They are grouped and named according to their location, occupation and dialect of their widely spoken language. Accordingly, there are five major groups of Fulani: the Fula Toro, Fulakunda, Fulfulde, Fuuta Jalon, and Tukolor.

Physical features such as copper-colored skin, straight hair and noses, and thin lips, suggest a Caucasoid origin, though a long history of intermarriage with other ethnic groups have produced negroid features in many Fulani, the Fulakunda in particular.

Historically, the Fulani are a nomadic people who traveled from one region to another seeking water for their cattle herds. After migrating from North Africa or the Middle East, they gradually spread eastward (over a 1000 year period from A. D. 900 to 1900), from Senegal and Guinea to as far as Sudan. During their wanderings, they conquered many less powerful tribes. Many Fulani completely or partially abandoned their traditional nomadic life in favor of a sedentary existence in towns or on farms among the conquered peoples. Today, some seven million Fulani cling to the nomadic lifestyle, while up to twenty million have settled to a semi-nomadic, village, or city way of life.

What are their lives like?
While some Fulani maintain the tradition of nomadic wandering, and others remain in one location permanently, the most favored and widespread way of living is semi-nomadic. The hot, tropical climate of north-central and western Africa provides only two seasons: a wet and a dry. The semi-nomadic Fulani revolve their lives around these seasons, and around a strict division of labor based on gender. During the wet season, the cattle, sheep, and goats remain at a permanent settlement where they are herded by the men and boys, but usually milked and cared for by the women and girls. The men plant, care for and harvest the crops; which mostly consist of millet, rice, and peanuts. They also build fences to keep livestock in the appropriate pastures. Meanwhile, the women spend four to five hours each afternoon preparing the evening meal, but only after fetching water, wood, and millet. Besides this arduous task, females must maintain huts, weave mats, spin cotton, make soap, and care for young children.

During the dry season, the Fulani practice the nomadic part of their existence. Rather than endangering the exhaustion of the village water supply, the young men leave the older men, the women, and the children in the village and take the cattle on a search for alternative water supplies until the rainy season approaches. These nomadic bands camp in portable shelters of poles or branches covered with straw, leaves, or mats.

Although most Fulani are illiterate, parents often send children to a village school where they learn to pray and recite parts of the Koran, as the Fulani are almost entirely Muslim. Despite their lack of book knowledge, they are respected social analysts. They place high value on storytelling and proverbs, which attempt to teach valuable lessons about life.

What are their beliefs?
The Fulani were one of the first African tribes to convert to Islam and today are more than 99% Muslim. Muslims believe that the prophet Mohammed was God's last great prophet. Supposedly, God spoke words to him which were recorded in what is now the Koran. Not only is Islam a religion for the Fulani, but a way of life. Therefore, any deviation from Islam is condemned and attacked by the entire community.

The Fulani have numerous taboos, rules which are never to be broken. One of the fore- most of these is a taboo against speaking the name of spouses, parents, parents-in-law, first sons, or first daughters. They also follow Islamic dietary laws, and refuse to eat goat meat for fear of becoming lepers.

What are their needs?
The Fulani have various portions of the Bible available in their language, and several missions agencies work among them. Despite many efforts, the overwhelming majority of the Fulani people remain Muslim, and many fail to convert to Christianity, fearing the vicious hostility of family and friends. Prayer and intercession are needed to break the Satanic power of Islam over their lives.

See also the following related groups: the Adawama Fulani of Cameroon; the Bagirmi Fula of Chad and the Central African Republic; the Bauchi Fulani of Nigeria; the Benin/Togo Fulani of Togo; the Bororo Fulani of Cameroon; the Fula of Benin and Burkina Faso; the Fula Jalon of Guinea, Mali, Senegal, and Sierra Leone; the Fula Kita of Mali; the Fula Macina of Mali and Maruitania; the Fula Toro of Senegal; the Fula Kunda of Guinea Bissau, and Senegal; The Fulani of Chad, Gambia, and Sudan; the Gurma Fulani of Burkina Faso; the Krio Fula of Sierra Leone; the Sokoto Fulani of Niger and Nigeria; the Liptako Fula of Burkina Faso; the Toroobe Fulani of Nigeria; and the Western Fulani of Niger.

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Bethany World Prayer Center
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