Kotoko states
The Kotoko states were a number of city-states in the delta of the Shari River south of Lake Chad , mainly in the far north of today's Cameroon , but also partly in neighboring Chad and Nigeria . The rulers of the states were called miarre . Later the Arab title of ruler sultan was adopted and the city-states were referred to as sultanates. In English and French literature, which are the main sources, there is also occasional mention of principalities. The carrier people of the states were the Kotoko , who are divided into several tribes according to the traditional sultanates and still settle in the region today.
origin
The emergence of the Kotoko states is largely in the dark due to the meager written evidence from this period. Nevertheless, science is fairly unanimous that they are the heirs of the Sao civilization , which dates from around 500 BC. Existed south and west of Lake Chad until the 16th century . Overall, the term Sao civilization is rather vague; it is not clear, for example, whether the Sao civilization was kotoko-speaking or whether it consisted of several peoples. One thesis is that the Kotoko immigrated from the south and mixed with the Sao in the Lake Chad area. It is quite clear that the Sao culture died out with the arrival of Islamization, which was promoted from Kanem-Bornu . The terracotta figures typical of the Sao culture were no longer made by the superficially Islamized Kotoko.
In the founding myth of many Kotoko sultanates, the Sao are called. For example , that of the Makari Sultanate states that the founder, Chief Moussakala , immigrated as one of 24 Sao chiefs from Chad in search of land to settle.
The city-states
List of states
The Kotoko were organized in a variety of city-states. Similar to the Greek Poleis , only with a smaller population, practically every larger settlement was independent, and colony was founded. This resulted in a large number of micro-states, the most important of which are listed here:
Afade , Bodo (Kouda) , Chaoué, Djilbe, Goulfey , Houlouf , Kabe, Kala-Kafra, Kousséri , Logone-Birni , Logone-Gana, Makari , Maltam, Mara, Mdaga, Midigue, Ndufu (Nigeria), Sao, Sou, Tilde, Wulki , Zgague, Zigue.
It should be noted that the western states in particular were conquered by Kanem-Bornu early on and incorporated into the empire. There are also a number of other settlements whose structure fits into the scheme of the city-states of the Kotoko, but which do not appear in sources. Given the sparse written records from the early days, this is not particularly surprising. It can therefore be assumed that this list is not exhaustive.
City and society
The cities, which represented the center of the state, were surrounded by imposing earth walls. The central square with the partly multi-storey sultan's or ruler's palace was surrounded by closely packed houses. The residential units called Sare were surrounded by a wall, which, depending on the wealth and size of the household, comprised several square buildings in clay construction and with flat roofs. The residential units were organized into quarters, which are separated by alleys. The individual quarters had a kind of chief called bilama , who was elected by the elders. These elders were also part of various councils that were presided over by the Sultan. The extended family included all descendants of a founding father called Yarew and formed the cornerstone of the Kotoko society. The Kotoko knew a hierarchical system in which the sultan formed the top, between freeborns and those of descendants of slaves, and finally the slaves.
When the city-states came into contact with Islam through the influence of Kanem-Bornu in the 16th century, the upper class was easily Islamized. The south, especially the mighty Logone-Birni , only got a Muslim elite about 200 years later. Nonetheless, the ancient cults remained influential. Imams had to share their position at court with traditional priests, there were not only mosques but also shrines of traditional religions and numerous regional cults were incorporated into Islamic festivals.
Several Kotoko languages have developed in parallel with the states. For example, the center of the Mpade language is Makari, Mser is mainly spoken in Kousséri , Maslam in Maltam, Lagwan near the cities of Logone-Birni and Logone-Gana, the Afade language in Afade and Malgbe in the vicinity of Goulfey. All of these languages belong to Kotoko, but there is no high-level language.
history
From the 15th to 16th Century. At the beginning of the rule of Idris Alauma (1564–1596), the Kanem-Bornu kingdom brought the northern Kotoko states under its control. Among these were Afade, Makari and also Ndufu. Nevertheless, the eastern areas, and thus further away from Bornu , were still ruled by sultans. Nothing is known about the fate of western city-states such as Ndufu, but there are no more Kotoko settlers there today . States on the periphery, such as Kousséri, from then on had to pay tribute to Kanem-Bornu.
Kotoko states even further away, such as Logone-Birni or Houlouf and other states in the south, remained independent for the time being. Logone-Birni even managed to expand from 1650. Among other things, the city-states of Houlouf and Kabe were subjugated and Logone-Birni developed into something like the patron of the free Kotoko states, that is, independent of Kanem-Bornu. At the end of the 18th century, however, Logone-Birni also became tributary to Kanem-Bornu. The rise of the Sultanate of Bagirmi , which was east of the Kotoko states , also fell during this period .
