Fouta Djallon - WikiHQ

right|thumb|300px|Map of the [[Guinea Highlands.]]

Fouta Djallon (, , ; ) is a highland region in the center of Guinea, roughly corresponding with Middle Guinea, in West Africa.

Etymology

The Fulani people call the region Fuuta-Jaloo ( ) in the Pular language. 'Futa' is a Fula word for any region inhabited by the . 'Djallon' means 'mountain' in old Jallonke.

French is the official language of Guinea, and or sometimes is the French spelling. Common English spellings include Futa Jallon and Futa Jalon.

The French, during the colonial period, wrote:

“The name of this region has often been spelled ‘Fouta‑Djallon’, with a ‘j’ after the capital ‘D’, which contradicts the local pronunciation: the natives themselves all say ‘Fouta‑Diallo’, and Europeans (whether officers or traders) likewise say ‘Fouta‑Diallon’."

History

The Jallonke people were the earliest inhabitants of the Futa Djallon.

The Fulɓe of Fouta Djallon spearheaded the expansion of Islam in the region. Fulɓe Muslim scholars developed indigenous literature using the Arabic alphabet. Known as Ajamiyya, this literary achievement is represented by such great poet-theologians as , Tierno Saadu Dalen, Tierno Aliou Boubha Ndyan, Tierno Jaawo Pellel etc. In its heyday, it was said that Fuuta-Jaloo was a magnet of learning, attracting students from Kankan to the Gambia, and featuring Jakhanke clerics at Tuba as well as Fulɓe teachers. It acted as the nerve centre for trading caravans heading in every direction. The more enterprising commercial lineages, of whatever ethnic origin, established colonies in the Futanke hills and along the principal routes. It served their interests to send their sons to Futanke schools, to support the graduates who came out to teach, and in general to extend the vast pattern of influence that radiated from Futa Jalon. The highest point, Mount Loura, rises to 1,515 m (4,970 ft). The plateau consists of thick sandstone formations that overlie granitic basement rock. Erosion by rain and rivers has carved deep jungle canyons and valleys into the sandstone.

right|thumb|300px|Map of the Fouta Djallon with the major rivers.

It receives a great deal of rainfall, and is the headwaters of four major rivers and other medium ones:

Tinkisso River (major upriver tributary of the Niger)
Gambia River
Senegal River
Pongo River
Nunez River
Konkouré River
Rio Kapatchez
Mellacorée River

It is, thus, sometimes called the watertower (chateau d'eau in French literature) of West Africa. Some authors also refer to Fouta Jallon as the "Switzerland of West Africa." This is a common expression whose origin may be unknown.

Population

thumb|Children in the village of Doucky

The population consists predominantly of [sing. ], also known as Fula or Fulani. In Fouta Djallon, their language is called Pular or Pulaar. The broader language area bears the name Fula/Fulfulde, and it is spoken in numerous countries in West and Central Africa. The Fulani () population represents between 32.1% and 40% of the population in Guinea.

Economy

The largest town in the region is Labé. Mainly rural the economy covers animal husbandry (cattle, sheep, goats), agriculture, gathering, trading, and marginal tourism.

The Fulbe practice a form of natural farming that can be recognized today as biointensive agriculture. The region's main cash crops are bananas and other fruits. The main field crop is fonio, although rice is grown in richer soils. Most soils degrade quickly and are highly acidic with aluminum toxicity, which limits the range of crops that can be grown without significant soil management.

Biointensive agriculture

thumb|right|Sunture Mindmap

Sometime in the late 18th century, the Fulɓe in Fouta Djallon developed a type of biointensive agriculture, probably out of necessity, since the conquered indigenous women were taken into the households of their Islamic overlords whose livestock became their responsibility. Combining animal husbandry and sedentary agriculture into an efficient system of agropastoralism required a new way of organizing daily life. Livestock, which included horses and cattle, ate more and produced more waste than what the indigenous farmers were accustomed. Since the livestock had to be protected from wildlife at night, they were brought into the family compound, referred to by the French as a tapade, and locally as cuntuuje (sing. suntuure) in the Pular language.

Each suntuure is about 1-hectare (2.5 acres) on average, so referring to them as gardens is not accurate, neither for their size nor complexity. The cuntuuje represents a systems approach to food production, and is distinguished by their agrodiversity, as well as the way the people intensively use and maximize a limited amount of land. Today, the cuntuuje gardens continue to produce a significant quantity and variety of agricultural products.

The living fences that surround each suntuure are not just a barrier to keep out people, wild animals, and domestic livestock. In the permaculture vocabulary, the fence is a vegetative berm, and is instrumental in the process of nutrient cycling and nutrient retention within the suntuure. In other words, the cuntuuje represent a sustainable biointensive polyculture farm system and landscape architecture, housing one or more microclimate ecosystems and are examples of what we know today to be a permaculture design. The graphic in this section is a mind map of the internal zones and sectors found typically in a suntuure environment.

The interior of the suntuure, Zones 1-3 (internal gate, entryway, privacy screen, and residence) are reserved primarily for family members. It is in Zones 4 and 5 (the hoggo and suntuure living fence) where most activities of daily life occur. Here, visitors are greeted at a secondary shelter or pavilion, work on gardens (hoggos) is organized, children spend the day in play and work if of age, and afternoon prayers, naps, conversations, and meals occur until dark. Zone 6 is the outside world.

In 2003, the cuntuuje of Fuuta-Jalon were recognized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) as one of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems.

Notes

References

Sources

A. Demougeot Notes sur l'organisation politique et administrative du Labé avant et après l'occupation française
Boubacar Barry Bokar Biro, le dernier grand almamy du Fouta-Djallon
Christopher Harrison French Islamic policy in the Fuuta-Jalon 1909-1912
D. P. Cantrelle, M. Dupire L'endogamie des Peuls du Fouta-Djallon
David Robinson (1985) The Holy War of Umar Tal: the Western Sudan in the mid-nineteenth century
Gustav Deveneaux. Buxtonianism and Sierra Leone: The 1841 Timbo Expedition
Hanson, John H. (1996) Migration, Jihad and Muslim Authority in West Africa: the Futanke colonies in Karta Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN,
J. Suret-Canale The Fouta-Djallon chieftaincy
J. Suret-Canale La fin de la chefferie en Guinée
J. Suret-Canale Essai sur la signification sociale et historique des hégémonies peules (XVII-XIXèmes siècles)
Joseph Earl Harris (1965) The Kingdom of Fouta-Diallon
Kevin Shillington Fuuta-Jalon: Nineteenth Century
Louis Tauxier Moeurs et Histoire des Peuls, Livre III. Les Peuls du Fouta-Djallon
Marguerite Verdat. Le Ouali de Gomba. Essai Historique
Paul Marty L'Islam en Guinée. Fouta-Diallon
Shaikou Baldé L'élevage au Fouta-Djallon (régions de Timbo et de Labé
Terry Alford Abdul-Rahman. Prince Among Slaves
Thierno Diallo (1972) Les institutions politiques du Fouta-Djallon au XIXè siècle
Thierno Diallo Alfa Yaya : roi du Labé (Fouta Djalon)