominent natural resources include gold, being the third largest producer of gold in the African continent, and salt. About half the population lives below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. A majority of the population are Muslims, present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade, the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire. During its golden age, there was a flourishing of mathematics, astronomy, literature, at its peak in 1300, the Mali Empire covered an area about twice the size of modern-day France and stretched to the west coast of Africa. In the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa, France seized control of Mali, French Sudan joined with Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation. Shortly thereafter, following Senegals withdrawal from the federation, the Sudanese Republic declared itself the independent Republic of Mali. After a long period of one-party rule, a coup in 1991 led to the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state. In January 2012, a conflict broke out in northern Mali, in which Tuareg rebels took control of by April and declared the secession of a new state. The conflict was complicated by a coup that took place in March. In response to Islamist territorial gains, the French military launched Opération Serval in January 2013, a month later, Malian and French forces recaptured most of the north. Presidential elections were held on 28 July 2013, with a second round held on 11 August. The name Mali is taken from the name of the Mali Empire, the name was originally derived from the Mandinka or Bambara word mali, meaning “hippopotamus”, but it eventually came to mean the place where the king lives. The word carries the connotation of strength, D. Niane suggests in Sundiata, An Epic of Old Mali that it is not impossible that Mali was the name given to one of the capitals of the emperors. 14th century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta reported that the capital of the Mali Empire was indeed called Mali and this name could have formerly been that of a city. In old Mali there is one village called Malikoma which means “New Mali. ”Another theory suggests that Mali is a Fulani pronunciation of the name of the Mande peoples. It is suggested that a sound shift led to the change, whereby in Fulani the alveolar segment /nd/ shifts to /l/, Mali was once part of three famed West African empires which controlled trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, slaves, and other precious commodities
2.
Niger
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Niger, officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. Niger is bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, and Algeria to the northwest. Niger covers a area of almost 1,270,000 km2, making it the largest country in West Africa. The countrys predominantly Islamic population of about 19 million is mostly clustered in the far south, the capital city is Niamey, located in the far-southwest corner of Niger. Niger is a country, and is consistently one of the lowest-ranked in the United Nations Human Development Index. Much of the portions of the country are threatened by periodic drought. The economy is concentrated around subsistence and some export agriculture clustered in the fertile south. Nigerien society reflects a diversity drawn from the long independent histories of its ethnic groups and regions. Historically, what is now Niger has been on the fringes of large states. Since independence, Nigeriens have lived under five constitutions and three periods of military rule, following a military coup in 2010, Niger has become a democratic, multi-party state. A majority live in areas, and have little access to advanced education. Early human settlement in Niger is evidenced by archaeological remains. In prehistoric times, the climate of the Sahara was wet and provided favorable conditions for agriculture, in 2005–06, a graveyard in the Tenere desert was discovered by Paul Sereno, a paleontologist from the University of Chicago. His team discovered 5, 000-year-old remains of a woman and two children in the Tenere Desert, the evidence along with remains of animals that do not typically live in desert are among the strongest evidence of the green Sahara in Niger. It is believed that progressive desertification around 5000 BCE pushed sedentary populations to the south and south-east. By at least the 5th century BCE, Niger became an area of trade, led by the Berber tribes from the north. This trade has made Agadez a pivotal place of the trans-Saharan trade and this mobility, which would continue in waves for several centuries, was accompanied with further migration to the south and interbreeding between southern black and northern white populations. It was also aided by the introduction of Islam to the region at the end of the 7th century, several empires and kingdoms also flourished during this era up to the beginning of colonization in Africa
3.
