The Adamawa Emirate (Fula: Laamorde Adamaawa, 𞤂𞤢𞥄𞤥𞤢𞤼𞤫𞥅𞤪𞤭 𞤀𞤣𞤢𞤥𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤢; Arabic: إمارة آدماوة, romanized: ʾimārat·u ʾādamāwah; German: Adamaua; French: Adamaoua) is a traditional state located in Fombina, an area which now roughly corresponds to areas of Adamawa State and Taraba state in Nigeria, and previously also in the three northern regions of Cameroon (Far North, North, and Adamawa), including minor Parts of Chad and the Central African Republic.
Modibo Adama was a commander of Sheikh Usman dan Fodio, the man who began the Fulani jihad in 1809. The capital was moved several times until it settled in Yola, Nigeria on the banks of the Benue River in Nigeria around 1841. At the time of Adama's death his realm encompassed parts of modern Nigeria and much of north Cameroon. Much like the other emirates in the Sokoto Caliphate, Adamawa enjoyed considerable autonomy but it had to pay a tribute to the Sultan in Sokoto.
Toponym
The name Adamawa derives from the name of the founder of the emirate, Adama bii Ardo Hassan. The suffix -wa is appended in the Hausa language to signify the collective identity of 'people of' that place, so, Adamawa means "the people of Adama".
Fombina means 'southlands' indicating the area south of Bornu and Sokoto. It was the earliest name for the emirate with 'Adamawa' only coming to use much later. The earliest recorded use of 'Adamawa' was in Denham's and Clapperton's 1826 journal Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa.
The Palace and Emirate Council today are called ‘Fombina Palace’ and ‘Fombina Emirate Council’ respectively. The present Lamido Adamawa, Lamido Muhammadu Barkindo, "strongly prefers" to be addressed as 'Lamido Fombina' with 'Adamawa' in bracket.
Geography
The nineteenth century Adamawa emirate lay south of Lake Chad, and east of Hausaland, within latitudes 6° and 11° North, and longitudes 10° and 14° East. The external limits are hard to fix in exact terms, because it is difficult to distinguish between people who the Fulani subjected to their rule, and those whom they simply raided for slaves, without establishing any form of administrative links. According to some estimates, by the late 19th century, slaves constituted about 50% of the population of the Fulɓe-ruled Adamawa Emirate, where they were referred to as jeyaɓe (singular jeyado). Based on the region subjected to Fulani rule, the emirate stretched from areas south of the Adamawa plateau near Tibati, in the South, to the Diamare, in the north, from the slopes of the Bamenda-Adamawa-Mandara Highlands in the west, to Baya, Laka, Mundang and Musgum country in the east. Early British administrators reporting from Yola, put the surface area of Adamawa at between 35,000 and 40,000 square miles or between 90,650 and 103,600 square kilometers. As a result of European treaties in 1893 and 1894, parts of the Emirate can today be found in Chad, the Central African Republic, Nigeria and Cameroon, which retained about three-quarter of the total area of the emirate.
The altitude of much of the country lies at around 2,000 ft (610 m) above sea level. The Adamawa plateau itself however, called the Leydi Hossere by the Fulbe, rises to a general elevation of 4,000 ft (1,200 m), and forms the watershed, from which streams of water drain into the Benue river system, as well as into the inland basin of Lake Chad. Great altitudes of between 5,000 and 7,000 ft or between 1,525 and 2,150 meters above sea level are found, towards the western border region of the emirate with other regions of Nigeria and Cameroon, these are sections of the Cameroon-Bamenda-Adamawa-Mandara highland range which have record heights of about 13,350 ft (4,070 m) above sea level near the coast and steadily decreases northwards, to just around 4,000 ft (1,200 m) near Yola, the emirate's capital city. North of Yola, these range of highlands is continued by the Mandara Mountains at over 6,000 ft (1,800 m), before finally tapering out around Balma, into the lake chad basin. The southern regions of the emirate is characterized by thin forest of broad leaved savannah woodland or orchard vegetation type. The country becomes more and more of open grasslands towards the north. The vegetation was a strong inducement to Fulani settlement in Adamawa, and during the jihad, it offered no serious obstacle to the extension of military power based on cavalry.
History
Rise
Pre-jihad
The earliest reference of Fulbe around the area of the Adamawa region was in the Kanem-Bornu empire when they came as envoys of the emperor of Mali during the 13th century. A century later, more Fulbe migrated to Hausaland especially to Kano during the reign of Yakubu. These Fulani settlers brought many books on Islamic thought and Law from Mali. Some others continued further east to Bornu and settled there. There was a steady flow of Fulbe immigrants to this region and by the 16th-century there were considerable number of them in Hausaland, Bornu, Bagirmi and among the Jukun in Kwararafa.
The Fulbe became known for their learning and understanding of Islam. The Bornu king, Mai Dunama ibn Hajj Ali (1476–1503), gave official recognition to their contribution to the Muslim community in Bornu. He conferred upon an Ardo (Fulani chief) and removed the requirement for him and all the Fulbe he led to pay taxes. All the subsequent Mais (or kings) of Bornu honoured this arrangement throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. It was not unusual to find the Bornu kings going to war on other groups to protect the Fulbe from raids during this period. This Fulbe, in turn, continued teaching and joining the army to fight for Bornu. At the turn of the 18th-century however, perhaps due to their political ambition, Fulani people lost the support of the Bornu aristocracy. Mai Hamdan ibn Dunama failed to honour the tax agreement and the Fulbe were openly harassed in the kingdom. Due to this and other factors like famine and the general decline of the Kanem-Bornu empire, many Fulbe decided to find new homes elsewhere which led to many to migrate to Hausaland and the Adamawa region.