In the following years, a period of decline began in Kanem-Bornu, due to the expansion of the Caliphate of Sokoto , a Fulbe state , while the Sultanate of Bagirmi gained strength. By skillful diplomacy, Logone-Birni managed to more or less preserve his autonomy. The land of the Kotoko witnessed several battles between the kingdoms of Kanem-Bornu, Bagirmi and the Sultanate of Wadai and suffered from subsequent raids.
In the 19th century there was a massive immigration of Shua Arabs , a development that was to shake the traditional Kotoko society to its foundations, as later became apparent. Another destabilization took place when the Arab slave trader and warlord from Sudan, Rabih az-Zubayr ibn Fadl Allah, destroyed Kanem-Bornu with a mercenary army in 1893, devastated the capital Kukawa and now ruled the countries around Lake Chad. Seven years later, Rabih was attacked by a French army under François Lamy and defeated and killed in the Battle of Kousséri in 1900. The most important cities of Kotoko, Makari, Kousséri and Logone-Birni did not fall to the French colonial empire , but to the German empire due to the treaties concluded at the Congo conference . In 1902, Colonel Curt Pavel incorporated the areas into the Cameroon protected area . Under German colonial rule, the traditional structures were left quite undisturbed, with a base only being set up in Kousséri.
When the area was annexed by the French colonial empire during World War I , the colonial administrator Émile Gentil transferred the land of the Kotoko to Jaggara , the first Sheikh of the Shua Arabs who had joined the French. The sovereign territory called the Serbewel Sultanate with the capital Goulfey, which was still subject to the French colonial administration, could not consolidate itself. From 1914 onwards there was considerable tension. The disempowered rulers of the Kotoko sultanates Makari and Afade raised an army and moved towards Goulfey. The punitive expedition then started by the French was paradoxically directed against Shuwa Arabs and not against the rebels. Since Jaggara was now deprived of its power base, the colonial administration initiated a reorganization of the country. In 1953, following the example of the Kotoko sultanates, the country was divided into five cantons, namely Makari, Goulfey , Wulki , Afade and Bodo . Further south there was at least the Kotoko Sultanate of Logone-Birni , which was not affected by the unrest, as it had obviously never been integrated into the Serbewel Sultanate.
Todays situation
Some of the Kotoko sultanates still exist today, including that of Makari and Logone-Birni. Today, however, the sultans only play a purely representative role. Since around 1985, two currents of Islam, Sunnism and Wahhabism, have made their way into the country and seriously shaken the cultural landscape. The traditional cults, which coexisted or even mixed with Islam for several centuries, were almost completely displaced.
The culture and language of the Kotoko are also on the brink. With the arrival of Shua Arabs , the Kotoko have become a minority in their own country. Especially smaller Kotoko languages such as Maslam , which according to Ethnologue still has around 250 speakers, have little chance of survival. Today the Kotoko languages still have around 40,000 speakers, but this number is shifting more and more to Shuwa Arabic , as this is a common lingua franca . The Arabs also have a higher birth rate, which further changes the picture. The Arabization of the country poses the greatest threat to the remaining traditional urban culture of the Kotoko. So far, no initiatives have been taken to save the languages.
literature
- DeLancey, Mark Dike: Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon . London 2000.
- Fanso, VG: Cameroon History for Secondary Schools and Colleges: Volume 1: Prehistoric Times to the Nineteenth Century . London 1989.
- Lebeuf, Annie: Principautés Kotoko . Paris 1969.
Individual evidence
- ↑ A Village in Northeast Nigeria: Political and Economic Transformation of Rural Kanuri Society Source: Google Books, accessed November 4, 2015
- ↑ Région de l'Est (French), cvuc.cm, accessed on November 4, 2015
- ↑ Essai d'étude démographique des Kotoko (région du Tchad) by A. Masson Detourbet (French) Source: persee.fr, accessed on November 4, 2015
- ↑ The Rise and Fall of Houlouf Polity by Augustin Holl (English) Source: academia.edu, accessed on November 4, 2015
- ↑ The Encyclopaedia of Islam Source: Google Books, accessed November 4, 2015
- ↑ Nigeria, Map 4 | Ethnologue Source: Ethnologue, accessed on November 4, 2015
- ↑ Ethnoarcheology of Shuwa-Arab-Settlements by Augustin Holl (English) Source: Google Books, accessed on November 4, 2015
- ↑ The king with 100 wives (English) Source: CNN, accessed November 5, 2015
- ↑ Islam et Politique au Sultanat de Goulfey (French, partly also in English and German) Source: www.unifr.ch, accessed on October 26, 2015
- ↑ Kotoko Proper | Ethnologue Source: Ethnologue, accessed on November 4, 2015