Burkina Faso
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Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in Africa around 274,200 square kilometres in size. It is surrounded by six countries, Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, in 2014 its population was estimated at just over 17.3 million. Burkina Faso is a country and French is an official language of government. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, the country was renamed Burkina Faso on 4 August 1984 by then-President Thomas Sankara, residents of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabé. Before the conquest of what is now Burkina Faso by the French, after gaining independence from France in 1960, the country underwent many governmental changes. Blaise Compaoré was the most recent president and ruled the country from 1987 until he was ousted from power by the popular youth upheaval of 31 October 2014 and this resulted in a semi-presidential republic which lasted from October 2014 to September 2015. On 17 September 2015 the provisional government was in turn toppled by an apparent military coup carried out by the Regiment of Presidential Security. On 24 September 2015, after pressure from the African Union, ECOWAS, and the forces, the military junta agreed to step down. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, the country was renamed Burkina Faso on 4 August 1984 by then-President Thomas Sankara, the bé suffix added onto Burkina to form the demonym Burkinabé comes from the Fula language and means men or women. The northwestern part of todays Burkina Faso was populated by hunter-gatherers between 14,000 and 5000 BC and their tools, including scrapers, chisels and arrowheads, were discovered in 1973 through archeological excavations. Agricultural settlements were established between 3600 and 2600 BC, the Bura culture was an Iron-Age civilization centered in the southwest portion of modern-day Niger and in the southeast part of contemporary Burkina Faso. Iron industry, in smelting and forging for tools and weapons, had developed in Sub-Saharan Africa by 1200 BC, historians began to debate about the exact dates when Burkina Fasos many ethnic groups arrived to the area. During the Middle Ages the Mossi established several kingdoms including those of Tenkodogo, Yatenga, Zandoma. Sometime between 1328 and 1338 Mossi warriors raided Timbuktu but the Mossi were defeated by Sonni Ali of Songhai at the Battle of Kobi in Mali in 1483, during the early 16th century the Songhai conducted many slave raids into what is today Burkina Faso. During the 18th century the Gwiriko Empire was established at Bobo Dioulasso and ethnic groups such as the Dyan, Lobi, starting in the early 1890s a series of British, French and German military officers made attempts to claim parts of what is today Burkina Faso. At times these colonialists and their armies fought the local peoples, at times they forged alliances with them, the colonialist officers and their home governments also made treaties amongst themselves. Through a complex series of events what is Burkina Faso eventually became a French protectorate in 1896, the eastern and western regions, where a standoff against the forces of the powerful ruler Samori Ture complicated the situation, came under French occupation in 1897. By 1898, the majority of the corresponding to Burkina Faso was nominally conquered, however
4.
The Kennel Club
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The Kennel Club is the official kennel club of the United Kingdom. It is the oldest recognised kennel club in the world and its role is to act as governing body for various canine activities including dog shows, dog agility and working trials. It also operates the national register of pedigree dogs in the United Kingdom and its headquarters are located on Clarges Street in Mayfair, London, with business offices in Aylesbury. The Kennel Club registration system divides dogs into seven breed groups, the Kennel Club Groups are, Hound, Working, Terrier, Gundog, Pastoral, Utility and Toy. As of 2011, the Kennel Club recognised 210 breeds of dog and this was increased to 211 breeds with the addition of the Turkish Kangal dog in 2013. The Kennel Club licenses dog shows throughout the UK but the dog show actually run by the KC is the Crufts conformation show. The show has held since 1928 and attracts competitors from all over the world. Crufts is held every March at the NEC, Birmingham, the Kennel Club also holds the dog event Discover Dogs in London every November, featuring the Scruffts dog show for crossbreed and mixed breed dogs. The Kennel club was founded in 1873 after Sewallis E Shirley became frustrated by trying to dog shows without a consistent set of rules to work with. Since the first dog show held in 1859, shows had become popular during the Victorian era. Shirley is listed as an exhibitor of Fox Terriers at the Birmingham Dog Show Society show in 1865, together with a group of other gentlemen he organised the First Grand Exhibition of Sporting and Other Dogs held at Crystal Palace in June 1870. The show was not a success and the gentlemen of the committee had to make up the loss. This seems to have been the trigger for Shirley calling a meeting with others who had deep seated interests in judging and exhibiting pedigree dogs. The Meeting was held at 2 Albert Mansions, Victoria Street, London, all business was conducted from there until a move to Pall Mall in May 1877. It was decided they would be responsible for publishing a Stud Book, the Kennel Club saw particular change under the chairmanship of John MacDougall during the period 1981 to 1996. It was also under his stewardship that the system became computerised. The Kennel Club acquired Crufts dog show after the widow of Charles Cruft was unable to devote the time to running such a large undertaking, no shows were held during the Second World War. The first Crufts show held by the Kennel Club was in 1948 at Olympia, the show was first televised by the BBC in 1950
5.
