Muri Mountains

Muri Mountains
Silhouette of a part of the northern chain of the Muri Mountains. In the middle is the cleft where the river has cut through the rock
Highest point
Elevation1,000 m (3,300 ft)[1]
Geography
CountryNigeria
Linguistic and ethnic map of the area of the Muri Mountains (published 1992)

The Muri Mountains are a mountain range in Northern Nigeria.[2] They consist of two nearly parallel sandstone mountain chains running east to west[1] along the boundaries of the federal states of Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba, and Adamawa.[3] A river cuts through the north chain, forming a river basin between the two chains and gathering water before it cuts through the south chain and flows into the Benue River.[1] Scattered hills are present within the basin, mostly formed volcanically.[1] To the east they merge into the Longuda plateau, and to the west they merge into the Bauchi plateau.[3] The area is not easily accessible due to the mountainous landscape and partial seasonal flooding, and as a result has retained an economically and politically marginal status.[3] About twenty different small ethnic groups live in the mountains, speaking languages from the Chadic, Adamawa, and Benue-Congo language groups.[3] Ethnic groups living in and around the mountains as of 1992 include the Kushi, the Pero, the Piya, the Kwonci, the Kholok of Wídálá, the Nyam, the Tangale, the Bacama, the Kulung, the Kiyu, the Kwa, the Loo, the Burak, the Leemák, the Tala of Kode, the Leeláú, the Gomu, the Bambuka, the Jen, the Munga Doso, the Bangwinji, the Dadiya, the Cham, the Tsóbó, the Waja, and the Longuda.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d e Adelberger, J.; Kleinewillinghofer, U. (1992). "The Muri Mountains of North-Eastern Nigeria -- An Outline of the Ethnographic and Linguistic Situation". The Nigerian Field. 57 (1–2). doi:10.5284/1074621 – via Archaeology Data Service.
  2. ^ Adelberger, Jörg (January 2000). "Eduard Vogel and Eduard Robert Flegel: The Experiences of Two Nineteenth-Century German Explorers in Africa". History in Africa. 27: 1–29. doi:10.2307/3172104. ISSN 0361-5413.
  3. ^ a b c d Adelberger, Joerg (2020-01-01). "The colonial subjugation of the Muri Mountains and adjacent regions in Northern Nigeria – a preliminary account". Heinrich Thiemeyer, Gisela Seidensticker-Brikay, Kyari Tijani (Eds.) Environmental and Cultural Dynamics in the West African Savanna.