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Zarma people

Zarma people
Zarmaborai
زَرمَبࣷرَيْ‎
Young girls wearing traditional Zarma dress
Total population
5,162,323[citation needed]
Regions with significant populations
 Niger5,004,423[1]
 Nigeria113,000[citation needed]
 Benin38,000[citation needed]
 Ghana6,900[citation needed]
 Burkina Faso1,100[citation needed]
Languages
Zarma (native language), French, English (colonial languages)
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Songhay
PersonZarmaboro / زَرمَبࣷرࣷ‎
PeopleZarmaborai / زَرمَبࣷرَيْ‎
LanguageZarma ciine / زَرْمَ ݘِينٜ‎

The Zarma people are an ethnic group predominantly found in westernmost Niger. They are also found in significant numbers in the adjacent areas of Nigeria and Benin, along with smaller numbers in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Sudan.[2][3] In Niger, the Zarma are often considered by outsiders to be of the same ethnicity as the neighboring Songhaiborai, although the two groups claim differences, having different histories and speaking different dialects. They are sometimes lumped together as the Zarma-Songhay or Songhay-Zarma.[4]

The Zarma people are predominantly Muslims of the Maliki-Sunni school,[5][6] and they live in the arid Sahel lands, along the Niger River valley which is a source of irrigation, forage for cattle herds, and drinking water.[2] Relatively prosperous, they own cattle, sheep, goats and dromedaries, renting them out to the Fulani people or Tuareg people for tending.[7] The Zarma people have had a history of slave and caste systems, like many West African ethnic groups.[8][9][10] Like them, they also have had a historical musical tradition.[11]

The Zarma people are alternatively referred to as Zerma, Zaberma, Zabarma Zabermawa, Djerma, Dyerma,[3] Jerma, or other terms.[12] Zarma is the term used by the Zarma people themselves.

  1. ^ "Africa: Niger - The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b Zarma people, Encyclopædia Britannica
  3. ^ a b Anthony Appiah; Henry Louis Gates (2010). "Zerma". Encyclopedia of Africa: Kimbangu, Simon – Zulu. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-533770-9.
  4. ^ Idrissa & Decalo 2012, p. 474.
  5. ^ James Stuart Olson (1996). The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 612. ISBN 978-0-313-27918-8.
  6. ^ Toyin Falola; Daniel Jean-Jacques (2015). Africa: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Society. ABC-CLIO. p. 916. ISBN 978-1-59884-666-9.
  7. ^ James R. Lee (2009). Climate Change and Armed Conflict: Hot and Cold Wars. Routledge. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-1-135-21163-9.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference EltisBradley2011p62 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference tamari221cs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference ushhrp2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference falolazarma was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "Zarma (peuple d'Afrique)". BnF. Retrieved 4 April 2022.

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