Dog
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The domestic dog is a member of genus Canis that forms part of the wolf-like canids, and is the most widely abundant carnivore. The dog and the extant gray wolf are sister taxa, with modern wolves not closely related to the wolves that were first domesticated, the dog was the first domesticated species and has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes. Their long association with humans has led dogs to be attuned to human behavior. Dogs vary widely in shape, size and colours, dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This influence on society has given them the sobriquet mans best friend. The term domestic dog is used for both domesticated and feral varieties. The English word dog comes from Middle English dogge, from Old English docga, the term may possibly derive from Proto-Germanic *dukkōn, represented in Old English finger-docce. The word also shows the familiar petname diminutive -ga also seen in frogga frog, picga pig, stagga stag, wicga beetle, worm, the term dog may ultimately derive from the earliest layer of Proto-Indo-European vocabulary. In 14th-century England, hound was the word for all domestic canines, and dog referred to a subtype of hound. It is believed this dog type was so common, it became the prototype of the category hound. By the 16th century, dog had become the general word, the word hound is ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *kwon-, dog. This semantic shift may be compared with in German, where the corresponding words Dogge, a male canine is referred to as a dog, while a female is called a bitch. The father of a litter is called the sire, and the mother is called the dam, the process of birth is whelping, from the Old English word hwelp, the modern English word whelp is an alternate term for puppy. A litter refers to the offspring at one birth which are called puppies or pups from the French poupée, doll. The term dog typically is applied both to the species as a whole, and any male member of the same. An adult female is a bitch, in some countries, especially in North America, dog is used instead due to the vulgar connotation of bitch. An adult male capable of reproduction is a stud, an adult female capable of reproduction is a brood bitch, or brood mother. Immature males or females are pups or puppies, a group of pups from the same gestation period is a litter
6.
Livestock guardian dog
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A livestock guardian dog is a type of pastoral dog bred for the purpose of protecting livestock from predators. Livestock guardian dogs stay with the group of animals they protect as a member of the flock or herd. Their ability to guard their herd is mainly instinctive, as the dog is bonded to the herd from an early age, unlike the often smaller herding dogs that control the movement of the livestock, LGDs blend in with them, watching for intruders within the flock. The mere presence of a dog is usually enough to ward off some predators, and LGDs will confront predators by vocal intimidation, barking. The dog may attack or fight with a predator to protect the flock, livestock guardians may actively look for predators within protected territory to catch and destroy them, and there are known cases of dogs luring coyotes to the source of food to hunt them. The use of dogs in protecting livestock originated over 2000 years ago, both Aristotles History of Animals and Virgils Georgics mention the use of livestock guardian dogs by the Molossians in the ancient region of Epirus. Many of the modern day livestock guardian dogs are thought to descend from the extinct Molossus breed used by the Molossians, the dogs are introduced to livestock as puppies so they imprint on the animals. Experts recommending that the pups begin living with the herd at 4 to 5 weeks of age and this imprinting is thought to be largely olfactory and occurs between 3 and 16 weeks of age. There are many myths in the West regarding the training of livestock guardian dogs, training requires regular daily handling and management, preferably from birth. A guardian dog is not considered reliable until it is at least 2 years of age, up until that time supervision, guidance and correction is needed to teach the dog the skill and rules it needs to do its job. Having older dogs that assist in training younger dogs streamlines this process considerably, there are even trials underway to protect penguins. In Namibia in Southwest Africa, Anatolians are used to guard goat herds from cheetahs, LGDs are generally large and protective, which can make them less than ideal for urban or even suburban living. Nonetheless, despite their size, they can be gentle, make good companion dogs, if introduced to a family as a pup, most LGDs are as protective of their family as a working guard dog is of its flock. In fact, in communities where LGDs are a tradition. At least two dogs may be placed with a flock or herd, depending on its size, the type of predators, their number, if predators are scarce, one dog may be adequate though most operations usually require at least two dogs. Large operations and heavy loads will require more dogs. Both male and female LGDs have proved to be effective in protecting of livestock. Those dogs that are more attentive tend to alert those that are more passive, while LGDs have been known to fight to the death with predators, in most cases predator attacks are prevented by a display of aggressiveness
7.
