Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 95
system discussed earlier. This raises the question of whether population pressure and cyclical
climate change were linked to the increased risk of being enslaved in foothill areas.
The following section shows how the Dghweɗe remember the withdrawal of the Wandala in
the western plains, and the progress of the Fulbe of Madagali towards the plain of Gwoza by
establishing a boundary at the foothill of Disa (Figure 6). We will return to the continuing
internal divide of Dghweɗe in our chapter on the early period of colonial history.
The pre-colonial boundary between Fulbe and Wandala according to oral accounts
We learned from Chika Khutsa of Kwalika, that there was once a fence of very thorny shrub,
called madza, along the foothills, to prevent the Wandala from entering the Fulbe-ruled area,
and that it had been built by the Fulbe (Plata) themselves. We think that he meant the late precolonial boundary line, separating the Wandala from the Fulbe, and infer that it was close to
today's Adamawa and Borno state boundary that runs between Madagali and Disa. This was
indirectly confirmed by the following oral account from Ghwa'a:
There was a boundary between Plata and Wandala, which was very close to Plata itself [meaning
near Madagali]. There were certain trees and thorny shrubs put there by the Plata to protect the
Plata from the Wandala reaching them. This was considered as a boundary.
Here is another example of the oral historical perception of my local friends, about the late
pre-colonial boundary between the Fulbe and the Wandala along the western plain of the
southern end of the Gwoza hills:
Wandala [Kirawa], Dikwa, Bama, and Yerwa [Maiduguri] came together to raid the hills.
Therefore the Plata protected themselves as well. After the Plata had planted the trees and thorny
shrubs for a boundary, the Wandala hid there, and while the Plata were rearing their animals they
were unaware of the hiding Wandala. The Wandala launched a surprise attack and the Plata started
to settle closer to the hill of Madagali.
I subsequently asked about the pre-colonial boundary between Wandala and Plata in the hills,
which inspired my Dghweɗe friends to say:
The Wandala only came into the hills to collect tribute, but not to raid, and they only raided in the
adjacent plains [that is the eastern plain between the Gwoza hills and Moskota hills].
This oral fragment indirectly suggests that there was no clear boundary between Plata and
Wandala in the hills or the eastern plain, but only in the western plain. The reason might have
been that not only the entire eastern plain (across the Kirawa river which is now the
international boundary), but also the Gwoza hills continued to be controlled by the Wandala
long into the late pre-colonial period.
It remains uncertain how much slave raiding actually happened in the Gwoza hills, or whether
it was mainly the eastern plain where Dghweɗe were captured by the Wandala. We also
learned from our Kwalika sources that slave raiding was happening along the western
foothills and plains, and that there was a tradition of taking refuge in the hills. However we do
have one oral account which was remembered by Zakariya Kwire, who was told by his father
that there was once a form of retaliation by the Wandala:
The people of Kunde once killed one Wandala man, and as a result the Wandala came to capture a
man from Kunde. Kwir ga Wasa [Zakariya Kwire's father] had spoken to the captured man
himself, while on his way back from Chinene, but managed not to be captured as a result.
The story tells us that the Wandala had indeed come to the hills to capture a man to retaliate,
but did not take Kwire ga Wasa, who spoke to the man while he was carried away. This
indirectly confirms that even in the late 19th century, when quite extensive slave raiding is
reported from other parts of the Mandara Mountains, the Gwoza hills, at least the Dghweɗe
massif, appears to have been less affected. My local Dghweɗe friends also adamantly denied
ever having sold their people to the Wandala or Fulbe, as this was reported to me by the Mafa
of Gouzda for example. We therefore wonder whether the population of the Gwoza hills had a
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