Jama’are

Jama’are, town and traditional emirate, Bauchi state, northern Nigeria. The town is situated along the Jamaari River, which is a tributary of the Katagum, and at the intersection of roads leading from Wudil, Azare, and Faggo. Traditionally founded in 1811 by Muhammadu Wabi I, a leader in the Fulani jihad (holy war) led by Usman dan Fodio, the emirate was not officially recognized until 1835, when Sambolei, the chief of the Jama’are Fulani, was rewarded with it for his aid against the Hausa rebels of Katsina by Muḥammad Bello, the sarkin musulmi (“commander of the faithful”) and sultan of Sokoto. Emir Muhammadu Maude built the walls (20 feet [6 m] high with four gates) of Jama’are town in the 1850s, but the town barely survived attacks by the forces of Emir Buhari of Hadejia in the 1850s and 1860s. Jama’are’s emir Muhammadu Wabi II submitted to the British after the fall of Kano city to the latter in 1903. Incorporated into the Katagum division of Kano province, Jama’are was transferred to Bauchi province in 1926 and became part of Bauchi state in 1976.

Most of the inhabitants of the emirate are members of the Fulani, Shirawa, Kanuri, or Hausa peoples. They cultivate peanuts (groundnuts), cotton, sorghum, millet, cowpeas, and vegetables, which they grow on the floodplain; they also keep goats, cattle, sheep, donkeys, and horses. The Hadejia–Jama’are River Basin Development Authority was created in the late 1970s to improve agricultural productivity in the area. Cotton weaving and dyeing, especially with indigo, are important local activities. Jama’are is headquarters of a local government council, and there are a primary teacher-training college, a general hospital, and a leprosy clinic in the town. Pop. (2006) local government area, 117,883.