West Africa
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West Africa, also called Western Africa and the West of Africa, is the westernmost subregion of Africa. Early human settlers from northern Holocene societies arrived in West Africa around 12,000 B. C, sedentary farming began in, or around the fifth millennium B. C, as well as the domestication of cattle. By 1500 B. C, ironworking technology allowed an expansion of productivity. Northern tribes developed walled settlements and non-walled settlements that numbered at 400, in the forest region, Iron Age cultures began to flourish, and an inter-region trade began to appear. The desertification of the Sahara and the change of the coast cause trade with upper Mediterranean peoples to be seen. Local leather, cloth, and gold also contributed to the abundance of prosperity for many of the following empires. Also, based on the archaeology of city of Kumbi Saleh in modern-day Mauritania, three great kingdoms were identified in Bilad al-Sudan by the ninth century. They included Ghana, Gao and Kanem, the Sosso Empire sought to fill the void, but was defeated by the Mandinka forces of Sundiata Keita, founder of the new Mali Empire. In the 15th century, the Songhai would form a new dominant state based on Gao, in the Songhai Empire, under the leadership of Sonni Ali, further east, Oyo arose as the dominant Yoruba state and the Aro Confederacy as a dominant Igbo state in modern-day Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri was a West African medieval state in the present-day southeastern Nigeria, the Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over a third of Igboland, the Eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Nri people, and possessed divine authority in religious matters. The Oyo Empire was a Yoruba empire of what is today Western, established in the 15th century, the Oyo Empire grew to become one of the largest West African states. It rose through the organizational skills of the Yoruba, wealth gained from trade. The Benin Empire was an empire located in what is now southern Nigeria. Its capital was Edo, now known as Benin City, Edo and it should not be confused with the modern-day country called Benin, formerly called Dahomey. The Benin Empire was one of the oldest and most highly developed states in the hinterland of West Africa. Olfert Dapper, a Dutch writer, describing Benin in his book Description of Africa and its craft was the most adored and treasured bronze casting in the history of Africa. It was annexed by the British Empire in 1897 during the invasion, in the early 19th century, a series of Fulani reformist jihads swept across Western Africa
8.
Hunting dog
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A hunting dog refers to a canine that hunts with or for humans. There are several types of hunting dogs developed for various tasks, the major categories of hunting dogs include hounds, terriers, dachshunds, cur type dogs, and gun dogs. Among these categories further divisions can be based upon the dogs skill sets. For a list of breeds of each type, see the articles for each category. Spaniels are the oldest class of gundog in existence, going back at least to the late Renaissance, flushing spaniels combine hunting, flushing, and retrieving skills. The larger two chiefly are used for retrieveing and flushing game in thick grass or mild underbrush, with the Brittany having working habits closest to later developed pointers and they fall into the water spaniel category. Like spaniels, hounds generally fall into two types, Sighthounds and scenthounds, the scenthounds are the younger of the two classes. Typical examples of the family include the Beagle, Bloodhound, members of the Coonhound family. Coonhounds were originally bred in the American South, Sighthounds are different from scenthounds in their methods and adaptations. In many cases this class is older than the group, the greyhound, the Scottish Deerhound. They are independent in nature, and are worked singly or in a brace of two or three dogs, Sighthounds are generally quiet and placid dogs compared to other hunting breeds, but are capable of explosive speed. Rhodesian Ridgebacks are one of the few breeds with both capabilities, and, though they are not the fastest runners, they are notable for having exceptionable endurance. Water dogs fall into two categories, the retrievers and multi-purpose, Retrievers are excellent swimmers with characteristic webbed feet, and many derive from either Canadian, American, or British stock. Retrievers typically have oily coats that help repel icy water, and are noted for having high intelligence, standard Poodles fall into the water dog category because they originally were used by wealthy Germans to hunt ducks, they predate most types of water dogs. They are excellent swimmers whose coat requires a bath after a swim. Some weighed only 20 pounds and were easy to keep in small apartments and it became very profitable for working-class men to have a profession where they trained small dogs to sniff out and kill as many rats as they could as fast as they could. They required dogs that had very fast reflexes, had a high tolerance for pain, and a ruthless never say die attitude. In fox hunting, they are paired with hounds should prey go to ground, since most breeds of terrier will pull the fox out of its hole
9.
