Ecology and power in the periphery of Maasina: The case of the Hayre in the nineteenth century

This article explores political tensions between successive nineteenth-cent ury rulers of the inland delta of the Niger in central Mali (the Fulbe Diin a of Hamdullahi and the Futanke successors of al-Hajj Umar) and the pastora l interests of the Fulbe chiefdoms on their eastern periphery, in a region known as the Hayre. A close study of changing forms of local governance and natural resource management demonstrates that although different strategie s were employed by the Fulbe and Futanke states to control the Hayre, the i nternal dynamics of the region can only partly be explained by the influenc e of these central powers.