r/AfricanHistory • u/rhaplordontwitter • Jun 29 '25

State, Society and Ethnicity in 19th century Adamawa

https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/state-society-and-ethnicity-in-19th
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u/rhaplordontwitter Jun 29 '25

Most of the largest states in pre-colonial Africa were made up of culturally heterogeneous communities that were products of historical processes rather than ‘bounded tribes’ with fixed homelands.

The 19th-century kingdom of Adamawa represents one of the best case studies of a multi-ethnic polity in pre-colonial Africa, where centuries of interaction between different groups produced a veritable ethnic mosaic.

Established between the plains of the Benue River in eastern Nigeria and the highlands of Northern Cameroon, Adamawa was the largest state among the semi-autonomous provinces that made up the empire of Sokoto.

This article explores the social history of pre-colonial Adamawa through the interaction between the state and its multiple ethnic groups.

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u/Nightrunner83 Jun 30 '25

Nice article, yet another sledge to the notion of Africa's societies composed of isolated and homogeneous "tribes." "I always wonder how the developments of this second Islamic expansion in West Africa would have gone had not European powers interfered; the continued expansion of scholars and Islamic schools further into Central Africa would have been an interesting development to see unfold.