Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs 268
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02, 227
The account of Borno's war with Mandara thus recounted above, at least from the point of view of the Mandara Chronicler, and all the other accounts I have given above clearly portray to us the essence of the Mune in that oppression and/or a war of caprice is not enjoined. And the war against Mandara was clearly a war of caprice, as Mandara had clearly recanted on its recalcitrance, when threatened. The essence of the Chronicle itself, however, is that we are here seeing, from accounts of an eye-witness, the portrayal of a polity whose language principles and practice of diplomacy, in war and in peace, are not less developed than any we have seen in the states of Euro-Germanic experience, of comparable times. The basis of this well ordered art is essentially the Mune, even though in its universalist form we may wish to assign it to the Book and the Sunna of Islam. Why not then, should we not regard the Mune as the constitution of the pre-colonial Borno State? Munen - ba (not in the Mune), for the Sayfawa ruler is certainly more binding than most modern constitutions had been binding on leaders of present-day African States!
02, 161
We wish to emphasize the fact that so far our investigations have concentrated on documenting large bodies of data covering a number of linguistic units in an area which - as we hope to have demonstrated - displays a highly complex linguistic and ethnic structure. Our aim in the above remarks is essentially to throw out a challenge. In order to be able to interpret this situation in terms of the historic development of this zone of compression, further investigations are required, particularly regarding linguistic interference between Chadic and Niger-Congo languages in the south, as well as between Chadic and Nilo-Saharan languages, particularly Kanuri in the north-east and Songhay in the north-west. Ultimately, questions like the following are at stake: To what extent did the numerous Chadic languages preserve their original Hamitosemitic heritage? What is the impact of the Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages on individual Chadic languages in the respective border areas? In this context, detailed comparative studies between Chadic and Adamawa on the one hand, Chadic and Jukunoid and Chadic and Jarawan Bantu on the other hand as well as Chadic internal research, are urgently required.
02, 133
The architecture and chemistry of a dug-out : the Dufuna canoe in ethno-archaeological perspective
(1993)
This research work emanated from a joint research project between the Johann-Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Germany and the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria; as outlined in the Bilateral Agreement of July 21st 1988.1 The research program is interdisciplinary in nature involving these areas: Archaeology, Geography, Linguistics and Historical Ethnology; all under the general theme of West African Savannah. Considerable research work has already been carried out in these areas by German explorers and scholars dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. The project is funded by the German Research Foundation. The present paper addresses itself purely to one and very important aspect of an archaeological campaign undertaken in the Chad Region of Nigeria in late 1990/1991 season. In consequence to reconnaissance survey and excavation conducted at a site called Gajiganna, abundant lithic materials were noticed and collected. The crucial question one poses to the site which lacks physical outcrops in and within the precinct of the settlement are, what could have been the source of the raw materials at the site? Were they transported from somewhere to the site? If so, why was it necessary for the materials to be brought to this site? These and other related questions posed a serious commodity problem for most sites in Borno with lithic materials.
02, 179
It is one of the paradoxes of the history of the states of the Central Sudan that Borno, the state with the longest tradition of Islamic literacy should have such an illestablished chronology - especially for the nineteenth century - when compared with its neighbours. No kinglist has been published, no list with regnal years, such as is known from other states. Our problems are compounded by the fact that every known list is presented in the Christian solar calendar and there is no way in which we can be certain that the original material has been correctly converted from the Muslim lunar calendar. In the paper that follows I have attempted to establish a chronology based primarily upon Arabic sources and upon the Muslim calendar. These sources include state seals which usually are engraved with the date of the year of accession; mahrams, charters, or grants of privilege, or rather renewal of such grants by newly appointed leaders. It was the practice for owners of such documents to have them renewed at the beginning of a new reign. When attempting to date events connected with the eclipse of the al-Kanimiyyin and the advent of Rabih I have also made use of evidence relating to the seasons and to various meteorological conditions.
02, 043
Studies on land use in Africa have usually been carried out by ethnologists or human geographers and were rarely concerned with data on the physical conditions of soil. There is hardly any issue, however, where interdependencies between natural and cultural factors are as evident as in the topic of land use. For this project the approach of three ethnologists, Braukämper, Kirscht and Platte, was therefore combined with the analysis of Thiemeyer as physical geographer. The area of research is the Local Government Area of Marte in the Nigerian State of Borno. As part of the Chad Basin this region is mainly characterised by clay sediments which are commonly labelled firgi by its inhabitants. Beside this general term, however, the local peasants clearly distinguish five types of soil (Kanuri: katti), to which different physical conditions and qualities with respect to their cultivation are attributed. The question arose how far can this popular knowledge, accumulated by agricultural experiences over generations, be correlated with scientific data. That is why samples of the mentioned types of soil were collected by the members of our team and analysed in the laboratory of the Frankfurt Institute of Physical Geography. The detailed presentation of this analysis has to be preceded by the classification of the respective soil types in the terminology of the indigenous farmers.