The early Fulbe settlers in the Adamawa region were not driven by religious zeal or intention to conquer or dominate. Because these early Fulbe were not warlike, the migrations into this region, like earlier in the other regions, were peaceful. As a French colonial administrator, M. Masson puts it:
Since the fifteenth century, they had introduced themselves into the country in the most harmless manner, soliciting permission from the natives of the soil to graze and water their flock. Attracted by the rich pastures, several of the heads of the families settled in these territories as customers of the local populations.
They generally avoided conflicts and built relationships with the local populations sometimes through inter-marriages. Trade also helped improve these relationships as the local communities provided supplies like honey, fish and grain and in turn the Fulani provided milk, meat, butter and hide. It was tasked on the Ardo to facilitate building of relationships with the local populations. Herder-farmer conflicts inevitably occurred, but these cases were typically resolved on an individual level between the farmers and herders involved. The Ardo would usually cooperate with local authorities to handle such cases, if necessary.
In some communities, particularly the Bata, the Fulbe settlers were required to adhere to jus primae noctis. In order to live in peace in these areas, some Fulani groups agreed to this arrangement. Many of the families however, evaded the custom by paying a bull or two to the chief as a substitute. In most cases, when certain conditions or practices were enforced on the Fulbe, they left the area to find a more suitable place (like in Bornu) but in this case, in the Benue regions, the conditions were too favourable for permanent settlements.
The rich Fulani families did not worry having to pay to avoid the jus primae noctis but the problem came from how the payments were collected. The chief would send his collectors to the father of the girl or the head of the family when he thinks he would not receive enough from the Ardo. He would then proceed to select the required number of cattle usually picking out the best cattle. At around 1803, this practice caused a conflict. One Ardo Njobbo of the Ba'an (a Fulani clan), refused to make the payment or surrender his daughter to a local prince. The prince then proceeded to pick out a cattle from the Ardo's herd. Njobbo then ordered his men to kill the prince which led to a violent conflict between local Fulbe and Bata groups. This fight is said to have led to the death of Modibbo Adama's father, Modibbo Hassana.
Adama's Jihad and establishment of Fombina
The jihad in the region later called Adamawa was an offshoot of Uthman dan Fodio's jihad in Hausaland. Uthman's jihad started in February 1804 with the hijra from Degel to Gudu and later declaration of jihad against Yunfa, Sarkin Gobir. Despite the jihad battles ongoing in the north and west of Adamawa by Buba Yero and Uthman's other flag-bearers particularly in Uba, Bazza and Kanem-Bornu, the Fulbe of Adamawa were not interested until five years later in 1809.
News about the jihad eventually reached Adamawa through the activities of Buba Yero of Gombe. Some Muslim Ardo'en held a meeting in Gurin to reach a decision on how to approach the situation. Unlike Uthman in Gobir, the Adamawa jihad was not found on self-defence. The Muslims of the Adamawa region were not prohibited from practicing Islam. They did not engage in any major conflicts with the local populations. The region was highly diverse ethnically, linguistically, and religiously. Even the Adamawa Fulani Muslims were not highly knowledgeable about the religion, and even today, the Mbororo are not Muslims. Out of the four instances in which Uthman stated that jihad could be carried out against a people to establish a new government, only two applied to the Muslims of Adamawa:
(xii) And that to make war upon the heathen king who will not say 'There is no God but Allah' is obligatory by assent, and that to take the government from him is obligatory by assent; (xiii) And that to make war upon the heathen king who does not say 'There is no God but Allah' on account of the custom of his town (bi-sabab 'urfi'l-baladi), and who makes no profession of Islam, is (also obligatory by assent; and that to take the government from him is obligatory by assent;
They reached an agreement to send a delegation to Uthman in Sokoto to get advice on their situation and get legitimacy if he decides they were eligible to launch the jihad. They appointed Modibbo Adama, a learned teacher who was familiar with Sokoto, as the leader of the delegation. The delegation reached the Shehu after months of travel and presented him with their message. After reviewing the situation, Uthman instructed them to launch the jihad in Fombina ('southlands of Sokoto and Bornu'). Furthermore, he chose Adama as the leader, appointing him Lamido Fombina. The reason for Uthman's decision to pick Adama, according to a manuscript dated March 1809 in Yola, was:
...since you tell me that some of the fulani leaders did not come with you, but they sent you to come and receive the flag of the jihad from me and take it back to them. I instruct you to tell them that it is you to whom I have given this jihad flag, and tell them that who ever obeys you obeys me, and whoever swears fealty to you, it is exactly as if he had sworn fealty to me.
Another version states:
When you return tell them this is what Shaihu gave you. Say also that I accept their greetings. Bid them place their hands in yours; whoever gives his hand to you, joins hands with me. Tell them I greet them. Make flags for them like this that I have given you, give them the flags, with the orders I have laid upon you. You are the envoy; whatsoever they desire let them tell it you, then do you come and tell me.
Modibbo Adama bin Hassana was the son of an Ardo named Modibbo Hassana. Early in his life he left his relatives and clan in Adamawa to attain knowledge. His pursuit led him to Bornu where he studied under a renowned Mallam (Islamic teacher) called Kiari. He was there for many years learning and teaching Islam. After his study in Bornu, Adama returned to his people in Adamawa who were now settled in Gurin, a new settlement they established a few years back. During his time in Bornu, it is theorised that Adama heard about the jihad in Sokoto and most likely came back to inform his people back in Adamawa. Adama stayed in Gurin for some time, teaching the Fulbe Muslims in the community, until the meeting regarding the jihad took place.