Macina

Macina is the great inland delta where the Niger and Bani spread into a maze of lakes, channels and seasonally flooded grasslands. Farmers, fishers and Fulbe cattle herders have long shared its resources, moving with the rise and fall of the waters. The floodplain joins the river towns of the western Sudan to pastures at the edge of the Sahel.

In the early nineteenth century the Muslim scholar Seku Amadu led a movement that established a new state in Macina. Its capital, Hamdullahi, was founded near the delta, and its rulers sought to order religious and political life under Islamic authority. Regulations governing access to pasture and the movement of livestock addressed the needs of the diverse communities who depended on the floodplain.