page_title: Musgum people
section_title: History and culture
hierarchical_section_title: Musgum people / History and culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: travelsdiscoveri02bart (find matches) Title: Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa. From the journal of an expedition undertaken under the auspices of H.B.M.'s government, in the years 1849-1855 Year: 1859 (1850s) Authors: Barth, Heinrich, 1821-1865 Subjects: Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Bradley Contributing Library: The Library of Congress Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: while the sheikh had twelve; but thisappeared to me a small number when I afterward saw the Kingof Bagirmi returning from the expedition with a string of forty-five mounted female partners. These black damsels were allclothed in white woolen bernuses, with their faces completelyveiled, and were closely watched. Tuesday, December 23d. Three heavy strokes upon thedrum, at the dawn of day, set our motley host once more inmotion. It was an important day, and many of the principalpeople had exchanged their common dress for a more splendidattire. We entered the Miisgu country, and at the same timecame into contact with fragments of that nation who, havingspread from the far west over one half of Africa, are restlesslypushing forward and overwhelming the pagan tribes in theinterior. These are the Fiilbe or Fellata, the most interestingof all African tribes, who, having been driven from Bdrnn,have here laid the foundation of a new empire. Twice on our march we were obliged to make a halt: the Text Appearing After Image: ~rpsf\^ (266) THE MTJSQU CHIEF. 267 first time owing to the arrival of Adishen, the Miisgu chief,with a troop of naked horsemen mounted on a breed of small,unseemly, but strong ponies, without saddles and bridles, andpresenting altogether a most barbarous and savage spectacle.The second halt was caused by the appearance of a Piillo orFellata chief, with two hundred horsemen of his nation, who,by their shirts and shawls, their saddles and bridles, certainlyclaimed a higher degree of civilization, but who, nevertheless,were far from exhibiting a grand appearance. The chief wasan officer of Khiirsu, the ruler of the town or principality ofFette or Pette, which we had left at a short distance to thewest. He came to join this expedition, the object of whichwas to weaken the Miisgu tribes, who, behind their natural de-fences of rivers and swamps, had hitherto been able to maintaintheir independence. Of course, on this occasion the policy of these Fiilbe chiefswent hand in hand with that of Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: The Musgum or Mulwi are a Chadic ethnic group in Cameroon and Chad. They speak Musgu, a Chadic language, which had 61,500 speakers in Cameroon in 1982 and 24,408 speakers in Chad in 1993. The Musgum call themselves Mulwi.
context_section_description: The Musgum are Afro-Asiatic in origin, having displaced the Paleo-Sudanese at the present territory along with other Neo-Sudanese groups. They are first of all warrior people. When the Fulani people arrived in their territories, they tried to subdue and compel them to accept Islam by war, but they did not succeed by this way. That is why some of their chiefs such as Zigla, Awersing etc. came out with their troops to drive them out and to take back their areas. As such a tremendous battle was held in the village of Bogo in Diamaré Division ( its name comes from a Musgum word meaning "noise" and refers to the site of the battle). At the fullness of time, that war was followed by the victory of Musgum troops and the loss of the territory by the Fulani groups. That caused them to flee away from Bogo to Adamawa. After having succeeded in Norh and Adamawa region, some of the Fulani people went back to Bogo where they adopted the procedure of islamization by ruse. This is a process whereby a Fulani man decides deliberately to give his daughter  to a wealthy Musgum man, or to a man known by his community as chief of a village. Obviously, their aim was to inherit by a blood relationship the wealth and chiefdoms. For instance, the kingdom of Bogo which is the Musgum kingdom mixed with Fulani by marriage covenant. Be it in Cameroon or in Chad, Musgum areas are ruled by a native Musgum chief and not by an outsider. For example, the Sultanate of Pouss, the Lamidat of Guirvidig, the Sultanate of Zina, and the Lamidat of Bogo. Musgum people are also known as initiators of "Laba" or Labana, which is a traditional rite for fighting. In the present day world, the dream of a young Musgum  man is to practice a military activity.
  Fishing is an important activity for the Musgum during the dry and rainy season when the Logone River floods. This has led to ethnic tensions with their rival fishermen of the Kotoko ethnic group (who are also of the Chadic branch of the Afro-Asiatic stock).
caption: Musgu chief, ca. 1851
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