History Of JUKUN People Of Northern Nigeria
Jukun are an ethno-linguistic group or ethnic nation in West Africa. The Jukun are traditionally located in Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa, Pla...
https://newshelmng.blogspot.com/2015/05/history-of-jukun-people-of-northern.html
Jukun
are an ethno-linguistic group or ethnic nation in West Africa. The
Jukun are traditionally located in Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau,
Adamawa, and Gombe States in Nigeria and parts of northwestern Cameroon.
They are descendants of the people of the Kwararafa kingdom. Most of
the tribes in the north central of Nigeria trace their origin to the
Jukun people and are related in one way or the other to the Jukuns. If
not for the coming of both Christianity and Islam the Jukun people were
traditionalists. Most of the tribes, Alago, Agatu, Rendere, Gumai in
Shendam, and others left Kwararafa when it disintegrated as a result of a
power tussle. The Jukuns are divided into two major groups; the Jukun
Wanu and Jukun Wapa. The Jukun Wanu are fishermen residing along the
banks of the river Benue and Niger where they run through Taraba state,
Benue state and Nasarawa state.[citation needed] The Wukari Federation,
headed by the Aku Uka of Wukari, is now the main center of the Jukun
people.
History
Kwararafa
The Jukun-speaking peoples trace their ancestry to the rulers of the kingdom of Kwararafa, a state which existed in Western Africa from the 14th through to the 18th centuries.
Modern history[edit]
As a result of the Fulani conquests at the beginning of the 19th century, the Jukun-speaking peoples became politically divided into various regional factions. By the 1920s, the main body of the Jukun population, known as the Wapâ, resided in and around Wukari, where they were governed by the local king and his administration.Other Jukun-speaking peoples living in the Benue basin, such as those of Abinsi, Awei District, Donga and Takum, remained politically separate from the Wukari government, whilst the Jukun-speakers living in Adamawa Province recognised the governorship of the Fulani Emir of Muri.
In the post-colonial period, Nigeria has suffered violence which is the result of multiple ethnic tensions between the different communities living in the country. Ethnic tension exists between the Jukun and the neighbouring Tiv community.
Socio-political organisation
Monarchy
Traditionally, Jukun society was governed by a monarchy.
Studies of the Jukun In 1931, the academic publishing company Kegan Paul, Trubner & Co. published A Sudanese Kingdom: An Ethnographic Study of the Jukun-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, a book which had been written by the Briton C.K. Meek, the Anthropological Officer stationed with the Administrative Service in Nigeria.
Jukun, a people living on the upper Benue River in Nigeria, commonly believed to be descendants of the people of Kororofa, one of the most powerful Sudanic kingdoms during the late European Middle Ages. The ruins of a great settlement to the northeast of the Jukun’s present location are thought to be those of the capital of that kingdom, but the claim has not been thoroughly investigated by archaeologists.
The population speak a language of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo family. The people comprise a congeries of many smaller groups, each organized on a different basis, although polygynous extended families seem to be the dominant unit.
The Jukun traditionally possessed a complex system of offices, which had both a political and a religious aspect; the priesthood practiced an involved form of religion marked by diurnal and annual rounds of ritual and sacrifice. The king, called Aka Uku, was—until he became a member of northern Nigeria’s house of chiefs in 1947—a typical example of a semidivine priest-king.
History
Kwararafa
The Jukun-speaking peoples trace their ancestry to the rulers of the kingdom of Kwararafa, a state which existed in Western Africa from the 14th through to the 18th centuries.
Modern history[edit]
As a result of the Fulani conquests at the beginning of the 19th century, the Jukun-speaking peoples became politically divided into various regional factions. By the 1920s, the main body of the Jukun population, known as the Wapâ, resided in and around Wukari, where they were governed by the local king and his administration.Other Jukun-speaking peoples living in the Benue basin, such as those of Abinsi, Awei District, Donga and Takum, remained politically separate from the Wukari government, whilst the Jukun-speakers living in Adamawa Province recognised the governorship of the Fulani Emir of Muri.
In the post-colonial period, Nigeria has suffered violence which is the result of multiple ethnic tensions between the different communities living in the country. Ethnic tension exists between the Jukun and the neighbouring Tiv community.
Socio-political organisation
Monarchy
Traditionally, Jukun society was governed by a monarchy.
Studies of the Jukun In 1931, the academic publishing company Kegan Paul, Trubner & Co. published A Sudanese Kingdom: An Ethnographic Study of the Jukun-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, a book which had been written by the Briton C.K. Meek, the Anthropological Officer stationed with the Administrative Service in Nigeria.
Jukun, a people living on the upper Benue River in Nigeria, commonly believed to be descendants of the people of Kororofa, one of the most powerful Sudanic kingdoms during the late European Middle Ages. The ruins of a great settlement to the northeast of the Jukun’s present location are thought to be those of the capital of that kingdom, but the claim has not been thoroughly investigated by archaeologists.
The population speak a language of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo family. The people comprise a congeries of many smaller groups, each organized on a different basis, although polygynous extended families seem to be the dominant unit.
The Jukun traditionally possessed a complex system of offices, which had both a political and a religious aspect; the priesthood practiced an involved form of religion marked by diurnal and annual rounds of ritual and sacrifice. The king, called Aka Uku, was—until he became a member of northern Nigeria’s house of chiefs in 1947—a typical example of a semidivine priest-king.
