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A Nineteenth Century Fulbe State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Charlotte A. Quinn
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Extract

About 1867 Fulbe living in the Mandingo kingdoms of Tomani and Jimara on the south bank of the Gambia river revolted against their Mandingo landlords. Under their leader, Alfa Molo, the Fulbe went on to destroy the decadent Mandingo state system over much of the Gambia's south bank, and south into Portuguese Guinea, in one of the few determinative conquests in Gambia history. A new state emerged from this revolution which was based on the political dissatisfactions and ethnic consciousness of the Fulbe, its institutions moulded by the political skills and vigorous personality of Alfa's son, Musa Molo. Before 1867, the Fulbe living in the Gambia region were politically highly fragmented, having no tradition of centralized authority. Their dealings with other groups, both stranger and Fulbe, were highly particularized and characterized generally by either accommodation or flight.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , July 1971 , pp. 427 - 440
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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References

1 A Fulbe group speaking a dialect of the Fulani language (see below).

2 Although Fulbe living in the British colony of Gambia during the twentieth century numbered over 40,000 and the size of their herds was estimated at over 100,000 head (Gambia 1962 and 1963 (London, 1964), 120),Google Scholar any guess as to the size of such a mobile population during the nineteenth century would be difficult. However, Legrand's estimate of 55,000 living in Kantora, , Tomani, and Jimara, (‘Le Fouladou’, La Géographie, xxvi, 11 (1912), 250)Google Scholar is supported by several other sources. Maps dating back to the eighteenth century show Fulkunda (Fulbe towns) scattered throughout the Mandingo states, ranging from a few huts to villages of several thousand people. (Moore, F., Travels into the Inland Parts of Africa (London, 1738), 30;Google ScholarHecquard, H., Voyage sur la Côte et dam l'Intérieur de l'Afrique Occidentale (Paris, 1855), 171 ff.;Google ScholarJarrett, H., A Geography of Sierra Leone and Gambia (London, 1964), 42;Google ScholarReeve, H., The Gambia (London, 1912), 39, 177).Google Scholar

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5 Elephant hunting was a profession in which a man could achieve local fame and the wherewithal to build a following. The animals did great damage to crops and those who killed them were heroic figures in local society (Jobson, R., The Golden Trade (London, 1932, 194). Ivory was a valuable trade item along the Gambia.Google Scholar

6 Bande, C. K., Note on Alfa and Musa Molloh, G.A. (Gambia Archives, Bathurst), 1938;Google ScholarBande, L., Sankulikunda, , 23 10 1965;Google ScholarHopkins, T., Intel ligence Report, Fulladu East, 1939, L.G.O.Google Scholar

7 Public Record Office, London: C.O./87/108, Kortright, to Carnarvon, , 29 04 1875.Google Scholar

8 Alfa was a Fulbe title of respect, usually for a Muslim scholar, which could be adopted as a proper name. The usual confusion exists over the orthography of Alfa's second name, which was spelled variously Mozzo, Molloh, Mob, and Mob. I have taken the last, which was used by the family itself as well as by several French sources.

9 Bande, C. K., Note on Alfa, and Musa, Moboh, G.A., 1938.Google Scholar

10 C.O./87/129, Carter, to Hay, , 11 11 1886; MMC (Archives of the Ministère de Ia France d'Outre-Mer, Paris), Sénégal iv, 106b, Governor to MMC, Dec. 1883.Google Scholar

11 In the Gambia, these dialects fell into three general linguistic groupings: (1) FuThe Firdu, Jombo, Habobo, Lorobo, Hamanabi; (2) Torodo, Jawando, Laube; (3) Fulbe Futo. See Bayley, D., Notes on the Ethnological Division of the Fulas, G. A., 27 09. 1939;Google ScholarForde, D., Report on the Need for Ethnographic and Sociological Research in the Gambia (Bathurst, 1945).Google Scholar For a general classification of the Fulani language see Greenberg, J., Studies in African Linguistic Classification (New Haven, 1955), 10.Google Scholar

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17 The material on the organization of Musa's state which follows comes from interviews with Lamin, Bande, Musa's, great-grandson, and members of his family in 10 1965Google Scholar at Sankulikunda and from observations made by Ashton, N. in his Historical Report, North Bank Province, 20 02. 1944, G. A.;Google ScholarHopkins, T., Intelligence Report–Fulladu East, 1939, L.G.O.;Google Scholar oral interviews conducted with Kouroubany, I., Kuoba, Kunda, 21 10 1965;Google Scholaral-hajj, Kisima, Alahungari, , 21 10 1965;Google ScholarBande, C., Kuntaur, , 24 10. 1965;Google ScholarBalde, J., Basse, , 21 10 1965.Google Scholar

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21 Governor, (Bathurst) to Secretary of State, 7 06 1901, Muss Molloh Papers, G.A.Google Scholar

22 C.O./76/128, Hay, to Rowe, , 20 04 1886, enclosing interview 29 03 1886 with Musa Molloh.Google Scholar

23 See Brigaud, F., 188,Google Scholar for example. A play written by Momadou Lamin Sedat Jobe, ‘King Musa Mollo’, performed and circulated in mimeograph form along the Gambia during the 1960s perpetuates the tales on which this reputation is based. Here and in oral traditions it is said that Musa performed experiments on slaves, cutting unborn children from the womb, etc., as well as diminishing the power of those whom he considered to be rivals by murdering their children (Bande, C., Kuntaur, , 24 10. 1965;Google Scholar C. n'Dow, Georgetown, , 10. 1965, oral interview, author unknown, 1932, L.G.O.;Google ScholarHopkins, T., Intelligence Report–Fulladu East, 1939).Google Scholar

