THE BREIF HISTORY OF THE MARGI PEOPLE 2

THE BREIF HISTORY OF THE MARGI PEOPLE (1)

 The First Record of Margi in the Literature

The first record in literature which places the Margi ethnic group around the Lake Chad was that of Fra Mauro, recorded on his mid-15th century map, on which he placed the Margi southeast of Lake Chad (Falchetta, 2006; DeCorse, 2001: 142, 2006). There are two accounts of when Fra Mauro drafted the map. On the web page of the Mandara publishing company, which is based in the United Kingdom, it is indicated that Fra Mauro drafted the map in 1459. But Piero Falchettas’ book and CD-ROM (2006), Fra Mauro's World Map, indicates that the map was sketched around 1450. In any case, the point is, Fra Mauro placed the Margi ethnic group around the Lake Chad prior to the year 1564, when the leader of the Saifawa Dynasty of the Kanuri, Idris Alauma, started his campaign against the Margi and the Touareg ethnic groupsFra Mauro’s map of 1459 is important because it placed the Margi together as a group in one location prior to the diaspora under family patriarchs - primarily to the mountainous enclaves and to the plains - due to Idris Alauma’s expedition. Consequently, the present Margi towns and villages were established as a result.

Idris Alauma’s Contact with the Margi

Oral traditional stories passed down by the Margi elders also placed the Margi to be in the vicinity of the current Lake Chad area prior to Idris Alauma’s expedition of 1564. This Margi story has been substantiated by Ahmad B. Furtu (Lange, 1987), who was Idris Alauma’s personal scribe. Ahmad B. Furtu recorded Idris Alauma’s daily expedition activities in Arabic from 1564 – 1576; it was translated into English in 1987, by Derrick Lange.

According to the oral Margi account passed down, the Margi lived in an area called Gazargamu around Lake Chad prior to the Alauma expedition. On his arrival to the Lake Chad area, Alauma waged war against the Touareg and the Margi ethnic groups (Lange, 1987: 76). Overwhelmed by this expedition, the Margi migrated in subgroups under family patriarchs to different directions and established the modern Nigerian Margi towns of Kwapchi, Uvu, Ezige, Mulgwe, Dille, Lassa, Gulak, Uba, and surrounding villages. Despite living in different locations, the Margi continued to share a language and culture; and each subgroup has maintained that they come from “the East” at a point in time earlier than the 1450s (Kirk-Greene, 1958; Lange, 1987; Meek, 1931: 215-216 Vol. II).

Based on the record translated from Arabic to English by Derrick Lange in 1987, the expedition against the Margi started because at a certain point the ruler of the Margi, named Adwa, refused to join Idris Alauma on expeditions as he had previously done. Adwa, who had held the position of chief Umura under Idris Alauma during previous campaigns, rebelled and totally abstained. Adwa’s refusal angered Idris Alauma and the conflict began between the two. Idris Alauma requested Adwa on various occasions to come back to assume his previous position as Umura, and upon receiving no reply, Idris Alauma went after Adwa with vengeance. Idris Alauma marched his army to Kopci, Mitku, and the rocks of Humdi but did not find Adwa; instead, Idris Alauma found Adwa’s first wife, Gamsu, with abundant provisions. He captured her and brought her with him to Birni Gadzargamu where Idris Alauma was residing (Lange, 1987: 34). When Adwa came back home and learned that his wife had been captured, he followed Idris Alauma to Gadzargamu.

The ruler of the Margi then came to the town of Birni, and entered into the presence of the Sultan and settled down before him, kneeling and prostrating himself, casting earth upon his head with both hands together humble and abject (Ahmad B. Furtu, in Lange, 1987: 76).

Dr. Heinrich Barth’s contact with the Margi

Heinrich Barth’s document from 1857 is the first record in literature to mention Margi domestic architecture. Barth was born in Hamburg Germany, educated at Berlin University and graduated in 1844. Though a German, he joined the British service where he learned Arabic and other African languages in England; thereafter, he joined an expedition to western Sudan in 1849, organized and sponsored by the British Government. He was interested in the Islamic culture of western Africa, and this curiosity led him as far as Timbuktu in present day Mali (Barth, 1857; Kirk-Greene, 1962). From there he found his way to the general area of the present northern Nigeria, where he visited the Margi, the Fulani, the Hausa, and many other ethnic groups. In his 1857 book, Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa Vol. II, Barth recorded his contact with the Margi ethnic group, beginning with ‘Molghoy,’ which is modern Mulqwe, through Izege to the periphery of Uba, the last Margi town before entering Mubi. Barth’s travels started from present day Borno state through Adamawa state. Figure 10 shows a map of the part of Central Africa showing the routes of the expedition performed under the sanction of H. M. Government by Messer’s Richardson, Barth, & Overweg in the years 1851 and 1852. The Margi Territory is circled on Longitude 11, and Latitude 14.

On Saturday, June 7, 1851, at about one o’clock in the afternoon, Heinrich Barth set his eyes on the first Margi domestic sphere at the village of Mulqwe. He spent the night and made the following notes: “Each family has its own separate court-yard, which forms a little cluster of huts by itself, and often at a considerable distance from the next yard. This kind of dwelling has certainly something very cheerful and pleasant in a simple and peaceable state of society” (Barth, 1857: 106) After describing the Margi hamlets at Mulgwe, he turned his attention to the inhabitants: “I was struck by the beauty and symmetry of their form, which were thus entirely exposed to view, and by regularity of their features, which are not disfigured by incisions, and in some had nothing of what is called the Negro type” (Barth, 1857: 106). He described a young Margi child in the village as follows: “The boy’s form did not yield in any respect to the beautiful symmetry of the most celebrated Grecian statues, as that of the praying boy, or that of the diskophoros” (Barth, 1857: 107)

Reference

The Evolution of the Built Environment of the Margi Ethnic Group of Northeastern Nigeria

by Emmanuel Awidau Birdling

(http://www.mandaras.info/Margi.html)

 (http://lah.soas.ac.uk/projects/megachad/gallery/FraMauro-1000.html).

(http: //lah.soas.ac.uk/projects/megachad/gallery/FraMauro-1000.html)