Abstract
Puzzled by the physical aspect and the variety of the elements of civilisation they found with the Fulani of West Africa, the 19th century travellers tried to elucidate the mystery of their origin. The numerous hypotheses they put forward, some of which were very fancy, were ail advancing that the Fulani belonged to the white race ; and in this they were helped by linguists. The imagination of the travellers was also struck by the political organisation of the Fulani, which was even more difficult to understand because of the Jihads who provoked many disturbances. The Islam religion, because of the fanatism attached to it and because of the capacities of organisation of the community, was variously judged. If serfdom was quickly noted and the judged in various ways, the existence of casts was for a long time unnoticed. The herd was also a sign of contradiction much as for its supposedly religions symbol as for its economie one. And lastly the coloniser had a lot of problems to understand and to see clear in the complexities of the social life tied to the System of lineages.
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