Tyenga (ethnicity)

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The Tyenga are an ethnic group in Nigeria , Niger, and Benin .

Other spellings with T such as Tchenga , Tchianga , Tienga and Tyengawa are common in French-speaking countries, while spellings with K such as Kanga , Kenga , Kengawa , Kyanga , Kyenga and Kyengawa are common among the Hausa .

According to estimates from 2010, there are over 200,000 Tyenga in northern Benin, southwestern Niger and northwestern Nigeria. Their main settlement areas in Nigeria are the Local Government Areas Dandi (about 110,000 people) and Bagudo (about 20,000 people) in the state of Kebbi . There are also around 70,000 Tyenga in Niger (around 5000 there in 1931) and around 15,000 Tyenga in Benin. In Niger, they mainly live in the Dendi countryside . The ethnic group is divided into four clans , which differ from one another by facial scarifications : Kosoro , Mishira , Saaki and Shiba .

In oral tradition, the Tyenga anchor their origins in Arabia . As a result of the Battle of Badr in 624 , they are said to have fled to Yemen , crossed the Red Sea and, after a long journey through the Sahara, reached their current settlement area. Linguistic studies contradict this myth, which is linked to the Islamic tradition, and point to West Africa as the region of origin of the Tyenga.

In Dendi in Niger, where they were expelled from Sokoto by Hausa, they are among the oldest local ethnic groups. There they were increasingly assimilated by the Songhai - Zarma ethnic group, which is predominant in the south of the Dosso region . When the Songhai fled to Dendi after the fall of the Songhai Empire in 1591 and took over political power there, the Tyenga remained in control of pre-Islamic religious cults and the administration of land and natural resources. Tyenga and Songhai found a common identity in the Dendi ethnic group , who share the Dendi language . In the 20th century, the Tyenga, in contrast to the Songhai, lost their former domains of power through the advance of Islam, urbanization and modern state administration.

Their original language, the Tyenga , is almost extinct. In Nigeria, the Tyenga initially adopted the Songhai language , later mainly the Hausa language . In Niger, for example, the Tyenga agree on Zarma , in Benin on Dendi.

Known Tyenga

literature

  • Garba Ayouba: Contribution à l'histoire du peuplement Tchanga de la rive droite du fleuve Niger . Mémoire. Université nationale du Benin, 1993 ( codesria.org [PDF]).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Ross McCallum Jones: Preliminary report on the Kyanga and Shanga. (PDF) July 2010, pp. 1 and 3 , accessed on November 4, 2018 (English).
  2. ^ Jean Rouch : Les Songhay . L'Harmattan, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-7475-8615-4 , pp. 6 .
  3. ↑ a b c Abdourahmane Idrissa, Samuel Decalo: Historical Dictionary of Niger . 4th edition. Scarecrow, Plymouth 2012, ISBN 0-7864-0495-7 , pp. 449 .
  4. ^ Ross McCallum Jones: Preliminary report on the Kyanga and Shanga. (PDF) July 2010, p. 5 , accessed on November 4, 2018 (English).
  5. ↑ a b Olivier Walther: Sons of the Soil and Conquerors Who Came on Foot: The Historical Evolution of a West African Border Region . In: African Studies Quarterly . Vol. 13, No. 1 & 2 , 2012, p. 76 and 80 ( sites.clas.ufl.edu [PDF; accessed November 4, 2018]).