A significant proportion of the Fula – a third, or an estimated 12 to 13 million[22] – are pastoralists, and their ethnic group has the largest nomadic pastoral community in the world.[23][24] The majority of the Fula ethnic group consisted of semi-sedentary people[24] as well as sedentary settled farmers, scholars, artisans, merchants, and nobility.[4][26] As an ethnic group, they are bound together by the Fula language, their history[27][28][29] and their culture.