Between Hausaland and the Mandara hills lay the plains and inselbergs of the later Bauchi and Gombe and the valley of the Gongola, with the Biu plateau to the north-east: country of many small Chadic and Adamawa-speaking peoples (the later Jarawa, Sayawa, Warji, Tangale, Waja, Tera, Bolewa and Ngamo, and the Bura and Pabir of Biu), each under village heads and ritual chiefs.
The Biu and Fika kingdoms and the Bolewa states are later. Nothing is written of this country for 1200.
Who holds it
- Title
- village and clan heads, ritual chiefs
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
None recorded
How things stand that morning
Self-governing peoples.
Customs
Village councils, clan heads, rain and earth priests (later ethnography).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Later ethnography and language geography only.
On the map: Rough outline of a country of many peoples.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.