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SONGHAY 707
communities of Songhay culture in sharp detail. The diverse groups are dispersed
in at least four different countries, let alone the migrant groups scattered in
various coastal cities. Also, the available population statistics are only estimates
at best.
The Songhay proper form two large clusters. One covers the lake-like region
of the river bend in Mali, extending from Lake Debo along the river with strong
concentrations in Goundam, Timbuktu, Bandiagara and Gao, and smaller ones
in Issa Ber, Mopti, Segou and Bamako. The estimated population here is 420,000.
The other spreads out in areas of the westernmost provinces of Niger, with strong
concentration in Tillaberi, Ayorou and Tera (estimated population, 600,000).
To these must be added the Songhay settlements of Dori in Upper Volta (8,000),
of Parakou and Kandi in Benin (46,000), of the Sokoto River in Nigeria (12,000)
and of Agadez in Niger (8,000). They are known by various names—the Kado
in Tera, Ayorou and the Goroul; the Gabibi (or Gabibi Arbi) north of Gao; the
Sorko of the fishing hamlets all along the river; the Fono in the upper lake area;
the Gow in the high grass stretches of the W in Anzourou and the Hombori hills;
and the Dendi between Gay a and Parakou. A caste of magicians goes proudly
by the name of Sohanti, while the descendants of the Askia carry the noble name
of Mayga. Less noble, but no less dignified, are the Kourtey on the river banks
between Niamey and Say.
By far the strongest subgroup is the Zerma (also called Djerma and Zaberma),
whose homelands in Niger are Zermaganda, the land on both sides of the river,
and Zaberma, the wadi region around Dosso. In these two areas, which are
interspersed with Hausa (see Hausa) and Fulani (see Fulani) settlements, the
Zerma form the predominant population of some 500,000. In the Republic of
Niger, therefore, the Zerma-Songhay represent roughly 20 percent of the nation's
6.1 million people. One-half of the inhabitants of Niamey, Niger's capital city
and largest conglomerate (70,000), are Zerma. In all there are more than 2
million Songhay.
The vast majority of Zerma-Songhay in Niger live in 2,000 villages ranging
in size from 100 to 800 people and in 100 small towns averaging 2,000 inhabitants.
Life in all these places is organized around four major themes: local
subsistence through agriculture, kinship links, nobility ranks and a nature cult
modified by Sunni Islam (Maliki school). Every locality is not only spatially
distant from others, but also constitutes its own customary-legal authority for
most internal affairs. It most often insists upon its peculiar identity to the extent
of affirming its own descent lines within the Zerma-Songhay genealogy (even
in town, the Zerma are Zerma only for the Fulani and the Hausa; among themselves
they are pridefully Kalle, Golle, Kado, Kourtey or perhaps even Loqa),
its own idiomatic distinctions and, until recently, its own facial marks.
Outside the capital city, all Zerma except the minute proportion in administrative
and commercial activities are agriculturalists. With the use of hand tools,
they grow a variety of millet during the brief rainy season and live off what
harvest there is the rest of the year. They keep some small livestock and let the