Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 79
Chapter 2.1
Between the pre-colonial Wandala and the DGB sites
Introduction
As mentioned above, this chapter draws from a diversity of source materials, including oral
sources from Dghweɗe. We start with the primary written sources linked to the Wandala and
Kirawa, to mark the historical significance of Kirawa as their most important early capital.
They are Fra Mauro (1450), Leo Africanus (1529), Ibn Furtu (1576), Lorenzo Anania (1582),
and the Wandala Chronicles (1723/24). From the latter we draw a list of early Wandala kings,
with king Agamakiya as the most important, and show how Kirawa emerged, but was later
moved to Doulo at the northeast of the Mandara Mountains. We avoid going into the history
of the wider region in that context, but stay concentrated on Kirawa and its presumed role for
our subregion. We think that this early period of the Wandala state started in the 15th century
and lasted until the mid-17th century. The later period of the Wandala state began in Doulo
and then continued in the early 19th century with Mora as their last capital.
One main objective of this chapter is to produce a Table of Contemporaneity, with the DGB
sites as the earliest evidence for terrace cultivation in our subregion. DGB is an abbreviation
of the Mafa word diy geɗ biy. It means translated 'eye of the chief on top' and it was originally
my suggestion to use DGB as general site name. The main reason why we link them to the list
of early Wandala rulers and the history of Kirawa is the radiocarbon (C14) dates gained from
the sites. We will connect the DGB and Wandala of Kirawa dates with palaeoclimatic dates of
the changing Lake Chad water levels, to see the contemporaneity between the early Wandala
rulers and the DGB complex as evidence of early terrace cultivation in our wider subregion.
This in turn allows us to later connect some of our Dghweɗe oral history traditions by
attempting to interpret them in the same palaeoclimatic framework. This will lead us to the
hypothesis that the Gwoza hills were influenced since earlier pre-colonial times by the wider
subregional importance of both the DGB sites and Kirawa as the first capital of Wandala.
Concerning the DGB sites, we have immaterial and material aspects of Dghweɗe culture to
demonstrate a possible link. The first is mainly connected to traditions of origin, while the
second consists of comparing similarities in stone architecture, and a type of ritual beer pot
with a small aperture. The latter was used in Dghweɗe for sorghum beer to celebrate family
ancestors, but we will have to wait until Part Three to appreciate the potential implications of
our suggested connections. We are however already starting to present the hypothesis that the
early terrace cultivation of the DGB sites was related not only to sorghum but also to manure
production, and that this most likely included the discovery of how to make guinea corn beer
for extensive ritual use in communal celebrations. This view is supported by the fact that the
early Wandala rulers of Kirawa were dynastically still pagan rulers, which allows for the
possibility that there might have been a ritual link between the pre-colonial Wandala and the
intensified terrace cultivation of sorghum during times of increasing aridity.
In terms of links with the Wandala of Kirawa, there are no material but only legendary links
on the Dghweɗe side, and we will present one in the story of Zedima and the 'roots of the sun'
as an expression of rainmaking and as a ritual asset for successful terrace cultivation. Another
legendary account we want to present is that of Katala-Wandala, a daughter of Wandala, who
is linked to the tradition of origin from Tur. We will also consult legendary accounts from the
Wandala Chronicles about Katala as the first Wandala female ruler, while their capital was
still in Ishga-Kawe. We also use those legends to attempt a reinterpretation of Nicholas
David's ethnoarcheological narrative (David 2008), by suggesting that not only rainmaking
but also manure production was of great ritual importance. We will present those legends at
the end of this chapter, because first we want to look into the sources related to the history of
trade and tribute arrangements between the pre-colonial Wandala and the Dghweɗe.
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