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26 Brigaud, F., 188;Google ScholarLegrand, R., 250;Google ScholarRançon, A., 68.Google Scholar

27 An attempt by the leader of the north bank jihād to invade the south bank kingdoms in 1863 was beaten off by the Bandingo of Kiang (Kwinella). The reform movement that appeared in the coastal areas of Combo on the south bank addressed itself to local issues. Its leadership, recruited within the district, held itself aloof from the marabouts fighting elsewhere in the Senegambia.

28 As Musa's son has written: ‘Foday and King Alpha were bosom friends, but in suspicious terms…, both were ruling the same empire…’ (Bande, C. K., Note on Alfa, and Musa, Molloh, 1938).Google Scholar

29 See ‘A History of Fuladu East’, c. 1932, Local Government Office, Bathurst (L.G.O.); T. Hopkins, Intelligence Report–Fulladu East, Bande, C. K., Note on Alfa, and Muse, Molloh, 1938;Google ScholarKurubali, M., 10 1939.Google Scholar

30 Bande, C. K., Note on Alfa, and Musa, Molloh, 1938.Google Scholar According to Chatelier, A. Le (L'Islam dans I'Afrique Occidentale (Paris, 1899), 172),Google Scholar Islamic observances began to fall off soon after 'Umar's departure, although Saad Bouh-Mahfoud and a Mandingo Marabout, Cherif Bekka, later joined Musa's court for a time (Marty, P., 38).Google Scholar

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32 Sanneh, D., Note to Senior Commissioner, Bathurst, 27 09 1945, L.G.O.Google Scholar

33 Mitford, to Knutsford, , 10 10 1889, G.A.Google Scholar

34 Benefits from the continuing warfare with the Muslims have also been noted by Marty, P. (373): ‘Ces luttes contre l'étranger avaient eu pour resultat curieux de rapprocher les castes de nobles et de clients, vaillamment urns dans Ia lutte, et d'amener ainsi chez lea Foulas une certaine fusion sociale.’Google Scholar

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36 C.O./87/113, Rowe, to Hicks, Beach, 15 08 1879;Google Scholar MMC, Sénégal IV, 87b, Lt. Gallieni, Col., ‘Deux Campagnes au Soudan Francais’, Le Tour du Monde (Paris, 1889), 401.Google Scholar In 1879 Alfa Mob had joined the almani of the Futa Jalon and the king of Bondu in a campaign which took them through Kantora, east of Fuladu, and across the river to Wuli and Niani. The ‘alliance of the three kings’ was short-lived, however. The Fulbe of the Futa sold out their allies, who were defeated by the Mandingo of Niani as a result (War of the Three Kings, Court Clerk, Sandu, L.G.O.); (Rancon, A., 115 ff.).Google Scholar

37 Rancon, A., 43 ff.;Google ScholarAshton, N., Historical Report, NBP, G. A.; M. Lamin, Court Clark, Sandu, L.G.O. P. Marty, on the other hand, writes that it was Musa's grioti who surprised Lamine as he fled from Toubacouta and killed him (373).Google Scholar

38 Legrand, R., 250. According to the French traveller, A. Rançon, Musa's attack on Mamdu Jowla (Mody Fatouma) had been instigated by the French who were eager to place a candidate of their own in the chiefship of Sandugu (108 if.). In an account preserved from the files (now in L.G.O.), of the Court Clerk, Saneu Musa is said to have lured Jowla to his camp with courteous messages and to have killed a bull in his honour. Then, seizing the Muslim leader, Muss threw a rope around his neck and ordered ‘younger men to pull until the king was dead’.Google Scholar

39 MMC, Sénégal IV, 107c, MMC to MAE, Oct. 1888; Senegal IV, 131 Governor- General AOF to MMC, 22 June 1903; History of Fulladu East, 1932, L.G.O.; Marty, P., 374.Google Scholar

40 MMC Senegal IV, 108b, Governor, to Bertrandon, , 17 02 1892.Google Scholar

41 Marty, P., p. 373. Marty claims that Musa's part in killing Mamadou Lamine was the only ‘return’ the French ever had from their troublesome ally.Google Scholar

42 MMC, Sénégal IV, 131, Governor-General AOF to MMC, 22 June 1903.

43 MMC, Sénégal IV, 131, Governor-General AOF to MMC, 22 06 1903 Bandeh, D., Note on Musa, Molloh, n.d. (c. 1938), L.G.O.;Google ScholarBrigau, F., 189.Google Scholar

44 Annual Report, Commissioner North Bank Province, 1894, G.A.; Bisset-Archer, F., The Gambia Colony and Protectorate (1906), (London, 1967), 197. The chief of Essau (north bank) received £83 p.a., the rest far less.Google Scholar

45 Report on Musa Mollo, Commissioner Upper River Province, n.d. (c. 1919), G.A.

46 Marty, P., 375–6.Google Scholar

47 Kharvalho, A., Bathurst, , 11 1965.Google Scholar

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