text: The Fulani or Pheul, as they are called in French possessions, have had a greater and more far-reaching effect upon West Africa. They spread over Western and Central Sudan, where they seem to have been located since the thirteenth century. Essentially a pastoral folk, they infiltrated into all sections of the country. As peaceful shepherds we find them in Senegal far to the west, and in the northern regions of Cameroon; some Fulani may even be encountered in Kordofan and Dar Fur far to the east. Occasionally, however, they would abandon their traditional life of animal tending and would exhibit politically aggressive tendencies. Thus they established in the mountains of Futa Jallon a theocratic state which is known under that name. Better known, however, is the attack of the Fulani upon the Hausa states of Northern Nigeria at the beginning of the last century when, under the Fulani Sheik, Othman dan Fodio, the dynasties of such states as Sokoto, Gando, and Adamawa changed from Hausa to Fulani. It is perhaps pertinent to point out that, from a cultural point of view, most of these later invasions were less consequential than the earlier ones. Although new ruling families appeared in the sultanates of the Sudan and an intensification of Islam is noticeable