Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 91
Islam. We have learned that they had produced the Wandala Chronicles, which involved
constructing a pre-Islamic legendary history. We will refer back to legendary similarities with
those of the Dghweɗe later, and also again in Part Three, but this summary is written as an
introduction to the current chapter section, to set a historical background scenario for the late
pre-colonial relationship between the two, especially when it comes to tribute arrangements
and the link to pre-colonial slave raiding in the hills.
Oral traditions on tribute relationships I collected from the Dghweɗe tell us that they were
under Wandala rule during pre-colonial as well as during early colonial times. Unfortunately,
oral traditions do not have the historical depth of the absolute chronological type, and when I
collected them around the turn of this century, Dghweɗe had already changed to a point that
pre-colonial memories were retold more or less from hearsay. This means that their oral
traditions on tributary relationships are most likely a reflection of communal experiences of
the late 19th and early 20th century, which was the end phase of the pre-colonial period. That
period was marked by the expansion of the Fulbe of Adamawa into the Wandala sphere of
influence along the western Gwoza plain, until shortly before the establishment of German
colonial rule in Dikwa in 1902 (Barkindo 1989).
Figure 6: Relative expansion of Wandala state during the eighteenth century AD
In Figure 6 we give an
overview of the Wandala state
following
the
earliermentioned very wet period of
the 17th century, and before
the Fulbe expansion of the
19th century. We see that the
Wandala
state
expanded
significantly throughout the
18th century, and that the
Gwoza hills had been under
the influence of the Wandala
state throughout. This was
despite the capital now being
in Doulo, and we see that it
triggered a further expansion
deep into the eastern plain of
the
northern
Mandara
Mountains, where Marwa
(Maroua) became a new
centre.
We have also marked the
position of Ishge-Kawe on the
map, and see that it is about
50km north of Kirawa,
between today's Bama and
Dikwa. We remember our original hypothesis of a possible north-to-south migration during
the first phase of aridity around the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries, following a long
period of high humidity. In light of that, it is perhaps not a historical coincidence that the
DGB complex developed along the northern slopes of the highest elevation of the
northwestern Mandara Mountains. This circumstantial palaeoclimatic assumption reiterates
our view that the Gwoza hills, as the most northwestern extension of the Mandara Mountains,
might indeed share a long subregional historical past with the Wandala.
If we further explore Figure 6, we see that Madagali was in the late 18th century under
Wandala control. We can also see that the plain of Koza had in the late 18th century come
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