01, 071
Située dans l'extrême sud-est de Burkina Faso, la Chaîne grèseuse de Gobnangou se détache du reste du paysage par d'abruptes falaises. Autant les terres au nord que celles au sud sont exceptionnellement densément peuplées. Les Gulmances qui y vivent font de l'agriculture itinérante. Les périodes de cultures varient selon la qualité du sol de 5 à 20 ans. Les périodes de jachères pour la régénération des sols varient énormément selon les types de sols et l'intensité de l'utilisation précédente et peuvent aller jusqu'à 30 ans. Mais ici aussi, l'explosion démographique entraîne une diminution du temps de jachères. L'aspect de la végétation et sa composition diffèrent beaucoup et dépendent de nombreux facteurs. Ils sont surtout influencés par l'homme: outre l'agriculture itinérante, le pâturage, la coupe du bois de chauffage et les feux peuvent être citer. On decrirá ici les communautés de végétations de deux types de sites qui ont pour point commun d'être portées par des sols pauvres. La principale différence entre ces types de sites est la profondeur des sols et donc leur ressources en eau.
02, 197
Yerwa is the last of the Borno capitals. Although established in the first decade of colonial administration, it cannot be compared with the many other towns like Fort Lamy, Jos, Kaduna, Niamey et al. which all developed about the same time. Colonial interference with the development of Yerwa appears restricted, mainly, to insistence upon wider roads than a Borno town otherwise would have featured and resettlement schemes, e.g. Mafoni, Ari Askeri. The following is based on the premise that as the town - despite time and political circumstances of its emergence - is a distinctive Borno town, also occupational diversification and structure are distinctively related to urban Borno culture.
01, 101
Occupation du sol et potentiel de l'environnement chez les Gulmance dans l'est du Burkina Faso
(1993)
Dans l'est de Burkina Faso, dans le pays Gulma, le potentiel naturel, c'est à dire la géologie, le relief, les sols, l'hydrologie, la végétation et l'utilisation par l'homme est l'objet d'un levé scientifique. Les conditions données sont mises en évidence pour rendre claire le modèle de colonisation du peuple dans son cadre naturel. Dans ce sens il est particulièrement important de savoir quelle connaissance exacte les paysans ont de leur environnemt et quels facteurs ils font intervenir dans l'exploitation de cet environnement. Dans l'ensemble il apparait une différenciation selon la répartition de la densité du pays; à côté des zones fortement peuplées, d'autres restent pratiquement vides. De là découle aussi la densité et la nature des savanes.
02, 013
The craggy and hilly Muri Mountains, which are situated to the north of the Benue Lowlands, are an area with a complex pattern of settlement. This roughly 80 km long and 20 km wide mountainous area is inhabited by about 20 ethnic groups belonging to different language families. The present ethnic and linguistic situation is understood as the result of a complex series of migrations and adaptations to the natural environment. This paper will describe actual movements of settlements and consider certain conditions which may have been relevant in the decision to leave a settlement or choose a new one. The most important conditions will be the accessibility of arable land and/or pasture, accessibility of water, and conditions dependent on the historical and political context such as affording of security and possibility of defence. Therefore an interdisciplinary approach seems to be appropriate to evaluate the natural conditions for settlement and cultivation of the various places from a geographer´s point of view, to interrogate into the historical aspects and motifs of the settlement patterns and migrations with a thorough ethnological background, as well as to gain additional information from a linguistic analysis of toponymes and contact phenomena of the languages spoken in the area.
01, 093
La notion de plantes sacrées, de bois sacré est liée à la culture d'une société donnée. Le bois sacré est souvent un lieu de culte ou de fétichisme. Une espèce végétale peut faire partie de ce bois mais elle n'est pas considéré comme sacrée. Une plante ou espèce est sacrée parce qu'elle est liée à un rite coutumier bien précis, à une mythologie bien déterminée. Nous présentons dans ce qui suit quelques espèces végétales considérées comme sacrées par les Bobo. Nos informations proviennent de Kotedougou de son vrai nom Kokana. Le village est situé au nord de Bobo-Dioulasso à 25 km de la ville, localisé dans la zone phytogéographique Sud Soudanienne du Burkina Faso. Nous avons restreint nos données ethnobotaniques sur huit espèces les plus connues et qui de par leur usage abusif dans la pharmacopée tendent à disparaître dans la zone présentée ici. Par ailleurs les variations climatiques, particulièrement la baisse de la pluviométrie ont entraîné une grande modification de la flore et de la végétation autour du village de Kokana et à travers tout le Burkina.