Game (hunting)
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Game or quarry is any animal hunted for sport or for food. The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world, in some countries, game is classified, including legal classification with respect to licences required, as either small game or large game. Game or quarry is any animal hunted for sport or for food, the term game arises in medieval hunting terminology by the late 13th century and is particular to English, from the generic meaning of Old English gamen joy, amusement, sport, merriment. Small game includes animals, such as rabbits, pheasants. Large game includes animals like deer and bear, big game is a term sometimes used interchangeably with large game although in other contexts it refers to large, typically African, mammals which are hunted mainly for trophies in safaris. The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world and this is influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted views about what can or cannot be legitimately hunted. Sometimes a distinction is made between varieties and species of a particular animal, such as wild turkey and domestic turkey. Fish caught for sport are referred to as game fish, the flesh of the animal, when butchered for consumption is often described as having a gamey flavour. This difference in taste can be attributed to the diet of the animal. In some countries, game is classified, including legal classification with respect to licences required, a single small game licence may cover all small game species and be subject to yearly bag limits. Large game are often subject to individual licensing where a licence is required for each individual animal taken. In some parts of Africa, wild animals hunted for their meat are called bushmeat, see article for more detailed information on how this operates within the economy. In Africa, animals hunted for their pelts or ivory are sometimes referred to as the big game, also see the legal definition of game in Swaziland. South Africa has 62 species of gamebirds, including guineafowl, francolin, partridge, quail, sandgrouse, duck, geese, snipe, bustard, of the remaining 41 species,24 have shown an increase in numbers and distribution range in the last 25 years or so. The status of 14 species appears unchanged, with insufficient information being available for the three species. S. and Canada, deer are the most commonly hunted big game. Other game species include, In the PRC there is a special category called ye wei. In the UK game is defined in law by the Game Act 1831 and it is illegal to shoot game on Sundays or at night. Other that are hunted for food in the UK are specified under the Wildlife, the ban is generally considered voluntary on private lands, and few birds live away from RSPB or Forestry Commission land allegedly
10.
Tuareg people
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The Tuareg people are a large Berber ethnic confederation. They principally inhabit the Sahara desert, in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria. The Tuareg speak the Tuareg languages, which belong to the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family, the Tuaregs have been called the blue people for the indigo-dye colored clothes they traditionally wear and which stains their skin. A semi-nomadic Muslim people, they are believed to be descendants of the Berber autochthones of North Africa, the Tuaregs have been one of the ethnic groups that have been historically influential in the spread of Islam and its legacy in North Africa and the adjacent Sahel region. Tuareg society has traditionally featured clan membership, social status and caste hierarchies within each political confederation, the Tuareg have controlled several trans-Saharan trade routes, and have been an important party to the conflicts in the Saharan region during the colonial and post-colonial era. The origin and the meaning of the name Tuareg have long been debated and it would appear that Twārəg is derived from the broken plural of Tārgi, a name whose former meaning was inhabitant of Targa, the Tuareg name of the Libyan region commonly known as Fezzan. Another theory is that Tuareg is derived from Tuwariq, the plural of the Arabic exonym Tariqi, the term for a Tuareg man is Amajagh, the term for a woman Tamajaq. Spellings of the appellation vary by Tuareg dialect, however, they all reflect the same linguistic root, expressing the notion of freemen. As such, the endonym strictly refers only to the Tuareg nobility, not the artisanal client castes, the English exonym Blue People is similarly derived from the indigo color of the tagelmust veils and other clothing, which sometimes stains the skin underneath. Another term for the Tuareg is Imuhagh or Imushagh, a cognate to the northern Berber self-name Imazighen, the Tuareg today inhabit a vast area in the Sahara, stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. Their combined population in these territories exceeds 2.5 million, with a population in Niger of around 2 million. The Tuareg are also the majority group in the Kidal Region of northeastern Mali. The Tuareg traditionally speak the Tuareg languages, also known as Tamasheq, Tamachen, Tamashekin, Tomacheck and these tongues belong to the Berber branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. According to Ethnologue, there are an estimated 1.2 million Tuareg speakers, around half this number consists of speakers of the Eastern dialect. The exact number of Tuareg speakers per territory is uncertain, the CIA estimates that the Tuareg population in Mali constitutes approximately 0. 9% of the national population, whereas about 3. 5% of local inhabitants speak Tuareg as a primary language. In contrast, Imperato estimates that the Tuareg represent around 3% of Malis population, in antiquity, the Tuareg moved southward from the Tafilalt region into the Sahel under the Tuareg founding queen Tin Hinan, who is believed to have lived between the 4th and 5th century. The matriarchs 1,500 year old tomb is located in the Sahara at Abalessa in the Hoggar Mountains of southern Algeria. Vestiges of an inscription in Tifinagh, the Tuaregs traditional Libyco-Berber writing script, have found on one of the ancient sepulchres walls
11.
