Hommage au Professeur Andrea Zaborski (Krakow) Fulfulde proverbs

The Fulani are one of the largest migratory people in the Savannah belt of West, Central and even East Africa. Their area of extension reaches from the Senegambia region via Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Chad and the Republic of Sudan up to the Red Sea. They are not a unique entity in these regions, but rather an agglomeration of communities and dialects. Recent data puts their number at around 15 million. Their basic economic activity is cattle breeding and the keeping of livestock such as goats and sheep. However not all Fulani follow a nomadic way life (Fulani jeji). There is the so called town Fulani (Fulani gida), who are mainly traders, traditional judges and imams. As learned men they had a great influence on empires like Mali and Songhay as well as the emirates of Northern Nigeria and Cameroon. This was especially so under the caliphate of Usman dan Fodio in Sokoto, where their influence was not only local, but extended up to the Middle Belt of Nigeria. The influence was extremely important, especially in the spread of Islam. Despite their contacts with so many cultures during their historical migrations, they have preserved a unique Fulani feature, known as Pulaku. It is moral guide or code of conduct on how a real Fulani has to behave. The values within this concept range from the definition of shame, to how one has to behave as an upright human being including how one has to treat his cattle.