Fula people
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The Fula people or Fulani or Fulɓe, numbering between 20 and 25 million people in total, are one of the largest and a widely dispersed Muslim ethnic group in Sahel and West Africa. The Fula people are believed to have roots in the people from North Africa and the Middle East. As an ethnic group they are bound together by the Fula language, culture, history, their religious affiliation and their efforts to spread Islam in Sahel region and the West Africa. A significant proportion of the Fula – a third, or an estimated 7 to 8 million – are pastoral people, the majority of the Fula ethnic group consisted of semi-sedentary people, as well as sedentary settled farmers, artisans, merchants and nobility. Spread over many countries, they are mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa. Many Fulbe was also taken to the New World during 16th to 19th century Atlantic Slave Trade and they were largely captured from the Senegal and Guinea with a significant percentage also taken from Mali and Cameroon. Some of the Fulbe of note were Bilali Muhammad, Ayuba Diallo, Salih Bilali, Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori, some of Bilali Muhammads known descendants still live on Salepo Island Georgia and he also left descendants in the Bahama Archipelago who are not known. Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori and many others have many descendants in the USA, there are many names used in other languages to refer to the Fulɓe. Fulani in English is borrowed from the Hausa term, Fula, from Manding languages, is also used in English, and sometimes spelled Fulah or Fullah. Fula and Fulani are commonly used in English, including within Africa, the French borrowed the Wolof term Pël, which is variously spelled, Peul, Peulh, and even Peuhl. More recently the Fulfulde / Pulaar term Fulɓe, which is a noun has been Anglicised as Fulbe. In Portuguese, the terms Fula or Futafula are used, the terms Fallata Fallatah or Fellata are of Kanuri origins, and are often the ethnonyms by which Fulani people are identified by in Sudan. The Fula people are distributed, across the Sahel from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea. Alongside, many speak other languages of the countries they inhabit. Such languages include Hausa, Bambara, Wolof, and Arabic and this is the area known as the Fombina, literally meaning The South in Adamawa Fulfulde, because it represented the most southern and eastern reaches of Fulɓe hegemonic dominance in West Africa. In this area, Fulfulde is the lingua franca. Further east of this area, Fulani communities become predominantly nomadic, the Fulani People occupy a vast geographical expanse located roughly in a longitudinal East-West band immediately south of the Sahara, and just north of the coastal rain forest and swamps. There are an estimated 20-25 million Fulani people, there are generally three different types of Fulani based on settlement patterns, viz, the Nomadic/Pastoral or Mbororo, The Semi-Nomadic and the Settled or Town Fulani
12.
Hausa people
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The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. The largest population of Hausa are concentrated in Nigeria and Niger, most Hausa, however, live in small villages or towns in Africa, where they grow crops, raise livestock including cattle, and engage in trade. They speak the Hausa language, an Afro-Asiatic language of the Chadic group, the Hausa aristocracy had historically developed an equestrian based culture. Still a status symbol of the nobility in Hausa society. Daura city is the origin of Hausawa, Hausa people, the town predates all the major Hausa towns in tradition and culture. A table of Hausa ethnic population by country, Daura, in northern Nigeria is the oldest city of Hausaland. The Hausa of Sokoto, also in northern Nigeria, speak the oldest surviving classical vernacular of the language, historically Sokoto was the centre of Hausa Islamic scholarship. Migrants from these areas were introducing Islam to many of the Hausa by the 14th century, all of these groups live in the Sahel, Saharan and Sudanian regions, and as a result have influenced each others cultures to varying degrees. Today some Fulani people cannot be distinguished from Hausa people in northern states of Nigeria, due to inter-marriage. In Agadez and Saharan areas of central Niger, the Tuareg and Hausa groups are indistinguishable from each other in their traditional clothing, but the two groups differ in language, lifestyle and preferred beasts of burden. Islamic Shari’a law is loosely the law of the land in Hausa areas, well understood by any Islamic scholar or teacher, known in Hausa as a mallam, mallan or malam. This pluralist attitude toward ethnic-identity and cultural affiliation has enabled the Hausa to inhabit one of the largest geographic regions of non-Bantu ethnic groups in Africa, the Nok culture appeared in Northern Nigeria around 1000 BC and vanished under unknown circumstances around 300 AD in the region of West Africa. It is believed to be the product of a nation that branched to create the Hausa, Gwari, Birom, Kanuri, Nupe. The Kwatarkwashi Culture or Sokoto Culture located to the North west of Nok is thought to be the same as or an ancestor of the Nok. Noks social system is thought to have highly advanced. The Nok culture is considered to be the earliest sub-Saharan producer of life-sized Terracotta, the refinement of this culture is attested to by the image of a Nok dignitary at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The dignitary is portrayed wearing a crooked baton, the dignitary is also portrayed sitting with flared nostrils, and an open mouth suggesting performance. Other images show figures on horseback, indicating that the Nok culture possessed the horse, iron use, in smelting and forging for tools, appears in Nok culture in Africa at least by 550 BC and possibly earlier
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